Entry tags:
Books you look forward to for ages and then don't really like
Yesterday I read 'Shadows Return', the new Nightrunner book by Lynn Flewelling.
I was really figuring to like this. I love the first three books. I love the Bone Doll trilogy. I read the author's LJ and they seem like a nice person. So I figured I'd like the book.
... I was left with a feeling a bit like I ordered spaghetti and got soup. Sure, it's got stuff in it, but somehow it feels un meal like.
The story kicked off with plots and politics and resolved none of it. It lacked a mystery, because the reader already knew who did what and then just watched others discover it, sometimes getting the same revelation once per character, on screen, like half a dozen times. Which doesn't exactly pull you along into the world. It turned into a hurt/comfort epic that never really went all the way on the hurt and was extremely minimal on the comfort. It's a Seregil&Alec story where they're separated almost all the time. And I can't figure out who changes. If the protagonist is the one that changes, I can't figure out who that is. So I end up at the end of the book wondering vaguely what it was for.
( Read more... )
okay, so once I get started on being picky, I can go on a bit more than I meant. I quite liked the book while I was reading it, mostly. I just... found it really thin. Who got changed? What happened? Why did some of these people need to be in the book? Was it secretly a h/c short story that grew? Where's all the women? And politics? And mystery? And why do we need telling everything twice?
But hey, I'm buying the next one. Guess it didn't suck.
... come to think, quite a lot of it is about sucking. Heh.
So now I feel guilty posting this when the author's on my f-list. Er, sorry?
Anyone who has different opinion feel free to tell me I'm reading it wrong.
I was really figuring to like this. I love the first three books. I love the Bone Doll trilogy. I read the author's LJ and they seem like a nice person. So I figured I'd like the book.
... I was left with a feeling a bit like I ordered spaghetti and got soup. Sure, it's got stuff in it, but somehow it feels un meal like.
The story kicked off with plots and politics and resolved none of it. It lacked a mystery, because the reader already knew who did what and then just watched others discover it, sometimes getting the same revelation once per character, on screen, like half a dozen times. Which doesn't exactly pull you along into the world. It turned into a hurt/comfort epic that never really went all the way on the hurt and was extremely minimal on the comfort. It's a Seregil&Alec story where they're separated almost all the time. And I can't figure out who changes. If the protagonist is the one that changes, I can't figure out who that is. So I end up at the end of the book wondering vaguely what it was for.
( Read more... )
okay, so once I get started on being picky, I can go on a bit more than I meant. I quite liked the book while I was reading it, mostly. I just... found it really thin. Who got changed? What happened? Why did some of these people need to be in the book? Was it secretly a h/c short story that grew? Where's all the women? And politics? And mystery? And why do we need telling everything twice?
But hey, I'm buying the next one. Guess it didn't suck.
... come to think, quite a lot of it is about sucking. Heh.
So now I feel guilty posting this when the author's on my f-list. Er, sorry?
Anyone who has different opinion feel free to tell me I'm reading it wrong.