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embereye's review against another edition
3.0
This book had a lot of story telling elements that I enjoy in fiction. The non-linear style, jumping through the story and back again, telling small details of the story and then expanding on it later. It's very much a print version of some hypertext stories I've read. I definitely have a bit of the "damn it! someone did it before me!" reaction. On the other hand, Hal Duncan did it before this person, but that's ok.
This book only gets 3 stars as there were a lot of loose threads left open at the end, and this sort of thing always leaves me rather annoyed and grumpy. Otherwise, it was an interesting story to puzzle at here and there, it just needed to go a bit further.
This book only gets 3 stars as there were a lot of loose threads left open at the end, and this sort of thing always leaves me rather annoyed and grumpy. Otherwise, it was an interesting story to puzzle at here and there, it just needed to go a bit further.
mrninjaviking's review against another edition
4.0
I received an “advanced reader copy” of this through LibraryThing.Com. It was my first ARC. For a synopsis, I am borrowing parts, with my alterations, of a review by Michael Levy for Strange Horizons.
Now this, as Levy says, is the straightforward edition of the plot line. But the book does not follow this chronologically at all. It jumps all over the place. Some found it tough to get a hold of at first. Knowing this going in, I found it less annoying and not as difficult. But it’s strange to learn that someone has died by someone else's hand, yet in the next section of the book that person is still alive.
This way of telling a story can be seen as literary genius, or just plain stupidity. It’s somewhere in between. I wouldn’t call it genius, but it leans much heavier on that side. The biggest reason for this is the only part where it seems like a bad idea is the breaks in momentum. This style could have still be used very liberally, and to great effect, with even less jumping around and letting sections play out more then they did.
Many have called this book a “fantasy novel for adults”, which kind of disses just about 90% of the fantasy writers out there, including some that have very well respected reputations. However, I see where those kind of comments are going. There is no build up of heroes or heroines. There is no precise descriptions of the elegance around. There are no little bits of whimsy or humor. It is stark in description, and when it is there, it is a gritty, dirty world, and beyond which some already consider as such in normal fantasy tropes. There is not a lot of explanation. It is up to the reader to put light to facts and surroundings or references to the past or other objects/subjects. The book makes the reader work. It’s literature that just happens to be set in a fantasy type setting, meaning not of our history, and with a little bit of magic, and that is dark as well and not used to get out of trouble.
So there are things that are both good and bad about the novel, but it is clear that Mr. McDermott is a talented writer and will be making a good first impression across the board, even through the shortcomings of the book.
Zhan, an aging woman, perhaps an empress, is recalling her life in what we eventually realize are a series of short letters to a long-absent lover named Esumi. As a young woman, a member of a primitive northern tribe, Zhan was quite literally in the midst of taking her final vows as a warrior when she was called back home by a terrible tragedy. Her grandfather, a wild, perhaps mad, wanderer who had spent years away from their ancestral village, had returned home and slaughtered Zhan’s entire extended family before escaping south through the snow. Zhan and her shaman uncle, Seth, have been charged with tracking him down, executing him, and returning him (in zombie/golem form) to the village to bear witness to his crime. Along the way they accumulate companions – a renegade noblewoman, an aging mercenary, a simpleton, a beautiful gypsy who turns out to be something other than entirely human. Unwittingly during their stay in a country called Proliux, they have alerted the vicious and greedy rulers to the existence of a perhaps less powerful civilization to their north and Zhan and her friends soon find themselves racing ahead of an army, hoping to reach home in time to spread a warning of impending invasion.
Now this, as Levy says, is the straightforward edition of the plot line. But the book does not follow this chronologically at all. It jumps all over the place. Some found it tough to get a hold of at first. Knowing this going in, I found it less annoying and not as difficult. But it’s strange to learn that someone has died by someone else's hand, yet in the next section of the book that person is still alive.
This way of telling a story can be seen as literary genius, or just plain stupidity. It’s somewhere in between. I wouldn’t call it genius, but it leans much heavier on that side. The biggest reason for this is the only part where it seems like a bad idea is the breaks in momentum. This style could have still be used very liberally, and to great effect, with even less jumping around and letting sections play out more then they did.
Many have called this book a “fantasy novel for adults”, which kind of disses just about 90% of the fantasy writers out there, including some that have very well respected reputations. However, I see where those kind of comments are going. There is no build up of heroes or heroines. There is no precise descriptions of the elegance around. There are no little bits of whimsy or humor. It is stark in description, and when it is there, it is a gritty, dirty world, and beyond which some already consider as such in normal fantasy tropes. There is not a lot of explanation. It is up to the reader to put light to facts and surroundings or references to the past or other objects/subjects. The book makes the reader work. It’s literature that just happens to be set in a fantasy type setting, meaning not of our history, and with a little bit of magic, and that is dark as well and not used to get out of trouble.
So there are things that are both good and bad about the novel, but it is clear that Mr. McDermott is a talented writer and will be making a good first impression across the board, even through the shortcomings of the book.
songbirdz's review against another edition
The novel is presented in an interesting fashion - through the memories of a dying woman as she writes letters to a former lover. The only problem with this, as with anyone that tries to convey their story as they die, is they don't follow a linear path of thought. One page you may find yourself reflecting on the past, the next would jump to the future, only to go back to the past, then present, etc. It almost made me want to tab each page so I could read it in an order that made more sense to me. That said, it was hard for me to read this book more than a few pages at a time without having to put it down.
I applaud the author for trying a different approach at storytelling, but for me, it just didn't feel right.
I applaud the author for trying a different approach at storytelling, but for me, it just didn't feel right.
indalauryn's review
3.0
A friend let me borrow a lot of books and she has a wealth of fantasy and speculative fiction. I decided to read this book without knowing much about it. There seems to be too much focus on style as if the intention is to win an award for doing something that is supposed to be original. However, the characterization suffers for it and I found myself not really caring about what they went through. Also, the author relinquishes the stream of consciousness style toward the middle of the book to focus on the narrative. By then, I wasn't really as invested in the story as I should have been. I have to say I still kept reading to the end because I wanted to finish, but overall I didn't really enjoy this as much as I hoped. Apparently, the use of short chapters does its job in keeping the reader going if not completely engaged. Still, the book gets points for its attempt at writing style.
mariahaskins's review against another edition
5.0
Last Dragon is a beautifully written, often mesmerizing tale of Zhan, a warrior turned empress, who is looking back on her life and her journeys throughout the lands. Death, loss, revenge, and betrayal haunt her steps, as the tale meanders like a river through the landscape of her past: passing through villages and cities, landscapes, dreams and nightmares, battles and moments of joy and happiness (though these are often brief). This is not an action tale, rather it's a half-lucid, half-delirious tale that ebbs and flows.
It took me a while to get into the rhythm of the story, but once I did, it's a captivating read, set in an original world that feels grand and dangerous on an epic scale. And the last few chapters are amazing reading: they gripped me with a sense of doom and tragedy and just profound loss. Fantastic stuff.
The dragon in the title is only glimpsed through the eyes of others: a relic of the past, now lost, that stands for another time, another world that has also been lost.
A great literary-fantasy read set in a uniquely imagined realm with an original take on magic, death, dragons, and ants. Recommended.
It took me a while to get into the rhythm of the story, but once I did, it's a captivating read, set in an original world that feels grand and dangerous on an epic scale. And the last few chapters are amazing reading: they gripped me with a sense of doom and tragedy and just profound loss. Fantastic stuff.
The dragon in the title is only glimpsed through the eyes of others: a relic of the past, now lost, that stands for another time, another world that has also been lost.
A great literary-fantasy read set in a uniquely imagined realm with an original take on magic, death, dragons, and ants. Recommended.
zivan's review against another edition
5.0
This is perhaps the most well written Fantasy Novel I've read.
I'm most impressed by how much stays a mystery in a Novel where the ending is revealed on the first page.
The none linear style of writing keeps you on guessing as well.
Despite dealing with war and empire the story stays personal and keeps you caring about the characters.
This is a low magic world and is driven mostly by the Mythology and Ethos of the cultures involved.
I'm most impressed by how much stays a mystery in a Novel where the ending is revealed on the first page.
The none linear style of writing keeps you on guessing as well.
Despite dealing with war and empire the story stays personal and keeps you caring about the characters.
This is a low magic world and is driven mostly by the Mythology and Ethos of the cultures involved.
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