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marneechua's review against another edition
5.0
This book was my favorite in the series. It definitely threw me off when I picked it up and it wasn't about Maerad, especially after how the 2nd book is left. Instead it follows the adventures of Hem, her newly discovered brother and the important piece that he has to play in saving the world. I think the author comes into her own in this book and really takes us to a whole new level. This is at times a very sad, but also a very beautiful story about the nature and value of friendship.
accidentalspaceexplorer's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This is a hard book to read, especially the last 150 pages or so. There's a lot of war and suffering, and it's part of the reason I put my re-read off as long as I did. But also I think it fits within the quartet well, and on my re-read I can see all the reasons why it makes sense that she showed this part from Hem's perspective. I think it's very well-written, and engaging even when it's hard to read, although I am glad that I didn't linger in those last 150 pages.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Grief, and War
iris's review against another edition
3.0
I really wish I didn't have to read so many thick books of this to find out what happens to the characters.
I really like the characters, but other than that, I really couldn't care less.
The writing style is tedious, and I don't even know what's going on half the time. Honestly that's probably because every now and then I zone out and don't pay attention, but I do that because it's written super tediously. Also, sometimes its just confusing... there's a couple scenes that I read over and over again, and still couldn't figure out what happened.
The plot is... unoriginal.
Uh oh, the Dark is rising again! Now the Light must vanquish the Dark! And take a lot of long, thick books getting around to it! When half the book is pointless to the plot anyways! And there must be lots of traveling! And I'm BORED!
I've read this plot waayyyyyyyy too many times already. The Lord of the Rings, The Sword of Shannara, Eragon. Probably a gazillion other things as well. I am SO bored of it.
The world is confusing. I can't keep straight all the names of places. There is so many, and they all sound the same. And half of them I swear the author just put a bunch of letters in a bag, and pulled them out randomly, then arranged them in a way that was almost pronounceable, and used that.
The characters are pretty good. None of them are amazing, but I like them, and I need to know what happens to them. This book was about Hem, a minor character from the first book though, so that was... interesting.
I like him, but he doesn't make a very good protagonist. In the first two, the MC was 16, but in The Crow, the character is only twelve. And, well, he reads like a twelve year old boy. And he just seemed too young for me to truly enjoy it, and didn't match up with the first two very well.
Then there's Saliman. He's Hem's mentor figure, and I like him very much. He seems very similar to, Cadvan, who was the mentor figure for the first two books, and I wish he'd had a slightly more different personality, but I still like him a lot.
One of my favourites was Zelika, she was feisty, and rude, and I love her.
I think my favourite character though, was the crow, Irc. He's so funny, and he's always stealing shiny objects, and he cracks me up. Also he can talk. Or, Hem can talk to him, I guess. I love him very much.
Over all, this book wasn't for me. I think the series is good, and well written, I just personally don't like the writing style, and am bored by the plot. If you like this sort of thing though, it's definitely worth a read.
I really like the characters, but other than that, I really couldn't care less.
The writing style is tedious, and I don't even know what's going on half the time. Honestly that's probably because every now and then I zone out and don't pay attention, but I do that because it's written super tediously. Also, sometimes its just confusing... there's a couple scenes that I read over and over again, and still couldn't figure out what happened.
The plot is... unoriginal.
Uh oh, the Dark is rising again! Now the Light must vanquish the Dark! And take a lot of long, thick books getting around to it! When half the book is pointless to the plot anyways! And there must be lots of traveling! And I'm BORED!
I've read this plot waayyyyyyyy too many times already. The Lord of the Rings, The Sword of Shannara, Eragon. Probably a gazillion other things as well. I am SO bored of it.
The world is confusing. I can't keep straight all the names of places. There is so many, and they all sound the same. And half of them I swear the author just put a bunch of letters in a bag, and pulled them out randomly, then arranged them in a way that was almost pronounceable, and used that.
The characters are pretty good. None of them are amazing, but I like them, and I need to know what happens to them. This book was about Hem, a minor character from the first book though, so that was... interesting.
I like him, but he doesn't make a very good protagonist. In the first two, the MC was 16, but in The Crow, the character is only twelve. And, well, he reads like a twelve year old boy. And he just seemed too young for me to truly enjoy it, and didn't match up with the first two very well.
Then there's Saliman. He's Hem's mentor figure, and I like him very much. He seems very similar to, Cadvan, who was the mentor figure for the first two books, and I wish he'd had a slightly more different personality, but I still like him a lot.
One of my favourites was Zelika, she was feisty, and rude, and I love her.
I think my favourite character though, was the crow, Irc. He's so funny, and he's always stealing shiny objects, and he cracks me up. Also he can talk. Or, Hem can talk to him, I guess. I love him very much.
Over all, this book wasn't for me. I think the series is good, and well written, I just personally don't like the writing style, and am bored by the plot. If you like this sort of thing though, it's definitely worth a read.
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