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pikaia's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
5.0
Dyane Forde writes beautiful prose so the book was a pleasure to read, and her fantasy world is well developed and believable. I liked that the characters all had flaws and strengths, and even the antagonists felt like real people, not evil stereotypes. I enjoyed this book and plan to read the next one in the series.
kcrosswriting's review
4.0
The Purple Morrow was, as a lover of fantasy, a world I could get lost in. I'd recommend this for all kinds of fantasy lovers, but especially for people who tend to favor high or epic fantasy (even though it isn't, really. I feel like it flirts that line a little.)
First of all, Forde did an excellent job of world building and creating. I felt like she knew where she was in the world, which isn't always the case in fantasy stories. Except for one character, I felt like everyone was really consistent. Strong character development throughout. Good descriptions without too much. The story constantly moved forward. It didn't lag. I mostly read this while exercising on my bike and I ended up exercising longer some days just to keep reading.
My only two issues with the story were minimal. Because she had a lot of back story to explain, it led to a lot of history giving. Occasionally it leaked into the dialogue and felt a bit contrived, but nothing too distracting.
The other issue I had was Kelen. *SPOILER ALERT* I liked that she made him two dimensional, but I just didn't quite buy it. He loved the girl, but he was fine with kidnapping and raping her? Then he had the moral struggle between not wanting to kill (as I remember perceiving it) but then he'd go out and do it anyway without any reserve. I don't know. I felt, myself, that Kelen needed a bit more rounding out. He wasn't quite there, but I appreciated that she tried to bring more personality and life to him. *END SPOILER*
Overall, this is a series that I will keep my eye on and look forward to reading the rest of them.
First of all, Forde did an excellent job of world building and creating. I felt like she knew where she was in the world, which isn't always the case in fantasy stories. Except for one character, I felt like everyone was really consistent. Strong character development throughout. Good descriptions without too much. The story constantly moved forward. It didn't lag. I mostly read this while exercising on my bike and I ended up exercising longer some days just to keep reading.
My only two issues with the story were minimal. Because she had a lot of back story to explain, it led to a lot of history giving. Occasionally it leaked into the dialogue and felt a bit contrived, but nothing too distracting.
The other issue I had was Kelen. *SPOILER ALERT* I liked that she made him two dimensional, but I just didn't quite buy it. He loved the girl, but he was fine with kidnapping and raping her? Then he had the moral struggle between not wanting to kill (as I remember perceiving it) but then he'd go out and do it anyway without any reserve. I don't know. I felt, myself, that Kelen needed a bit more rounding out. He wasn't quite there, but I appreciated that she tried to bring more personality and life to him. *END SPOILER*
Overall, this is a series that I will keep my eye on and look forward to reading the rest of them.
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