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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
Wow this book was really suprising in the end! I am very satisfied with the ending with a suprise turn about Rook's family. I really would like to read the nextbooks!
Freeglader tries to be a lot of things, and it doesn't quite have the space to do all of them effectively. It wants to be a war story, a utopia, and a story about coming to terms with the past and moving forward.
The utopia and war story actually mesh reasonably well. While we saw some of it in Last of the Sky Pirates, a lot more space is dedicated in Freeglader to exploring the paradise of the Free Glades, where all races live in harmony (notably having the only non-evil shryke I can recall in the series), work is done freely and no money is needed, learning is respected and open, and those scarred by war and slavery can experience healing. It's a marked contrast to the industrial hellscapes, slave markets, and savage wildernesses of the series up to this point.
Spoiler
This makes it a target for the slave-taking polities of the Deepwoods, but those very same utopian characteristics end up saving it, as its more hardened new members come to its aid, and its ethical example leads to the common people of the Goblin Nations defecting. It's a very elegant construction, with the same quality providing both the basis of the conflict and its resolution. It's interesting that this is the most strongly utopian book in the series. As we see in The Immortals, the Free Glades aren't quite so free 500 years later. I have to imagine a similar process occurred in Undertown, which we're told was founded to be free of slaves. I imagine it started as a similar experiment. By the time of Immortals, the struggle for freedom has moved elsewhere. There seems to be a cyclic view at work. It's part of the reason I don't feel like this series is really over. At the end of Descenders, New New Sanctaphrax is the beacon of freedom, but I can't help but feel that it too, shall pass. The authors may have stopped writing books, but the series' very structure prevents it from having an "ending".
While I might quibble with the replacement of the adventure theme with militarism, this was a first stab at it, and S&R integrated it better in the future books, especially Immortals. Plus, the book isn't completely devoid of adventure, considering the opening trek to the Free Glades. No, the real problem with this book is the character side of it. The biggest hanging thread was Xanth's redemption, and I can only call its resolution rushed. Xanth's crimes are enormous, and while his feelings of guilt are sincere, I can't buy the speed with which he's accepted by the librarians. However wise and telepathic Cancaresse might be, how could they so quickly accept someone with a proven history of betrayal to take a leading position in battle? It's not that I can't believe he would never be able to make amends, it's that I can't believe such a process would take a matter of weeks. I think this book should've left Xanth on the first few steps of his redemptive journey, not what is effectively the end of it. I did at least like the scene where Tweezel related Xanth's own guilt and path forward to the founding of the Free Glades.
Rook's part of this story was even less compelling. While his amnesia played well with his unknown origins, it also led to Rook taking no part in Xanth's story. The utopian and war elements were so wonderfully integrated, but the character stories move on two separate tracks. I did at least appreciate the attempt to tie the history of the previous protagonists into Rook's story, which was also touched in Xanth's side of this story.
Magda's role is also funny in retrospect. She's very tightly attached to Xanth's narrative, having many scenes with him in Vox, and here proves pivotal to Xanth's trial. Even in the epilogue, she's spending her time with Xanth over Rook. Then, in Blooding of Rufus Filatine, she ends up marrying Rook? I'm pretty sure she didn't have a single significant scene together with Rook over the last two books. I realize S&R had not much intention to write romance outside the Quint books, but this feels even more ridiculous than Twig ending up with the slaughterer girl he met in Deepwoods. Maybe they didn't want Magda to end up with a man who had slapped her? That's the only sensible rationale I can think of. Come to think of it, the protagonists in this series always end up with the first girl they met, don't they? The mysteries of the Edge Chronicles may never be solved.
As a final, most minor note, I found the exit of the shrykes as a species interesting. They were a pretty major part of the series up to this point, but hereafter they're not very relevant. I actually can't remember if any shrykes even appear in Immortals and the Cade books. Maybe there was one in New Sanctaphrax? I really loved them as a totally fantastic element of the setting. There's absolutely no real-world analogue to a society of vicious, cannibalistic, slave-taking bird women who keep their men on leashes. It was such a unique part of the setting, and while the story reasons for their decline as a species makes sense, I'm curious what the out of universe reason was. I wonder if it had something to do with the increased prominence of the theme of integration of the various species/races of the Edge. In the early books of the series, what exactly the humans of this setting were wasn't clear, and by this point the word Fourthling hadn't yet been used, but even by Vox, Flambusia was noted as having cloddertrog ancestry, and S&R took this idea further with the later books, to the point that even waifs can reproduce with the other peoples of the Edge. The Shrykes obviously don't fit very well in that schema.
it took longer than it should have, but nevertheless, i love it. rook is so neat.
I don't remember much of this book from when I was young, but there's so much more to offer in this installment than I expected! The direction Rook's story takes is fascinating, what with the Freeglades and the progression of civilization farther into the deepwoods, and the discovery of the paternal line that every book has a piece of. As exciting as it is to get back to arguably my favorite book in the series, the Winter Knights, this makes me just as excited to get to the Immortals later on.
I don't know hat it is about these books, but they strike a chord in me. Gorgeous illustrations, lovely worldbuilding, constant growth and shifting of characters, simplicity and complexity at once within an easily consumable book.
Freeglader carriers on where its precursor left off, somehow picking up directly after the contents of the previous book without making it feel like you needed to read it. The reader is brought up to speed by general statements, the characters and conflict are introduced, go. There's not a hint of fat on this story, trimmed and lean, but it's filled to bursting with colorful characters and setpieces and cultures.
Something I liked in particular was the development of the main character's rival who served as a stand-in while the mc suffered from memory loss, something that seems to happen on occasion with the main characters in these books. I also appreciated the strong hints of anti-intellectualism presented over the series that really rear their heads in the previous book and this one.
Just read it. I'm going to keep leaving reviews until you do.
Freeglader carriers on where its precursor left off, somehow picking up directly after the contents of the previous book without making it feel like you needed to read it. The reader is brought up to speed by general statements, the characters and conflict are introduced, go. There's not a hint of fat on this story, trimmed and lean, but it's filled to bursting with colorful characters and setpieces and cultures.
Something I liked in particular was the development of the main character's rival who served as a stand-in while the mc suffered from memory loss, something that seems to happen on occasion with the main characters in these books. I also appreciated the strong hints of anti-intellectualism presented over the series that really rear their heads in the previous book and this one.
Just read it. I'm going to keep leaving reviews until you do.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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:
Yes
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Dieses Buch hat für mich die Grundlage für epische Fantasy gelegt und in all den Jahren war es eine der ersten Messlatten für Fantasy. Ein meisterhaftes Finale der Trilogie und dieses Abschnittes der Chroniken. Die ganze Zeit über super spannend und selbst wenn es ruhiger wird, lernen wir neue Aspekte der freien Täler kennen.
(+)
- Wie kann dieses Buch gleich zwei der besten Schlachten der Reihe haben?
- Ich liebe die Themes, die in diesen letzten Krieg gehen
- Xanths Gericht war ein perfekter Moment für seinen Charakter
(-)
- Hat für mich keine Schwächen
Mein Booktube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWsL1fqbkgjZpzLPsXQYN6Q
Mein Bookstagram: https://www.instagram.com/nico_fantasy_reviews/
(+)
- Wie kann dieses Buch gleich zwei der besten Schlachten der Reihe haben?
- Ich liebe die Themes, die in diesen letzten Krieg gehen
- Xanths Gericht war ein perfekter Moment für seinen Charakter
(-)
- Hat für mich keine Schwächen
Mein Booktube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWsL1fqbkgjZpzLPsXQYN6Q
Mein Bookstagram: https://www.instagram.com/nico_fantasy_reviews/