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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Too many questions, not enough here to be more intriguing than frustrating.
I hated the beginning of this. We’re told next to nothing about these five college students and they all suddenly agree, apropos of nothing, to go to another world with a frankly sketchy pair of magical men just because they asked. Who are these students? What motivates them? What do they even study? Why aren’t they more alarmed by magic? And why would they naively tag along to a dangerous new world they know exactly nothing about, especially after one of the sketchy men kills something that followed from the other world?
I hated the beginning of this. We’re told next to nothing about these five college students and they all suddenly agree, apropos of nothing, to go to another world with a frankly sketchy pair of magical men just because they asked. Who are these students? What motivates them? What do they even study? Why aren’t they more alarmed by magic? And why would they naively tag along to a dangerous new world they know exactly nothing about, especially after one of the sketchy men kills something that followed from the other world?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Alcohol
Minor: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
I still love this book, decades after reading it for the first time it still resonates with me.
Minus a star because of the "the best way to show that someone is evil is to have them rape someone!" part near the end. Good on you for making the rape extra fucked up, I guess.
I did like the world, though, I will give it that. I'm still gonna read the next ones because I'm curious where it goes.
I did like the world, though, I will give it that. I'm still gonna read the next ones because I'm curious where it goes.
crazy how much seems directly ripped from lotr. but different enough. it keeps things moving in an entertaining way. I appreciate how little time it spent in the real world going through that kind of setup stuff.
Agh, I wrote this passionate non-review about why I couldn't finish this book, and then the browser deleted it!
Anyway, to sum up - I'm not finishing this book because I'm a hundred pages in and nothing very interesting or important has happened yet. There's nothing to sustain my interest. Thought about this and realized that it's because the characters are FABULOUSLY PASSIVE. They are classic textbook examples of how to be passive characters. Occasionally it seems like they're doing things, but if you look hard you realize that they are standing perfectly still and the plot is moving around them.
I was so bored reading this book that I started reading a Henry James novel that has been sitting unfinished on my shelf for 2+ years. I mean really now.
Anyway, to sum up - I'm not finishing this book because I'm a hundred pages in and nothing very interesting or important has happened yet. There's nothing to sustain my interest. Thought about this and realized that it's because the characters are FABULOUSLY PASSIVE. They are classic textbook examples of how to be passive characters. Occasionally it seems like they're doing things, but if you look hard you realize that they are standing perfectly still and the plot is moving around them.
I was so bored reading this book that I started reading a Henry James novel that has been sitting unfinished on my shelf for 2+ years. I mean really now.
4.5 stars, to be exact. It is intriguing, but not spell-binding. Minus points for too many stock characters (exiled son, aging king, the Seer, the warrior, etc.). Plus points for the best way of depicting God that I've ever read - the God is the Weaver, the Devil the Unraveller, and Life is a Tapestry.
This is a wonderful book, and an equally wonderful trilogy. Some may find the writing a bit stilted and characters might be unbelievable, but I was born and raised in Toronto, and reading these is like visiting home. The story isn't quite as high fantasy as Tolkien's works, but I find it the more readable for that very fact.