Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
medium-paced
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Once I got a foothold on the setting and basic plot, I was smitten with Aralorn and Wolf. This was a detour from the urban fantasy that I have been immersed in lately (which I love!).
Quite an interesting read, to say the least. I like the writing style... and maybe that's why it's one of those fantasy-genre books that I can read without wincing... because to me it isn't high-fantasy.
Aralorn was believable, though sometimes I had to admit I yelled at the book for her moments of stupidity. And a few parts were a little confusing. But altogether, it was a good read (even if I did put it off for a long time, haha.)
Though the mention of a dragon egg... I do wonder if it will prove useful or prevalent to the story in Wolfsbane, or any other possible books in this series.
Aralorn was believable, though sometimes I had to admit I yelled at the book for her moments of stupidity. And a few parts were a little confusing. But altogether, it was a good read (even if I did put it off for a long time, haha.)
Though the mention of a dragon egg... I do wonder if it will prove useful or prevalent to the story in Wolfsbane, or any other possible books in this series.
Je connaissais déjà l'auteure, dont la renommée n'est plus à faire et sa saga Sianim avait de quoi intrigué tout amateur de fantasy. J'ai beaucoup apprécié ma lecture et je ne peux pas dire être déçue à cause des défauts du roman du fait de la note de l'auteure au début. En effet ce tome à les défauts du premier roman avec les faiblesses qui l'accompagnent. Mais au fil des pages on reconnait le potentiel de l'auteure !
On s'attache à Aralorn et surtout à Loup, dont j'observais la relation évoluée avec plaisir.
Malgré que le livre ne soit pas très aboutis, je suis impatiente de découvrir le tome 2 !
On s'attache à Aralorn et surtout à Loup, dont j'observais la relation évoluée avec plaisir.
Malgré que le livre ne soit pas très aboutis, je suis impatiente de découvrir le tome 2 !
This is one of Ms. Brigg's earliest books, and it shows. Although the writing quality here is already better than most of what's out there, serious plot holes, unexplained details abound. The characters are cardboard and vague--they do not arise into individuals, and cannot exist independent of their background, the way characters do in her more mature work. I.e. Mercy.
Sianim is a fairy tale world, complete with wizards, shapechangers, and a supvervillain who does terrible things to children. The heroine is courageous, humorous, effortlessly charismatic, and can defend herself against all kinds of danger. The hero is "tortured," can work unheard-of amount of magic, and is more dangerous than any amount of secondary monster creatures. However, he turns into blubber in front of the arch-villain. And speaking of the arch-villain... when a villain's primary aspect is charisma and beauty and laughter and charm, and he is always described as such whenever he appears, you need to put in some realistically gruesome details in order to establish his villain status.
Also, the ending was "not with a bang, but a whimper."
However! despite those flaws, this book is still better than many of the crap floating around out there. I say it's worth a casual read when you have nothing better to do.
Sianim is a fairy tale world, complete with wizards, shapechangers, and a supvervillain who does terrible things to children. The heroine is courageous, humorous, effortlessly charismatic, and can defend herself against all kinds of danger. The hero is "tortured," can work unheard-of amount of magic, and is more dangerous than any amount of secondary monster creatures. However, he turns into blubber in front of the arch-villain. And speaking of the arch-villain... when a villain's primary aspect is charisma and beauty and laughter and charm, and he is always described as such whenever he appears, you need to put in some realistically gruesome details in order to establish his villain status.
Also, the ending was "not with a bang, but a whimper."
However! despite those flaws, this book is still better than many of the crap floating around out there. I say it's worth a casual read when you have nothing better to do.
Good read. I want to read the next in the series. The book ended with the hero conquering all but the story of it could have been better. Overall great characters with a lot of growth opportunity. plan to follow the series.
"A decent first effort" ----- A review of the audio book.
I absolutely ADORE Patricia Briggs. I love her Mercy Thompson and Alpha & Omega series --- they are both automatic buys/pre-orders. (In fact... I have them in paperback, kindle, and audio formats.) I HIGHLY recommend those.
In anycase... Masques is a re-release of her first novel and even though it has been tweaked/cleaned up some, it still lacks something. The story line is okay - though a bit choppy at times - and the main characters are interesting, but neither is as fleshed out as much as I would like. One of the things I like best about Briggs is how invested I become in all her characters... even secondary ones. I think this is perhaps the area that I can see the greatest improvement in how she has grown as a writer. ( Seriously... this woman has had me in tears over the loss of minor characters and can make a piece of wood interesting. One of my favorite characters of hers is a walking stick.) Unfortunately, in THIS book... I did not find myself emotionally invested in many, if not most, of the characters. Thus, my rating is as follows:
Story --- 2.5 to 2.75 Narrator --- 4.5 Overall ---- 3
Having said all that, I have purchased & look forward to the sequel to this book.
And by ALL means... check out her other series.
I absolutely ADORE Patricia Briggs. I love her Mercy Thompson and Alpha & Omega series --- they are both automatic buys/pre-orders. (In fact... I have them in paperback, kindle, and audio formats.) I HIGHLY recommend those.
In anycase... Masques is a re-release of her first novel and even though it has been tweaked/cleaned up some, it still lacks something. The story line is okay - though a bit choppy at times - and the main characters are interesting, but neither is as fleshed out as much as I would like. One of the things I like best about Briggs is how invested I become in all her characters... even secondary ones. I think this is perhaps the area that I can see the greatest improvement in how she has grown as a writer. ( Seriously... this woman has had me in tears over the loss of minor characters and can make a piece of wood interesting. One of my favorite characters of hers is a walking stick.) Unfortunately, in THIS book... I did not find myself emotionally invested in many, if not most, of the characters. Thus, my rating is as follows:
Story --- 2.5 to 2.75 Narrator --- 4.5 Overall ---- 3
Having said all that, I have purchased & look forward to the sequel to this book.
And by ALL means... check out her other series.