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kitvaria_sarene's review against another edition
4.0
I started Oath Sworn by Meg MacDonald years ago, for SPFBO, but despite enjoying it, I set it aside because it - sadly! - got cut, and I needed to finish those still in the running.
I finally got around to starting it over and finishing it, and as I expected, I should have done so earlier!
This is a gaslamp fantasy with plenty of politics, religions, intrigue - and airships!
This book does not hold your hand. It's complex and it has a bit of a slow start, which I didn't mind because I liked the tone and world enough to be hooked early on. You aren't told everything, and either you catch things and keep going, or you're gonna be lost. For me it worked really well, I felt I always knew enough to be engaged, but had enough mysteries and unknowns to want to read on and learn more!
The main characters are Aralt, who swore to protect the boy Lian with his life, but lost him three years ago, presumed dead. Lian suddenly reappears, but we've no idea what happened to him in the meantime, and he's changed from the naive boy he was. He's very mystical, sometimes young and U secure, but also at other times wise beyond his years and somewhat uncanny.
Aralt on the other hand had his own tragic past, which he's not yet really dealt with. He's decidedly not in the right state to have such a close connection to a kid, but there's no choice in it for either of them.
Their complicated relationship which was once formed on love & loyalty, but is now strained by barely knowing each other anymore and the things they went through was really well handled, and gave great depth to the story.
I loved the Scottish inspired backdrop! The landscape, the kilts, some of the culture and the language, you ken?
It felt well done for me, and added to the flavour and world instead of feeling off. One character's dialogue was a bit overdone, and I had a bit of a problem understanding him, but in a way that didn't feel too dissimilar to how I feel when I'm talking to someone with a heavy dialect in real life, so while I would have preferred that one toned down a bit, it was at least realistic.
The world has plenty of cool ideas to discover, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing more of it in the next books!
I finally got around to starting it over and finishing it, and as I expected, I should have done so earlier!
This is a gaslamp fantasy with plenty of politics, religions, intrigue - and airships!
This book does not hold your hand. It's complex and it has a bit of a slow start, which I didn't mind because I liked the tone and world enough to be hooked early on. You aren't told everything, and either you catch things and keep going, or you're gonna be lost. For me it worked really well, I felt I always knew enough to be engaged, but had enough mysteries and unknowns to want to read on and learn more!
The main characters are Aralt, who swore to protect the boy Lian with his life, but lost him three years ago, presumed dead. Lian suddenly reappears, but we've no idea what happened to him in the meantime, and he's changed from the naive boy he was. He's very mystical, sometimes young and U secure, but also at other times wise beyond his years and somewhat uncanny.
Aralt on the other hand had his own tragic past, which he's not yet really dealt with. He's decidedly not in the right state to have such a close connection to a kid, but there's no choice in it for either of them.
Their complicated relationship which was once formed on love & loyalty, but is now strained by barely knowing each other anymore and the things they went through was really well handled, and gave great depth to the story.
I loved the Scottish inspired backdrop! The landscape, the kilts, some of the culture and the language, you ken?
It felt well done for me, and added to the flavour and world instead of feeling off. One character's dialogue was a bit overdone, and I had a bit of a problem understanding him, but in a way that didn't feel too dissimilar to how I feel when I'm talking to someone with a heavy dialect in real life, so while I would have preferred that one toned down a bit, it was at least realistic.
The world has plenty of cool ideas to discover, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing more of it in the next books!
endlessmidnight's review against another edition
3.0
This was fairly decent. The story managed to grip me at certain sections and having me feeling something for them. There was some growth which to me is rare in many books nowadays.
The story just took too long to get going or really good. But when it does it really had me to continue reading it. The beginning had caught my attention, giving a sense of anticipation. And I did hope for something more to have explained what was going on there.
I feel as though there were too little explanations. The world didn’t really come alive and I was mostly really confused as to the terms, and the background. And the characters too, for the most part as there wasn’t enough exposition on them. And what they were. Or at least having their characters' motivation defined early.
Although later on, I managed to grasp the plot, even as I feel that it could have been made more prominent in the beginning. And the first chapter to be a little more to the point.
Overall, it had managed to intrigue me enough to finish it. Although I would have liked it to have been clearer and more straightforward.
The story just took too long to get going or really good. But when it does it really had me to continue reading it. The beginning had caught my attention, giving a sense of anticipation. And I did hope for something more to have explained what was going on there.
I feel as though there were too little explanations. The world didn’t really come alive and I was mostly really confused as to the terms, and the background. And the characters too, for the most part as there wasn’t enough exposition on them. And what they were. Or at least having their characters' motivation defined early.
Although later on, I managed to grasp the plot, even as I feel that it could have been made more prominent in the beginning. And the first chapter to be a little more to the point.
Overall, it had managed to intrigue me enough to finish it. Although I would have liked it to have been clearer and more straightforward.
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