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kitvaria_sarene's review
3.0
This one started off ok for me, but I actually lost interest along the way.
The main character is 17, still lives at home, has to learn higher mathematics for school - might go to college later. But it's also a world where people still have stewards, cooks, coaches, boys on the streets. The mix of what feels like the typical historical flavoured fantasy with modern college ideas just didn't work for me. He is totally part of his family, with his mother still telling him to shower, do homework and so on - on the other side he goes missing for months on end, and that does not seem to be a problem, as long as he sends a "I'm fine letter". The whole family relations seem very blasé...
The tone and voice feel like a book for age 12+, but then there's some sex and murder and him learning how to seduce a women from a friendly whore. Once more the mix of adult themes and YA plot/character/prose just didn't do it for me.
It SHOULD have been interesting to see how this boy changes - spoiler about how he changes:
All in all it wasn't bad, but it also didn't blow me away and I have no interest whatsoever in reading the sequel, even though this one ends rather open ended. The world just starts to open up, so I SHOULD be interested, but I just am not. I simply don't care about the main character or his family...
The main character is 17, still lives at home, has to learn higher mathematics for school - might go to college later. But it's also a world where people still have stewards, cooks, coaches, boys on the streets. The mix of what feels like the typical historical flavoured fantasy with modern college ideas just didn't work for me. He is totally part of his family, with his mother still telling him to shower, do homework and so on - on the other side he goes missing for months on end, and that does not seem to be a problem, as long as he sends a "I'm fine letter". The whole family relations seem very blasé...
The tone and voice feel like a book for age 12+, but then there's some sex and murder and him learning how to seduce a women from a friendly whore. Once more the mix of adult themes and YA plot/character/prose just didn't do it for me.
It SHOULD have been interesting to see how this boy changes - spoiler about how he changes:
Spoiler
He goes from small "nerdy" beat up kid to some sort of criminal hand for some sort of nobel man. But instead of thinking about how you can just accidentally end up like that (like getting into a gang and only noticing you're in too deep once it's too late) but I just thought "You can't be that blind..."All in all it wasn't bad, but it also didn't blow me away and I have no interest whatsoever in reading the sequel, even though this one ends rather open ended. The world just starts to open up, so I SHOULD be interested, but I just am not. I simply don't care about the main character or his family...
blackcatlouise's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
inked_up_bookshelf's review
3.0
Great world building but overall very drawn out and boring for me. Took a long time to complete.
littlerue's review
1.0
the main character sexually assaults someone but the author still tries to make you care about him. bullshit.
cpark2005's review
3.0
On Borrowed Luck is a very different sort of fantasy read. It’s a coming-of-age story set in a low fantasy setting that has hints of magic. And it isn’t afraid to take some very dark turns at times, turning some of the tropes we’ve come to expect in coming-of-age tales on their heads.
I personally found the main character very well characterized. I understood his motivations and felt like I understood the decisions that he was making. From the very first pages I was engaged with what was going to happen to Kirrin. The action picks up right away and while there are moments of downtime, it largely doesn’t let up. Muir has a way of writing fight scenes that is just brutal. I don’t mean brutal in terms of the blood and gore described, but rather in the scrappy way you would expect street fights to take place. They are very well done.
There are some moments in the plot where the story feels like it jumps around a little. This is particularly true of the middle of the book when time passes but we aren’t always informed of exactly how much time has passed. There are a few small continuity or believability issues as well. For instance, Kirrin spends huge amounts of time away from his mother and she doesn’t appear overly concerned about this. I also found the side characters to be universally flat. They just didn’t connect with me at all.
Potential readers should also be aware that one of the ways this story turns some coming-of-age tropes on their heads is that the main character often makes poor decisions about who to listen to and who to allow to influence him. As a result the story ends up taking some pretty dark turns and the man that Kirrin becomes is hardly a shining example to others. Don’t mistake this for grimdark, however. The setting isn’t particularly grim, Kirrin just makes several questionable decisions.
I found this dark turn a little jarring at times. Overall the story was engaging and although I don’t like the place Kirrin came out I can’t particularly fault the book for that. 3/5 stars.
5 – I loved this, couldn’t put it down, move it to the top of your TBR pile
4 – I really enjoyed this, add it to the TBR pile
3 – It was ok, depending on your preferences it may be worth your time
2 – I didn’t like this book, it has significant flaws and I can’t recommend it
1 – I loathe this book with a most loathsome loathing
I personally found the main character very well characterized. I understood his motivations and felt like I understood the decisions that he was making. From the very first pages I was engaged with what was going to happen to Kirrin. The action picks up right away and while there are moments of downtime, it largely doesn’t let up. Muir has a way of writing fight scenes that is just brutal. I don’t mean brutal in terms of the blood and gore described, but rather in the scrappy way you would expect street fights to take place. They are very well done.
There are some moments in the plot where the story feels like it jumps around a little. This is particularly true of the middle of the book when time passes but we aren’t always informed of exactly how much time has passed. There are a few small continuity or believability issues as well. For instance, Kirrin spends huge amounts of time away from his mother and she doesn’t appear overly concerned about this. I also found the side characters to be universally flat. They just didn’t connect with me at all.
Potential readers should also be aware that one of the ways this story turns some coming-of-age tropes on their heads is that the main character often makes poor decisions about who to listen to and who to allow to influence him. As a result the story ends up taking some pretty dark turns and the man that Kirrin becomes is hardly a shining example to others. Don’t mistake this for grimdark, however. The setting isn’t particularly grim, Kirrin just makes several questionable decisions.
I found this dark turn a little jarring at times. Overall the story was engaging and although I don’t like the place Kirrin came out I can’t particularly fault the book for that. 3/5 stars.
5 – I loved this, couldn’t put it down, move it to the top of your TBR pile
4 – I really enjoyed this, add it to the TBR pile
3 – It was ok, depending on your preferences it may be worth your time
2 – I didn’t like this book, it has significant flaws and I can’t recommend it
1 – I loathe this book with a most loathsome loathing
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