Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
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
review du 25/12/2019
"No woman should be made to fear that she was not enough."
Ce livre me faisait de l’œil depuis sa sortie en anglais, mais je me suis dit que j'allais attendre sa sortie en français pour m'y attaquer, surtout vu sa taille ! Et je pense que j'ai bien fait d'attendre.
J'ai trouvé le début assez complexe et dense, et j'étais un peu perdu entre les différents arcs narratifs qui s'entremêlaient. Je ne comprenais pas vraiment qui était qui, et surtout qui était où. L'auteure a créé un monde extrêmement vaste et bien détaillé, où il est parfois facile de se perdre, surtout pour quelqu'un qui n'a pas l'habitude de lire beaucoup de fantasy adulte ! Heureusement, les cartes et l'index sont une aide précieuse, et j'ai réussi à rapidement me mettre en selle.
La première moitié de ce roman est clairement fait pour poser les bases de l'univers, d'esquisser un premier portrait des personnages, et de voir se profiler le but final. Et c'est très bien fait, car ça m'a donné envie de poursuivre ma lecture malgré les pages où, finalement, pas grand-chose se passait.
La deuxième moitié du roman était juste géniale. Une fois l'action bien entamée, impossible pour moi de m'arrêter et de poser le livre ! Les personnages se dévoilent complètement, et c'est un plaisir de les suivre car on s'y est attaché.
Quand j'ai refermé ce livre, j'étais impressionnée, mais surtout satisfaite. Je n'ai pas eu l'impression que la conclusion était bâclée ou qu'il aurait fallu une suite, et je suis bien contente de quitter le monde qu'a créé Samantha Sharon de cette façon !
"No woman should be made to fear that she was not enough."
Ce livre me faisait de l’œil depuis sa sortie en anglais, mais je me suis dit que j'allais attendre sa sortie en français pour m'y attaquer, surtout vu sa taille ! Et je pense que j'ai bien fait d'attendre.
J'ai trouvé le début assez complexe et dense, et j'étais un peu perdu entre les différents arcs narratifs qui s'entremêlaient. Je ne comprenais pas vraiment qui était qui, et surtout qui était où. L'auteure a créé un monde extrêmement vaste et bien détaillé, où il est parfois facile de se perdre, surtout pour quelqu'un qui n'a pas l'habitude de lire beaucoup de fantasy adulte ! Heureusement, les cartes et l'index sont une aide précieuse, et j'ai réussi à rapidement me mettre en selle.
La première moitié de ce roman est clairement fait pour poser les bases de l'univers, d'esquisser un premier portrait des personnages, et de voir se profiler le but final. Et c'est très bien fait, car ça m'a donné envie de poursuivre ma lecture malgré les pages où, finalement, pas grand-chose se passait.
La deuxième moitié du roman était juste géniale. Une fois l'action bien entamée, impossible pour moi de m'arrêter et de poser le livre ! Les personnages se dévoilent complètement, et c'est un plaisir de les suivre car on s'y est attaché.
Quand j'ai refermé ce livre, j'étais impressionnée, mais surtout satisfaite. Je n'ai pas eu l'impression que la conclusion était bâclée ou qu'il aurait fallu une suite, et je suis bien contente de quitter le monde qu'a créé Samantha Sharon de cette façon !
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
slow-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
Interesting and immersive, however most events (including the grand finale) in the end turn out to be anticlimactic. The story is full of promises and fails to deliever in the end. It's an enjoyable read nonetheless.
Satisfying fantasy with interesting characters; dragons, mages, women with sharp weapons.
adventurous
emotional
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:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Me ha gustado un montón.
Lo había visto muy recomendado pero no imaginaba que este mundo e historia podría abarcarse en un libro autoconclusivo (a pesar de que tiene una precuela, puede leerse de manera independiente).
He de decir que al principio me pareció un poco denso y me ha llevado tres intentos a lo largo del año engancharme; además, seguir la historia con tantos nombres (y no precisamente sencillos) hace que la lectura a veces se haga cuesta arriba (lo confieso, he tenido que consultar en ocasión las 10 HOJAS de personajes que se incluyen en la parte de atrás, en la que también hay un glosario y una cronología).
El worldbuilding me ha parecido maravilloso, y también seguir los distintos puntos de vista, por momentos unas historias estaban más animadas que otras así que me ha parecido que en ese aspecto estaba bien equilibrado y ningún pov me resultó monótono/aburrido.
Mi mayor pero es el final; creo que la historia, el universo y los personajes tienen muy buena construcción, la autora se toma su tiempo para que cojan forma y vayan evolucionando... pero de repente todo se termina en un abrir y cerrar de ojos.
*Spoilers en el siguiente párrafo*
Al final, durante todo el libro nos recalcan lo peligroso que es El Innombrable, lo difícil que fue sumirle en un letargo de mil años, y matarlo ha parecido un juego de niños, una batalla excesivamente simple para mí gusto.
*Fin de spoilers*
Todo lo demás me ha parecido maravilloso, las relaciones entre los personajes, las distintas moralidades en base a sus creencias y cómo las mismas van desmoronándose conforme descubren los secretos del pasado.
Sin duda, una fantasía que merece muchísimo la pena a pesar de su final.
Lo había visto muy recomendado pero no imaginaba que este mundo e historia podría abarcarse en un libro autoconclusivo (a pesar de que tiene una precuela, puede leerse de manera independiente).
He de decir que al principio me pareció un poco denso y me ha llevado tres intentos a lo largo del año engancharme; además, seguir la historia con tantos nombres (y no precisamente sencillos) hace que la lectura a veces se haga cuesta arriba (lo confieso, he tenido que consultar en ocasión las 10 HOJAS de personajes que se incluyen en la parte de atrás, en la que también hay un glosario y una cronología).
El worldbuilding me ha parecido maravilloso, y también seguir los distintos puntos de vista, por momentos unas historias estaban más animadas que otras así que me ha parecido que en ese aspecto estaba bien equilibrado y ningún pov me resultó monótono/aburrido.
Mi mayor pero es el final; creo que la historia, el universo y los personajes tienen muy buena construcción, la autora se toma su tiempo para que cojan forma y vayan evolucionando... pero de repente todo se termina en un abrir y cerrar de ojos.
*Spoilers en el siguiente párrafo*
Al final, durante todo el libro nos recalcan lo peligroso que es El Innombrable, lo difícil que fue sumirle en un letargo de mil años, y matarlo ha parecido un juego de niños, una batalla excesivamente simple para mí gusto.
*Fin de spoilers*
Todo lo demás me ha parecido maravilloso, las relaciones entre los personajes, las distintas moralidades en base a sus creencias y cómo las mismas van desmoronándose conforme descubren los secretos del pasado.
Sin duda, una fantasía que merece muchísimo la pena a pesar de su final.
I really liked this book. It was super long, but I kind of wished we could have spent more time with some characters, Tane specifically. I felt like her story didn't get fleshed out as much as I wanted--of course, her story, about training to be chosen as a dragon rider and then going on adventures with dragons, would be totally up my alley to begin with and if there was just a book about her I would totally read it in a heartbeat. But everything else was cool. Mages? Dragons? Court intrigue? Evil dragons? Dragon riders? All good.
I think my other favorite thing about this book was just how many women were in it. That sounds weird, but it was just refreshing to have random, unnamed guards be women. Or have so many female characters without a SINGLE sexual assault driving their backstory or making up the entirety of their characterization. It's seems like this should be the norm and it shouldn't be so surprising, but it really stuck out to me and I hope that more authors go down this path.
The only thing that I had a quibble with was the religion in this book. It's one thing to have different countries worshiping different figures--duh, that's how the real world works. But then to have concrete, undeniable proof that an entire religion is built on lies--well, that's NOT how the real world works. Or religion, for that matter. I dunno, I mostly tend to not care about religion in fantasy books (unless it gives you super powers or something, then it's cool) but this just didn't sit quite right with me.
I think my other favorite thing about this book was just how many women were in it. That sounds weird, but it was just refreshing to have random, unnamed guards be women. Or have so many female characters without a SINGLE sexual assault driving their backstory or making up the entirety of their characterization. It's seems like this should be the norm and it shouldn't be so surprising, but it really stuck out to me and I hope that more authors go down this path.
The only thing that I had a quibble with was the religion in this book. It's one thing to have different countries worshiping different figures--duh, that's how the real world works. But then to have concrete, undeniable proof that an entire religion is built on lies--well, that's NOT how the real world works. Or religion, for that matter. I dunno, I mostly tend to not care about religion in fantasy books (unless it gives you super powers or something, then it's cool) but this just didn't sit quite right with me.
Relative to the positive ratings and reviews of POTOT, my reading experience with this high fantasy novel was disappointingly... just okay.
The worldbuilding was incredibly immersive and well thought out; but it was also overwhelming. As a result, despite the breadth of 800ish pages (lordy lord), little space was devoted towards the overall plot and character development, leading to some unbalanced pacing. Storytelling was at times dragging and other times rushed; too many pages were devoted to rather minor details in POTOT, and too little to the major events and even to the development of some of our storytellers. I get this is a high fantasy -- but the four different storytellers, alongside the other 220348182391231 characters with not-easy-to-remember names, just did not work well in this standalone, which I feel contributed to the lack of character development, especially for Tané and Roos.
Moreover (with the exception of one twist regarding Kalyba), the story progression in POTOT was pretty predictable. And many of the challenges our storytellers faced were way too easily resolved and way too quickly. That's no fun. One big fat example is how so little happened with the characters' actual contact/conflict with the Nameless One...
Personally, these issues led to a reading experience that was exhausting often times, despite the rather snappy chapters, and ultimately did not feel rewarding in the end of it all. TLDR; just not a whole lot happened and tbh I wouldn't even cry if any of the main characters were to be unalived (this includes Ead, who was by far the most developed and interesting character). 2.5/5.
The worldbuilding was incredibly immersive and well thought out; but it was also overwhelming. As a result, despite the breadth of 800ish pages (lordy lord), little space was devoted towards the overall plot and character development, leading to some unbalanced pacing. Storytelling was at times dragging and other times rushed; too many pages were devoted to rather minor details in POTOT, and too little to the major events and even to the development of some of our storytellers. I get this is a high fantasy -- but the four different storytellers, alongside the other 220348182391231 characters with not-easy-to-remember names, just did not work well in this standalone, which I feel contributed to the lack of character development, especially for Tané and Roos.
Moreover (with the exception of one twist regarding Kalyba), the story progression in POTOT was pretty predictable. And many of the challenges our storytellers faced were way too easily resolved and way too quickly. That's no fun. One big fat example is how so little happened with the characters' actual contact/conflict with the Nameless One...
Personally, these issues led to a reading experience that was exhausting often times, despite the rather snappy chapters, and ultimately did not feel rewarding in the end of it all. TLDR; just not a whole lot happened and tbh I wouldn't even cry if any of the main characters were to be unalived (this includes Ead, who was by far the most developed and interesting character). 2.5/5.