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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
Frustrating, but with some fascinating big ideas. Note that this list spoils important things about the book.
What I liked:
1. The world is unbalanced. Different creatures and items and people have wildly different power levels, to the point where an army can be wiped out by a couple of powerful people, but those people in turn could be wiped out by some ultra-powerful, magical creature. Most fantasy/SF/other stories strive for balance of opposing forces. This story throws that away, and it makes the world feel compellingly unstable.
2. The embrace of failure. The main character (Heden) completely fails in his mission. And not just like he fails midway through the story as a way to heighten the tension. His main mission to absolve the knights is a failure, his side mission to get the knights to save the town from urqs is a failure, he has to throw his cool Dwarven comet sword into a lake. And he doesn't even really get a "the real treasure is the friendships we made along the way" ending because everyone he could have been friends with is dead.
3. For reasons 1 and 2 above, the book functions as a pretty good Iraq war metaphor, which Colville says was part of the inspiration for the story. Just replace the Dwarven blade with a AC-130 gunship packing rotary autocannons and daisy cutters, and replace the bishop with George Bush (either one).
What I liked:
1. The world is unbalanced. Different creatures and items and people have wildly different power levels, to the point where an army can be wiped out by a couple of powerful people, but those people in turn could be wiped out by some ultra-powerful, magical creature. Most fantasy/SF/other stories strive for balance of opposing forces. This story throws that away, and it makes the world feel compellingly unstable.
2. The embrace of failure. The main character (Heden) completely fails in his mission. And not just like he fails midway through the story as a way to heighten the tension. His main mission to absolve the knights is a failure, his side mission to get the knights to save the town from urqs is a failure, he has to throw his cool Dwarven comet sword into a lake. And he doesn't even really get a "the real treasure is the friendships we made along the way" ending because everyone he could have been friends with is dead.
3. For reasons 1 and 2 above, the book functions as a pretty good Iraq war metaphor, which Colville says was part of the inspiration for the story. Just replace the Dwarven blade with a AC-130 gunship packing rotary autocannons and daisy cutters, and replace the bishop with George Bush (either one).
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes