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skampa's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-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? It's complicated
3.25
When I say this book is average, I don't mean to say it is bad. It was good. The writing didn't stand out in any way. I liked the characters and world building enough to keep reading.
yuliatta's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
alegato's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
saranies's review against another edition
3.0
Fairly typical fantasy story. Didn't feel like there was a ton of character development, just a Mary Sue who was magically good at everything.
karenina4777's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
therestisstillunwritten16's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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? No
4.5
chippyfiend's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-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? No
3.75
ngreads's review against another edition
3.0
So...I initially read this over ten years ago, and remembered literally nothing about it aside from the fact that I generally liked it. With my first read of the series, I hit book three only for the author to go on a pretty long hiatus before publishing book four, and by the time the fourth book had come out I had lost interest and largely forgotten what had happened in the earlier books. However, I know that the later books get really good, so I wanted to give the series another try, but that meant rereading this first entry.
Well, it took me a month to read it.
Look. It may have been the start of a very successful series that has lasted for twenty-five years, and it may be considered one of the big series of the nineties, but holy crap. It's still very much a debut novel from the nineties, and it read like one.
If I had to read Karigan asking "but could it really be this? What if it's this? But perhaps it was this?" one more time to hand-hold me to obvious conclusions that were already clearly shown earlier on the page...
Plot-wise the book was fine, but I found that it dragged by the end (which could have also been from my own fatigue by the end with how long the book was taking me to get through), and I found that I kept thinking "how are there x number of pages left?" over and over again.
The concepts in the book are still good. The characters are still interesting. But as a reader who's quite particular about prose and writing and really notices writing style choices, there were just some things in the writing style that really threw me out of the book and made it a struggle to get through.
I'm looking forward to moving forward in the story and getting beyond where I originally reached, as well as seeing where Britain improves in her work (which I know she does), but as a book that stands on its own merit I found this one to be a bit of a drag to get through, and I look forward to moving on to something a bit quicker.
Well, it took me a month to read it.
Look. It may have been the start of a very successful series that has lasted for twenty-five years, and it may be considered one of the big series of the nineties, but holy crap. It's still very much a debut novel from the nineties, and it read like one.
If I had to read Karigan asking "but could it really be this? What if it's this? But perhaps it was this?" one more time to hand-hold me to obvious conclusions that were already clearly shown earlier on the page...
Plot-wise the book was fine, but I found that it dragged by the end (which could have also been from my own fatigue by the end with how long the book was taking me to get through), and I found that I kept thinking "how are there x number of pages left?" over and over again.
The concepts in the book are still good. The characters are still interesting. But as a reader who's quite particular about prose and writing and really notices writing style choices, there were just some things in the writing style that really threw me out of the book and made it a struggle to get through.
I'm looking forward to moving forward in the story and getting beyond where I originally reached, as well as seeing where Britain improves in her work (which I know she does), but as a book that stands on its own merit I found this one to be a bit of a drag to get through, and I look forward to moving on to something a bit quicker.
twicomb's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars rounded up to 4. I really enjoyed this. I can tell I would have LOVED it if I had read it as a teenager. I probably would have insisted on getting a green greatcoat and a golden brooch with a horse on it, and walked around making knowing references to Greenies. Oh and I would have found a moonstone to carry in my pocket. Yeah, it’s that kind of book, in all the best ways. But unfortunately I didn’t read it as a teenager, so while I really enjoyed it, I wasn’t swept up wholesale the way I would have been. I’m debating now whether I want to check out the sequel.