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kattra's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
tiltingwindward's review against another edition
2.0
Frankly, I'm pretty disappointed with how this series turned out. The premise is excellent: Prospero and Miranda from The Tempest come back from the Island, acquire the Water of Life, and build a vast commercial empire based on contracts with various other supernatural forces. Then, Prospero disappears. The premise was so good that I was willing to overlook a number of things in the first two books to see where the story went (Examples: (1) a main character whom I personally found pretty irritating; (2) big plot twists that were either telegraphed obviously chapters in advance or came from basically nowhere; (3) a tendency by the author to use words of extreme emotion rather than "said," so it appeared that her characters were having constant wild mood swings in the course of pretty basic conversations.)
Very limited spoilers below, but for those who don't want even that much, the short version: this book devolves into preachy message fiction without remedying any of the previously existing shortcomings in the story, and the ultimate resolution of the trilogy is disappointingly flat. I would have loved to see what could have come of this story if the author had been more invested in the plot than in the moral.
**HERE THERE BE SPOILERS (MINOR ONES)**
Unfortunately, the final book didn't reward my faith. The periodic moralizing that had popped up in the first two books devolved into full-fledged preaching with a strong Catholic varnish. The Prosperos journey through Hell in search of the pater familias, encountering any number of demons and demonic environments straight out of Dante (literally; Lamplighter has done an impressive and faithful job of bringing Dante's Hell to life). Over the course of the journey, the people/demons they encounter reveal how Hell has continued to influence the world in the centuries since Dante first described it - namely, through Hollywood, New York City, weakening the bonds of marriage, rock music, and abortion. Seriously. There's a whole speech about how abortion has been Hell's greatest invention since they pioneered temple prostitution.
On top of that, the Prosperos themselves indulge in a fair bit of thinly veiled personal reflection about how blind and wicked they have been and how awful it would be to end up in Hell and how if only people living on Earth could see and understand what awaits them they would be disgusted and reform their ways. Meanwhile, all of the non-Catholic/non-European supernatural influences just fall right out of the story, which is a shame, because one of the strengths of the first book was how well Lamplighter had integrated multiple myth traditions into her vision of the modern supernatural world.
Finally, a significant portion of the book is devoted to Miranda angsting about her own personal tragedies. Does the elf she has a crush on like her back, or is he a demon? Who is her mother? Why won't her brothers stop accusing her of betraying them? Why does everyone always want her to take their feelings into account? Some of these are serious questions that should inspire internal reflection. Some of them are annoying to read about when the character is a 15-year-old girl, and are downright infuriating when the character is 530 and should maybe have addressed some of these issues before now. Ultimately, the answers given to explain these many mysteries are simultaneous preachy and petty, and doesn't, in my view, excuse any of the internal self-justification that readers have been forced to endure. Not to mention that the final resolution of Miranda's problems (marriage before sex, obviously) is more appropriate to an 18th-century novel than a 21st century one.
Very limited spoilers below, but for those who don't want even that much, the short version: this book devolves into preachy message fiction without remedying any of the previously existing shortcomings in the story, and the ultimate resolution of the trilogy is disappointingly flat. I would have loved to see what could have come of this story if the author had been more invested in the plot than in the moral.
**HERE THERE BE SPOILERS (MINOR ONES)**
Unfortunately, the final book didn't reward my faith. The periodic moralizing that had popped up in the first two books devolved into full-fledged preaching with a strong Catholic varnish. The Prosperos journey through Hell in search of the pater familias, encountering any number of demons and demonic environments straight out of Dante (literally; Lamplighter has done an impressive and faithful job of bringing Dante's Hell to life). Over the course of the journey, the people/demons they encounter reveal how Hell has continued to influence the world in the centuries since Dante first described it - namely, through Hollywood, New York City, weakening the bonds of marriage, rock music, and abortion. Seriously. There's a whole speech about how abortion has been Hell's greatest invention since they pioneered temple prostitution.
On top of that, the Prosperos themselves indulge in a fair bit of thinly veiled personal reflection about how blind and wicked they have been and how awful it would be to end up in Hell and how if only people living on Earth could see and understand what awaits them they would be disgusted and reform their ways. Meanwhile, all of the non-Catholic/non-European supernatural influences just fall right out of the story, which is a shame, because one of the strengths of the first book was how well Lamplighter had integrated multiple myth traditions into her vision of the modern supernatural world.
Finally, a significant portion of the book is devoted to Miranda angsting about her own personal tragedies. Does the elf she has a crush on like her back, or is he a demon? Who is her mother? Why won't her brothers stop accusing her of betraying them? Why does everyone always want her to take their feelings into account? Some of these are serious questions that should inspire internal reflection. Some of them are annoying to read about when the character is a 15-year-old girl, and are downright infuriating when the character is 530 and should maybe have addressed some of these issues before now. Ultimately, the answers given to explain these many mysteries are simultaneous preachy and petty, and doesn't, in my view, excuse any of the internal self-justification that readers have been forced to endure. Not to mention that the final resolution of Miranda's problems (marriage before sex, obviously) is more appropriate to an 18th-century novel than a 21st century one.
casvelyn's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
middlekmissie's review against another edition
2.0
A disappointing ending to the series. See my entire review here:
http://wp.me/p3vZnQ-rt
http://wp.me/p3vZnQ-rt
travistravis's review
5.0
Definitely one of my favourite fantasy books in a while. Takes a strong bit of Dante's Inferno, along with some Shakespeare and all sorts of mysticism from many religions. It's set in Modern day, with a feeling of Warehouse 13 as well.
mgwuh's review
2.0
Interesting interpretations of religion undermined by very strong puritan, gendered, heterosexual values on FULL display.
gskenney's review
5.0
All of the Prospero siblings and supporting characters have really come into their own in this third and final book of the Prospero's Daughter series. Lamplighter masterfully manages to make each of them likeable in his or her unique way, even though each also has weaknesses and can be trouble for each other. I don't know of many people who would have the hubris to create a structured Hell after Dante's superb job centuries ago, but Lamplighter pulls it off magnificently.
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