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kim_brockway_gatehouse's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyed this middle book in the Age of Misrule trilogy.
The action picks up, we get to know our cast of characters and there are twist & turns aplenty!
The action picks up, we get to know our cast of characters and there are twist & turns aplenty!
dtaylorbooks's review against another edition
3.0
How did we end up here
After I sent my review of the first in the series to the publisher they offered up the next two in the series and I greedily accepted. It took me a little bit to get to book two but here I am.
Okay, book. You've got 50 pages. Go!
Well, half of those fifty pages was recap so at least I didn’t have to re-read the last book. I got the not-so-Cliff Notes version right at the beginning of number 2. And then it led into an offshoot POV that ultimately had no bearing on the story and it just depicted random events going on throughout the country as a result of the fantasy becoming reality. It kept the action on its toes but it was disingenuous to the greater story and the advancement of the plot. Once it finally gets to the plot where the first book left off it picks up immediately from the end scene and we’re back at it.
Fifty pages wasn’t a good sample beginning on this one since the story didn’t really start picking up until around page 100 and quite frankly by then I was willing it to move a little faster. The story’s basically about nomads wandering around the British countryside trying to avoid the Big Bad that’s after them. Like the bulk of DEATHLY HALLOWS, there’s a whole hell of a lot of camping bookended by some minor action. Still, I kept reading because I wanted to see where it was going.
What worked . . .
The world building. I love how much detail Chadbourn put into bringing back the darkness and how horrifying he made it. There were some parts where I was uncomfortable reading for how disturbing and painful the plot was to the characters and it’s ultimately this that kept me reading. I just love this world so much, how it’s unraveling the known world and remaking it in its own image. I like how even the nicer, more allied beings have undertones of sadism and darkness, making them all untrustworthy.
I liked how Chadbourn was wholly unforgiving with his characters and none of them escaped the brutality of what was going on around them. And he was unapologetic about it as well. It wasn’t just physical or mental testing he was putting them through but Chadbourn dug down to the very souls of his characters and tore them off piece by piece, losing some in the process and gluing the rest back together in this Picasso-looking painting of pain. As bleak and unforgiving as it all was it made the story real to me. I believed it because, in reality, if this were to ever happen it would be just as disastrous as this.
What didn't work . . .
The pacing. It was such a slog to get through. So much so that I whine to myself about reading the third book in the series because I don’t know if I can take it. The book’s as much a character-driven narrative as it is plot-driven at this point and a lot of their time is spent wandering around the countryside, trying to find someplace safe to sleep coupled with an intense amount of soul-searching and coming to grips with what was going on around them along with what was going on with themselves. The book is bordering on something that really isn’t for me and if it wasn’t for the world-building I mentioned above I would have stopped reading.
I got tired of the drugs Shavi had to keep taking in order to tap into his powers. I was tired of Jack’s incessant whining about being the unwitting leader. I was tired of Laura being an irredeemable bitch. Ruth was still my favorite and it pained me to see her go through what she did. Veitch grew on me as well, for all his shoot first, ask questions later attitude. He ended up being a knight in shining armor and really rose above the rest by the end. Tom was kind of meh. He inserts information when it’s absolutely necessary and then is just a pain the rest of the time. If I weren’t so bored with the book I would have laughed at the similar comments the characters made about him. But I was bored. I was trying to will the book to end and for the love of everything that was holy IT JUST WOULDN’T END. It just kept meandering on and on and I wanted to put it down but the world kept dragging me back in and it was just enough to keep me reading. Barely.
Did I mention Laura’s an irredeemable bitch? She just didn’t let up and I really don’t understand why Chadbourn wrote her the way she did. There really seems to be a Madonna/Whore situation going on between her and Ruth and it bothers me. Instead of having two rather level-headed women we get polar opposite archetypes. Sure they’re both strong but at what cost? I didn’t find them this polarizing in the last book and they really branched out from each other in DARKEST HOUR. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be explained away with the situation or they’re both just so damaged and this is how they’re dealing with it or what but it just didn’t sit right. And where Laura’s story went, for all I didn’t like her I didn’t like where Chadbourn took it. I have a feeling it’s not where it was obviously made to go but it was just so sudden and by the time it happened everyone around her was so fed up with her that their reactions were barely registering at all. A whole of of, ‘huh, oh wells” going on and it sucks all around. I feel bad that this fictional character has basically been crapped on her entire fictional life and then she doesn’t even get a decent send-off.
And in the end . . .
I have the third one in the series and I will give it my all when I try to read it but unless something spectacular happens and the plot focuses more on plot-like things instead of internal naval-gazing I’m giving up on it. It’s just too heavy-handed for me. There are aspects of it that I really do like but it’s not enough to hold my interest and I can’t force myself through another book. I’m trying. I really am. But it’s taking a turn down the more character-driven path and that’s really not my bag. I need more and if I don’t get it I’ll have to tap out.
After I sent my review of the first in the series to the publisher they offered up the next two in the series and I greedily accepted. It took me a little bit to get to book two but here I am.
Okay, book. You've got 50 pages. Go!
Well, half of those fifty pages was recap so at least I didn’t have to re-read the last book. I got the not-so-Cliff Notes version right at the beginning of number 2. And then it led into an offshoot POV that ultimately had no bearing on the story and it just depicted random events going on throughout the country as a result of the fantasy becoming reality. It kept the action on its toes but it was disingenuous to the greater story and the advancement of the plot. Once it finally gets to the plot where the first book left off it picks up immediately from the end scene and we’re back at it.
Fifty pages wasn’t a good sample beginning on this one since the story didn’t really start picking up until around page 100 and quite frankly by then I was willing it to move a little faster. The story’s basically about nomads wandering around the British countryside trying to avoid the Big Bad that’s after them. Like the bulk of DEATHLY HALLOWS, there’s a whole hell of a lot of camping bookended by some minor action. Still, I kept reading because I wanted to see where it was going.
What worked . . .
The world building. I love how much detail Chadbourn put into bringing back the darkness and how horrifying he made it. There were some parts where I was uncomfortable reading for how disturbing and painful the plot was to the characters and it’s ultimately this that kept me reading. I just love this world so much, how it’s unraveling the known world and remaking it in its own image. I like how even the nicer, more allied beings have undertones of sadism and darkness, making them all untrustworthy.
I liked how Chadbourn was wholly unforgiving with his characters and none of them escaped the brutality of what was going on around them. And he was unapologetic about it as well. It wasn’t just physical or mental testing he was putting them through but Chadbourn dug down to the very souls of his characters and tore them off piece by piece, losing some in the process and gluing the rest back together in this Picasso-looking painting of pain. As bleak and unforgiving as it all was it made the story real to me. I believed it because, in reality, if this were to ever happen it would be just as disastrous as this.
What didn't work . . .
The pacing. It was such a slog to get through. So much so that I whine to myself about reading the third book in the series because I don’t know if I can take it. The book’s as much a character-driven narrative as it is plot-driven at this point and a lot of their time is spent wandering around the countryside, trying to find someplace safe to sleep coupled with an intense amount of soul-searching and coming to grips with what was going on around them along with what was going on with themselves. The book is bordering on something that really isn’t for me and if it wasn’t for the world-building I mentioned above I would have stopped reading.
I got tired of the drugs Shavi had to keep taking in order to tap into his powers. I was tired of Jack’s incessant whining about being the unwitting leader. I was tired of Laura being an irredeemable bitch. Ruth was still my favorite and it pained me to see her go through what she did. Veitch grew on me as well, for all his shoot first, ask questions later attitude. He ended up being a knight in shining armor and really rose above the rest by the end. Tom was kind of meh. He inserts information when it’s absolutely necessary and then is just a pain the rest of the time. If I weren’t so bored with the book I would have laughed at the similar comments the characters made about him. But I was bored. I was trying to will the book to end and for the love of everything that was holy IT JUST WOULDN’T END. It just kept meandering on and on and I wanted to put it down but the world kept dragging me back in and it was just enough to keep me reading. Barely.
Did I mention Laura’s an irredeemable bitch? She just didn’t let up and I really don’t understand why Chadbourn wrote her the way she did. There really seems to be a Madonna/Whore situation going on between her and Ruth and it bothers me. Instead of having two rather level-headed women we get polar opposite archetypes. Sure they’re both strong but at what cost? I didn’t find them this polarizing in the last book and they really branched out from each other in DARKEST HOUR. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be explained away with the situation or they’re both just so damaged and this is how they’re dealing with it or what but it just didn’t sit right. And where Laura’s story went, for all I didn’t like her I didn’t like where Chadbourn took it. I have a feeling it’s not where it was obviously made to go but it was just so sudden and by the time it happened everyone around her was so fed up with her that their reactions were barely registering at all. A whole of of, ‘huh, oh wells” going on and it sucks all around. I feel bad that this fictional character has basically been crapped on her entire fictional life and then she doesn’t even get a decent send-off.
And in the end . . .
I have the third one in the series and I will give it my all when I try to read it but unless something spectacular happens and the plot focuses more on plot-like things instead of internal naval-gazing I’m giving up on it. It’s just too heavy-handed for me. There are aspects of it that I really do like but it’s not enough to hold my interest and I can’t force myself through another book. I’m trying. I really am. But it’s taking a turn down the more character-driven path and that’s really not my bag. I need more and if I don’t get it I’ll have to tap out.
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