Reviews

Darkwell by Douglas Niles

minix's review

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

Definitely the worst of the trilogy. The characters cannot experience any growth because guess what, it was magic all along that made them mess up. No, actually don’t guess, because you’re told immediately that it was magic so the resolution isn’t even a surprise. The world building was decent, but this completely falls flat when it comes to characters - there are free D&D campaign settings with more varied characters than anyone in this book.

The whole cheating story arc is just laughable - of course she is going to take him back and there are no repercussions (she even blames herself).

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youdontshea's review against another edition

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2.0

I really enjoyed parts of this trilogy. I am really not into narratives of turning friends/parties against each other. Specifically, I was not feeling the temptress/ cheating storyline.

raechel's review

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adventurous lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

This was going to be 2.5 stars, but I got so mad at how they did Robyn dirty that it gets bumped down to 2.

This book is the Greatest Hits of all the problems in the first two Moonshae books. Weird sexism/sexual assault, constantly hopping from different character perspectives even if it's just a couple paragraphs, a plot all over the place, and TONS of coincidences.

We're following Tristan and Robyn again because this Moonwell just can't stay un-corrupted. Tristian is king of the Moonshaes now because... reasons. He doesn't like and skips out of town as soon as he
cheats on Robyn that WAS NOT CAUSED BY MAGIC and no one... cares?


There are so many parts of this book where characters just happen to overhear the right thing or be in the right place or meet the right person. Once or twice is understandable, but it's every other chapter that people get a lucky break.

Some Complaints in No Particular Order:
What was the point of Yak the furbolg? You could have replaced him with just about any other character we already knew.

I hated how the
Sisters of Symmeria
show up just in time to save the party and then conveniently (there it is again) get got.

Daryth's
sudden realization that's he in love with Robyn just in time for him to die. /spoiler>

How the Crown is
suddenly an anti-magic zone but didn't work on Genna's disguise or the undead or anything that happened in the previous Moonshae books and also no one has ever realized this.


Why was Pontswain
less dimension in this book than he was in book 2? All of a sudden he's just a scheming guy rubbing his hands together and steals the Crown to be literally stabbed once after his hiding spot is conveniently found literally a chapter later and apparently the guard who killed him will face no repercussions for KILLING A NOBLE.


We are told over and over that
Tristan was NOT tricked with magic to sleep with the disguised Genna, he I guess was just kinda drunk and horny and annoyed that Robyn went to bed early? But at the end of the book Robyn APOLOGIZES TO HIM FOR BEING MAD HE CHEATED ON HER?????


This ending to the trilogy is NOT worth getting through the first two books. Niles learned nothing from writing Moonshaes 1 and 2 and the ending itself feels pretty rushed and lackluster. 

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mw2k's review

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2.0

The least of the trilogy. The romantic squabbling between Tristan and Robyn was an unsuccessful contrivance that weighed the book down. There's also a lot of non-action and non-progress in the narrative - we spend an awful lot of time plodding from point A to point B in Myrloch Vale without really advancing the plot in any way. So when you actually arrive at this book's conclusion, you're relieved more than anything else.
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