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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
An adventure-romance set in the Great Game, how could that possibly go wrong? Well, after 958 pages of flabby prose and meandering narrative, I have some thoughts. Flashman, it ain’t. I suppose it starts well, all the tropes in the right places, but somehow fails to catch fire. The main characters aren’t loveable, the romance isn’t believable, the bluff soldier banter is boring and the story halts and jumps and just never, ever stops.
I have read this book many times. Every time I pick it up, it’s like I am sitting down with old friends.
Too many mistakes in the culture depiction of india, too much side track from the mainline story.....
Some historical description was good and interesting. The initial part of the book is very good and catching...but later parts are a drag.
The shadow of the moon is sooo much better!
Some historical description was good and interesting. The initial part of the book is very good and catching...but later parts are a drag.
The shadow of the moon is sooo much better!
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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slow-paced
For non-book records, review text and ratings are hidden. Only mood, pace, and content warnings are visible.
This is an excellent performance of a magnificent novel. I'd been putting off 'The Far Pavilions' for years, disregarding my own dictum that it's better to read one long, great book than four mediocre, shorter ones. I was wrong to do so, because 'The Far Pavilions' is the kind of beautiful, compelling novel that makes the reader want to get back to it, and that makes the reader sad when it's over. This isn't just some long meditation on beauty, however. Like the very best novels, 'The Far Pavilions' is exciting, heartbreaking, rousing, and a real page-turner.
As narrated by Audie award winner Vikas Adam, the story comes alive through his skillful use of accents, pitches, and cadences to help the listener distinguish between the all the voices speaking through this novel. Even on double speed, his diction is clear and the action easy to follow. I absolutely loved this audiobook, and I can't wait for my wife to listen to it so we can discuss it together.
As narrated by Audie award winner Vikas Adam, the story comes alive through his skillful use of accents, pitches, and cadences to help the listener distinguish between the all the voices speaking through this novel. Even on double speed, his diction is clear and the action easy to follow. I absolutely loved this audiobook, and I can't wait for my wife to listen to it so we can discuss it together.
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
An epic work of historical fiction set in era when the UK had control of most of India. I liked the immersion into the culture due to the main character who straddles multiple cultures and faiths. In the end this book was just way too long. It could have ended before the final Afghan conflict but given that’s an actual historical event I guess the author wanted to include it. But it was interminable. So 4 stars not 5. The reader of the audio book, Vikas Adam, was excellent.
Note: The following review may contain comments which could be considered spoilers; therefore, be advised and skip the review if such things bother you.
Review: Ash is a man born of two worlds and belonging to neither. The son of a prominent English scholar, he is orphaned early in life due to disease in India and is subsequently raised by the only mother he knows until he learns the truth at the old age of eleven. The in between years are full of wonder and heartbreak inside the walls of a remote kingdom far removed from British India by both location and tradition, and these early years set Ash on the path that will forever force him to walk between his two cultures, the one of his birth and the one of his upbringing.
He is comforted by a small group of friends that he considers family, and though the members of this group fluctuate from time to time, they rarely increase; he keeps his circle very tight. This group will see him through his return to England and a Westernized education, the conflict felt between his devotion to serving in the military and the frustration of witnessing the iron-handed way in which the British deal with the countries and peoples they want to dominate, and the igniting of a love forbidden by both sides and yet still destined to flourish.
This is a book that fits quite comfortably into the niche of "sweeping saga" and, though I had not known it prior to reading the book, the discovery through other reviews posted recently that this was once a TV miniseries brought no surprise: it is the type of story made for such, right down to practically hearing theme music in my head during certain long-described scenes. And just as other miniseries-destined "sweeping sagas" such as The Thorn Birds and Sho-Gun do, it is so easy to get caught up in the melodramatic tide, enjoying the ride even as one occasionally rolls their eyes to imagine such a scene on anything but paper.
Since much of this book was about Ashton and his discovery of and return to his One True Love, this may have actually been a five star book had it stopped there. Unfortunately it didn't, and like some other reviews have noted, the last section of the book regarding war in Afghanistan was lacking. It was overly long, for one, and it seemed really disconnected from the rest of the book. It was as if, having reached the end of the adventure of her young star-crossed lovers, the author was reluctant to leave them just yet and had to embellish for another 300-400 pages just to keep them for a little while longer. And yet, neither Ash nor his ladylove Juli featured much at all in the last section (with Juli being such an afterthought that even Ash forgot about her for a while). The result of this was that, though there were familiar characters in this final section, it felt unconnected and unnecessary; it was a second book without it being a second book, with the only goal, it seemed, to kill off pretty much anyone Ash ever cared about other than Juli so that they could retire to a hidden valley together without any obligation to another human being. Poor Ashton was just cheated by his Creator and I felt like he deserved a bit better than what he got.
I would still recommend this to anyone who enjoys being taken into the type of book where exotic lands were still mysterious and forbidding, before GPS and Google maps shrank the world to fit in anyone's pocket. Descriptions of rivers and sunrises and the play of shadows across snowy mountains create awe-filled mental vistas very effectively and there were times when I could feel the heat and taste the dust and curry in the air. Remote and lonely and exciting, even when crowded with people, it is an engaging glimpse at an environment the modern reader will never experience. For those that have loved the vast lands of Drogheda and the icy tundra of Ayla's quest, The Far Pavilions holds much to indulge in.
Review: Ash is a man born of two worlds and belonging to neither. The son of a prominent English scholar, he is orphaned early in life due to disease in India and is subsequently raised by the only mother he knows until he learns the truth at the old age of eleven. The in between years are full of wonder and heartbreak inside the walls of a remote kingdom far removed from British India by both location and tradition, and these early years set Ash on the path that will forever force him to walk between his two cultures, the one of his birth and the one of his upbringing.
He is comforted by a small group of friends that he considers family, and though the members of this group fluctuate from time to time, they rarely increase; he keeps his circle very tight. This group will see him through his return to England and a Westernized education, the conflict felt between his devotion to serving in the military and the frustration of witnessing the iron-handed way in which the British deal with the countries and peoples they want to dominate, and the igniting of a love forbidden by both sides and yet still destined to flourish.
This is a book that fits quite comfortably into the niche of "sweeping saga" and, though I had not known it prior to reading the book, the discovery through other reviews posted recently that this was once a TV miniseries brought no surprise: it is the type of story made for such, right down to practically hearing theme music in my head during certain long-described scenes. And just as other miniseries-destined "sweeping sagas" such as The Thorn Birds and Sho-Gun do, it is so easy to get caught up in the melodramatic tide, enjoying the ride even as one occasionally rolls their eyes to imagine such a scene on anything but paper.
Since much of this book was about Ashton and his discovery of and return to his One True Love, this may have actually been a five star book had it stopped there. Unfortunately it didn't, and like some other reviews have noted, the last section of the book regarding war in Afghanistan was lacking. It was overly long, for one, and it seemed really disconnected from the rest of the book. It was as if, having reached the end of the adventure of her young star-crossed lovers, the author was reluctant to leave them just yet and had to embellish for another 300-400 pages just to keep them for a little while longer. And yet, neither Ash nor his ladylove Juli featured much at all in the last section (with Juli being such an afterthought that even Ash forgot about her for a while). The result of this was that, though there were familiar characters in this final section, it felt unconnected and unnecessary; it was a second book without it being a second book, with the only goal, it seemed, to kill off pretty much anyone Ash ever cared about other than Juli so that they could retire to a hidden valley together without any obligation to another human being. Poor Ashton was just cheated by his Creator and I felt like he deserved a bit better than what he got.
I would still recommend this to anyone who enjoys being taken into the type of book where exotic lands were still mysterious and forbidding, before GPS and Google maps shrank the world to fit in anyone's pocket. Descriptions of rivers and sunrises and the play of shadows across snowy mountains create awe-filled mental vistas very effectively and there were times when I could feel the heat and taste the dust and curry in the air. Remote and lonely and exciting, even when crowded with people, it is an engaging glimpse at an environment the modern reader will never experience. For those that have loved the vast lands of Drogheda and the icy tundra of Ayla's quest, The Far Pavilions holds much to indulge in.