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samdogra's review
3.0
So I've been wanting to read a few of the Krystal Ink titles, and thought I'd start with this one. Certainly an ambitious book with the themes it tackles, alas it was a bit too gritty for me. Not a fault of the author, simply a personal preference for someone who still guzzles down her YA!
STORY: As per usual we're following an orphaned boy looking for his destiny and his past. In an effort to bring something new to the table, however, the book focuses more on character development. As the progatonist is a teenage male, of course this means sexuality and soldiering-ing. However, while it does break the monotony of the staple epic fantasy plot, and some scenes were heartfelt and well written, I felt it was overdone in places. The sexual awakening and romantic subplots were far too drawn out, and the sexual themes got very distracting from the main story, which is a shame because there was a lot of ways to work with the bountiful world the author created. By all means, it was an intriguing idea, but for me the balance between plot and character was just off a little in favour of character.
The twists, too, I felt were too rushed to be fully appreciated, and a lot of potential was lost with certain character relationships.
However, you can't deny the subject matter is a refreshing breath of air given the many LOTR clones out there, so I appreciate the author's ambition.
CHARACTERS: I found this a bit of a mixed bag. Rhodri is basically a Cinderella- always gets into trouble but doesn't bother to stick up for himself, has certain unique traits that are barely used or mentioned, dreaming of being rescued by a knight in dashing armour (oops, I mean his father), which is refreshing for a male lead, but some points in his presentation took away from my enjoyment.
First, his introduction to the King's Third was very rushed. While I understand the story doesn't need to drag, I didn't quite understand why the soldiers seemed to sympathise with Rhodri instantly. While they initially deny his request to join them, a brief show of parental abuse (and horse riding ability) and they welcome him with open arms, which for me came across as too easy. I felt it would've been better if Rhodri had done something to earn the soldier's trust first, given that everyone in his hometown hates him.
I also got very lost with his memory transitions, particularly when it came to certain details about his past. For example, in one scene he suddenly knows his father's name, but from what had been presented earlier, I got the impression he knew very little other than odd snippets. I guess, as the book title implies, the restoration of Rhodri's memory plays a key part of the plot, but I never really got a sense of his good memory, either, other than being told it was good from other characters and one escapade with an exam paper. I would've preferred more concrete evidence of his photographic memory.
The rest of the crew fit their usual roles (Astan the best friend, Dur the bully, Jime the shrewd one). Astan had a particularly interesting thread but this was cut tragically short. Full points to the author for conveying such a difficult subject, though.
The only other thing (and this is totally my personal preference talking) I didn't really care for was the general gritty tone of the characters. Yes, they're teenagers, yes, Rhodri's been sheltered, but the sexual references just go on and on, and as I said before, it seemed to take over from the plot with little benefit. Harry Potter dealt with adolescence without needing to be as obscene and so did Mark Robson's Darkweaver Legacy books (where the characters are also in military training), although both of those are YA and this book is certainly not!
SETTING/ VOICE: The worldbuilding is excellent, and I could clearly picture Pencarith and Northpoint's various districts, as well as the island. As it's told in third person Rhodri's voice isn't as intimate, but you do get a real sense of his feelings when he's reliving memories and all the awkwardness of a 14 year old male teenager. The writing flows well and the author has a remarkable talent for painting vivid descriptions with minimal words.
PRESENTATION: The cover is striking, and the formatting is clear and clean.
OVERALL: A solidly written fantasy experience, but sadly I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected. Full marks to the author for tackling such an ambitious subject via the medium of epic fantasy, but the sexual themes are too distracting, the relationships not organic enough, and they only serve to muffle the unfolding plot (which, at the end of the day, is still pretty generic fantasy). Definitely worth giving a try if you're out for something different, but for me I think I'll stick to the tamer YA books.
STORY: As per usual we're following an orphaned boy looking for his destiny and his past. In an effort to bring something new to the table, however, the book focuses more on character development. As the progatonist is a teenage male, of course this means sexuality and soldiering-ing. However, while it does break the monotony of the staple epic fantasy plot, and some scenes were heartfelt and well written, I felt it was overdone in places. The sexual awakening and romantic subplots were far too drawn out, and the sexual themes got very distracting from the main story, which is a shame because there was a lot of ways to work with the bountiful world the author created. By all means, it was an intriguing idea, but for me the balance between plot and character was just off a little in favour of character.
The twists, too, I felt were too rushed to be fully appreciated, and a lot of potential was lost with certain character relationships.
However, you can't deny the subject matter is a refreshing breath of air given the many LOTR clones out there, so I appreciate the author's ambition.
CHARACTERS: I found this a bit of a mixed bag. Rhodri is basically a Cinderella- always gets into trouble but doesn't bother to stick up for himself, has certain unique traits that are barely used or mentioned, dreaming of being rescued by a knight in dashing armour (oops, I mean his father), which is refreshing for a male lead, but some points in his presentation took away from my enjoyment.
First, his introduction to the King's Third was very rushed. While I understand the story doesn't need to drag, I didn't quite understand why the soldiers seemed to sympathise with Rhodri instantly. While they initially deny his request to join them, a brief show of parental abuse (and horse riding ability) and they welcome him with open arms, which for me came across as too easy. I felt it would've been better if Rhodri had done something to earn the soldier's trust first, given that everyone in his hometown hates him.
I also got very lost with his memory transitions, particularly when it came to certain details about his past. For example, in one scene he suddenly knows his father's name, but from what had been presented earlier, I got the impression he knew very little other than odd snippets. I guess, as the book title implies, the restoration of Rhodri's memory plays a key part of the plot, but I never really got a sense of his good memory, either, other than being told it was good from other characters and one escapade with an exam paper. I would've preferred more concrete evidence of his photographic memory.
The rest of the crew fit their usual roles (Astan the best friend, Dur the bully, Jime the shrewd one). Astan had a particularly interesting thread but this was cut tragically short. Full points to the author for conveying such a difficult subject, though.
The only other thing (and this is totally my personal preference talking) I didn't really care for was the general gritty tone of the characters. Yes, they're teenagers, yes, Rhodri's been sheltered, but the sexual references just go on and on, and as I said before, it seemed to take over from the plot with little benefit. Harry Potter dealt with adolescence without needing to be as obscene and so did Mark Robson's Darkweaver Legacy books (where the characters are also in military training), although both of those are YA and this book is certainly not!
SETTING/ VOICE: The worldbuilding is excellent, and I could clearly picture Pencarith and Northpoint's various districts, as well as the island. As it's told in third person Rhodri's voice isn't as intimate, but you do get a real sense of his feelings when he's reliving memories and all the awkwardness of a 14 year old male teenager. The writing flows well and the author has a remarkable talent for painting vivid descriptions with minimal words.
PRESENTATION: The cover is striking, and the formatting is clear and clean.
OVERALL: A solidly written fantasy experience, but sadly I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected. Full marks to the author for tackling such an ambitious subject via the medium of epic fantasy, but the sexual themes are too distracting, the relationships not organic enough, and they only serve to muffle the unfolding plot (which, at the end of the day, is still pretty generic fantasy). Definitely worth giving a try if you're out for something different, but for me I think I'll stick to the tamer YA books.
kitvaria_sarene's review
5.0
4,5 stars
I started reading this one - and when I next looked on the clock I noticed it was 2 hours past my bedtime (again...) and I already read half the book in one go... That is the biggest compliment to a book in my eyes! It also make me jump, when I read while on the subway, and when I looked up next I noticed that the seats next and opposite to me had filled up without me even noticing it!
The writing style was really good and kept me sucked into this world all the way through. It had a bit of a lower point shortly after the middle for me - but picked up again quite fast.
After Smilers's fair, this is the second fantasy book in a row with a gay/bi main character. It was well described and fitted snuggly into the story, feeling like a natural part of it (as it should be in my eyes) and didn't stick out a lot. There are no graphic/descriptive gay sex scenes in here if you are sensitive to those, and only a few detailed sex scenes all in all. And they were done really well. Who follows my reviews knows that I dislike any kind of sex scene in books - these ones didn't make me cringe and roll me eyes - which isn't easy, as that is one of my pet peeves.
I really liked the characters (and be prepared, not everyone will make it to the end of the book!), even if Rhodri sometimes did some quite stupid things - he is a teenager when the book starts after all. I feared for them and cheered for them and was completely enthralled by their fates and stories. They were quite divers, and didn't feel like carbon copies, or blank slates, but like real people.
There are quite some unexpected twists and turns that kept the story fresh, even though the underlying storyline isn't completely unique.
I definitely highly recommend this series - I already bought book two, and hope I'll manage to have it third in line on my TBR!
I started reading this one - and when I next looked on the clock I noticed it was 2 hours past my bedtime (again...) and I already read half the book in one go... That is the biggest compliment to a book in my eyes! It also make me jump, when I read while on the subway, and when I looked up next I noticed that the seats next and opposite to me had filled up without me even noticing it!
The writing style was really good and kept me sucked into this world all the way through. It had a bit of a lower point shortly after the middle for me - but picked up again quite fast.
After Smilers's fair, this is the second fantasy book in a row with a gay/bi main character. It was well described and fitted snuggly into the story, feeling like a natural part of it (as it should be in my eyes) and didn't stick out a lot. There are no graphic/descriptive gay sex scenes in here if you are sensitive to those, and only a few detailed sex scenes all in all. And they were done really well. Who follows my reviews knows that I dislike any kind of sex scene in books - these ones didn't make me cringe and roll me eyes - which isn't easy, as that is one of my pet peeves.
I really liked the characters (and be prepared, not everyone will make it to the end of the book!), even if Rhodri sometimes did some quite stupid things - he is a teenager when the book starts after all. I feared for them and cheered for them and was completely enthralled by their fates and stories. They were quite divers, and didn't feel like carbon copies, or blank slates, but like real people.
There are quite some unexpected twists and turns that kept the story fresh, even though the underlying storyline isn't completely unique.
I definitely highly recommend this series - I already bought book two, and hope I'll manage to have it third in line on my TBR!
alisonalisonalison's review
2.0
I picked this up for free on a whim because I love queer fantasy and it sounded like the sort of thing I might like, but it was disappointing. Aside from the often problematic queer representation, I found it to be a little flat overall and the story just didn't grab me or make me care. I didn't really connect with any of the characters and the plot gets a little unwieldy and implausible and loses focus towards the end. A lot of what happens seems a little meaningless and I wanted more depth and emotion.
While I was initially happy to see queer characters (especially the bisexual main character), I found much of the queer representation to be problematic and stereotypical in a pretty negative way, which was really unfortunate. There's a particularly nasty Villain Queer, a really sad and melodramatic Tragic Queer, and an Unsurprisingly Unfaithful Bisexual. The main character is bisexual, which is really cool and is mostly handled in a good way, but there's also some ugly negative stereotypical stuff about his bisexuality thrown in, which was irritating and didn't seem to serve any purpose. The villain is just super rapey and a really nasty and abusive bully. It's great that there's a trans character, but his transness is handled with an upsetting lack of sensitivity and respect. It really bothered me and made me sad. While I really appreciate the inclusion of queer characters (it's one of the main reasons why I read this), much of the execution was clumsy and irritating and full of unpleasant tropey queer stereotypes. I was disappointed by this book and it left me feeling a little sad. Most people on GR seem to like this, but it was really not for me.
While I was initially happy to see queer characters (especially the bisexual main character), I found much of the queer representation to be problematic and stereotypical in a pretty negative way, which was really unfortunate. There's a particularly nasty Villain Queer, a really sad and melodramatic Tragic Queer, and an Unsurprisingly Unfaithful Bisexual. The main character is bisexual, which is really cool and is mostly handled in a good way, but there's also some ugly negative stereotypical stuff about his bisexuality thrown in, which was irritating and didn't seem to serve any purpose. The villain is just super rapey and a really nasty and abusive bully. It's great that there's a trans character, but his transness is handled with an upsetting lack of sensitivity and respect. It really bothered me and made me sad. While I really appreciate the inclusion of queer characters (it's one of the main reasons why I read this), much of the execution was clumsy and irritating and full of unpleasant tropey queer stereotypes. I was disappointed by this book and it left me feeling a little sad. Most people on GR seem to like this, but it was really not for me.
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