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nnoyes's review
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
beorn_101's review
3.0
This was a reread for me, maybe my 3rd read actually, but I can't quite remember.
When I started the book I remember thinking I liked it best on previous reads. Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to the hype. Caledor is interesting as a main character, but the series suffers from "Rewinding" and retelling us scenes and things we already knew from previous books.
The book works well when Caledor is doing something fresh we haven't seen, seeing his struggles as a stoic king, who really just wants to be left alone, is a lot of fun. But, it's more then a little bland to read through several chapters and then have the same scene both Malekith and Shadow King already showed us, but from a different perspective. Some of this would be interesting, but roughly half the book is these alternative perspectives for previous events.
It also doesn't help that a lot of the new scenes are done too fast. Years of the conflict after Malekith rerise are summarized in a few pages, but chapters were spent on Caledor interacting with Bel Shannar...
The finale is wrapped up way, way too fast, and just sort of fizzles.
At it's core I think Caledor is a decent book, but Shadow King manages to do what Caledor tries to do, only better. Maybe this is because Alith Anar is a better character, with true successes and failures, maybe its because Alith Anar zooms in on actions, focusing on the character, and not the over arching conflict. Honestly im not certain, but this reread of the Sundering has sort of shown me that the series is a solid first read, but probably not worth revisiting (I say after my 3rd read of it lol).
When I started the book I remember thinking I liked it best on previous reads. Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to the hype. Caledor is interesting as a main character, but the series suffers from "Rewinding" and retelling us scenes and things we already knew from previous books.
The book works well when Caledor is doing something fresh we haven't seen, seeing his struggles as a stoic king, who really just wants to be left alone, is a lot of fun. But, it's more then a little bland to read through several chapters and then have the same scene both Malekith and Shadow King already showed us, but from a different perspective. Some of this would be interesting, but roughly half the book is these alternative perspectives for previous events.
It also doesn't help that a lot of the new scenes are done too fast. Years of the conflict after Malekith rerise are summarized in a few pages, but chapters were spent on Caledor interacting with Bel Shannar...
The finale is wrapped up way, way too fast, and just sort of fizzles.
At it's core I think Caledor is a decent book, but Shadow King manages to do what Caledor tries to do, only better. Maybe this is because Alith Anar is a better character, with true successes and failures, maybe its because Alith Anar zooms in on actions, focusing on the character, and not the over arching conflict. Honestly im not certain, but this reread of the Sundering has sort of shown me that the series is a solid first read, but probably not worth revisiting (I say after my 3rd read of it lol).
cwebb's review
4.0
Great ending to the trilogy
http://www.weberseite.at/buecher/caledor-time-of-legends/
http://www.weberseite.at/buecher/caledor-time-of-legends/
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