Reviews - Der Leuchtturm an der Schwelle der Zeit

1.54k reviews for:

Der Leuchtturm an der Schwelle der Zeit

Natasha Pulley

4.12 AVERAGE

kymzii's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

highwaycrossingfrog's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

fourstarball's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional mysterious tense

My brain: fried. My head: numb. My princess: missouri kite.

luckypluto's review against another edition

3.0

I have many mixed feelings about this book. No doubt it features a compelling story, and it has inspired me to read more about the Napoleonic Wars, but the writing style is the typical style of mainstream fantasy novels and reminds me why I generally don’t read them. The characters are really flat; Kite is the only one that has some depth, but more often than not he reads like a caricature. Some elements, particularly the dialogue, feel like they are not authentic to the periods depicted. The book could use a good editor and while the story is interesting, it is wordy and tedious in some parts. But I liked it nevertheless. Three stars feels a bit charitable, while two stars feels a bit harsh, so I give it three stars because I feel generous today.

heathercide's review against another edition

2.0

I was so in love with the premise of this book, but it ultimately disappointed me. I've found this a common theme with my reading choices lately, especially ones that involve some kind of time-travel or a time-loop, and I have a few theories as to why.

A unique/magical premise or setting alone is not a story; it should serve a larger story, themes, and characters. In The Kingdoms, the premise and mystery that follows from the premise--a supposedly amnesiac main character who travels back in time--dominate the page so much that there is comparatively little character development, unclear motivation, or much in the way of action. The characters rarely *do* things; things happen to them, or we're told about things that have happened in the past. This book could have been an amazing examination of historical forces, war, class, etc.; instead, overreliance on preserving the mystery of the main character's identity means we only get snippets of these themes. This "mystery" was particularly grating, because it was so obvious (at least to me) who the main character had been in the past that I eventually became sure it was a brilliant red herring--it wasn't.

This leads to me to another criticism: one of the blurbs on the back of the book describes it as containing a "queer romance", which excited me. However, because so much hinges on a reveal that I saw coming miles away, what we get is not an interesting romance, but a brief, fragmented history of one, and then the restoration of it only at the very end of the novel. It is a romance between a tragically damaged pirate and a posh but very charming, perfect Gary Stu, and is in fact never actually talked about among them. Maybe this was the push I needed to not read m/m relationships written by authors who are not gay men.

The potential that this book had and wasted just makes me angry.