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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
Read a quarter of this. I by no means hate this, and I'm not even sure I don't like it. I'm just not in the mood right now, so each time I read I sort of trudge, though there are things that intrigue me. The tangibility of the Five Gods intrigues me. The protagonist's predicament intrigues me. The prose feels workman-like. Not that much has happened in the first hundred or so pages. I may return to this later.
I really tried with this and I never give up on books but I am going to start. Did not grab me and not invested in the characters.
Listened to the audiobook. It could not keep my attention at all. I even restarted 1/2 way thru and from there it was more of the same. Didn't find a connection to any of the characters and I thought the story moved too slow. Even as I finished it, I really couldn't tell anyone what it was about. For me it was that forgettable.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-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:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
good book about gods giving a guy the world’s worst stomach ache — between this and the tawny man trilogy i’m having a big year for fantasy books about worn-out men in their thirties getting pulled back into court life they wanted to leave behind
adventurous
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
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:
No
My first impression of this book, a slow-moving fantasy novel that reveals little of the inner world of its characters, was that it is a pompous exercise in "world building" fantasy, where the thread is valued more than the cloth. About 50 pages in, however, I "got it". The Curse of Chalion is a Science Fiction story trapped in the body of a fantasy. It raises questions about the nature of faith, through its long-suffering protagonist (think Emilio from The Sparrow), and tells an operatic story of alliances and betrayal. This was an intellectually engaging fantasy, not another Tolkienesque warrior-chosen-by-the-hand-of-fate-coming-of-age story, and it was very hard to put down.