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ceasarl's review against another edition
4.0
it was a good follow up to his first book. i really liked the main character.
kanissa's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't love this as much as the first novel, but that's not unusual. There was a lot more stage-setting in this book, and by the end you just know #3 is going to be a real doozy.
At times there didn't seem to be much going on, although it was never so dull that I wanted to stop reading.
I feel really bad for these characters. Scholes puts them in awful positions, but almost all of them respond in ways that make me admire or like them. Even the antagonists (aside from the Y'Zirites, I think) are responding to events in ways that seem realistic, so it's hard to hate them.
I don't particularly have much to say about this one; it mostly feels like it has been a long lead-in to the next book.... which I have already requested from the library!
At times there didn't seem to be much going on, although it was never so dull that I wanted to stop reading.
I feel really bad for these characters. Scholes puts them in awful positions, but almost all of them respond in ways that make me admire or like them. Even the antagonists (aside from the Y'Zirites, I think) are responding to events in ways that seem realistic, so it's hard to hate them.
I don't particularly have much to say about this one; it mostly feels like it has been a long lead-in to the next book.... which I have already requested from the library!
mellhay's review against another edition
5.0
I have really been taken away by this series so far. There are going to be five books in all. The characters are well developed and you really get a feel for them all, even the ones you think may be the "bad" guy or girl. The world that is created in these first two books is amazing. You have different cultures, religions, believes and gods. All well done to give you just what you need to understand the rules and what is going on, yet enough to keep you with the feel of mystery.
I think Ken Scholes is an awesome author with an epic tale to tell. He lays the paths of possible ways the story could go, we just have to wonder if we are thinking the correct path. Just when you are on the right path you come to a fork in the road again. The story can change directions at any time, but the rules never change and the information is there to keep you on the correct path of thought, thus creating a great mystery adventure.
Being a second book of a series Ken has started us right into the next story. Not even 50 pages into the book and I was caught up with where I left off on the first book and full scale right into the middle of another great mystery of the Whymr maze in this amazing fantasy book.
This book has; mechoservitors ~ Kens' term for metal men, magick ~ which has limits, Gods ~ are a distant past but are there in the background, an ancient vendetta of two old families and ways of lives, and current people trying their hardest to find where there home is.
These books are amazing reads from the point of view of the characters. You learn so much in this way with the way Ken writes it. Very well done to understand what is going on, just pay attention to get the details.
I think Ken Scholes is an awesome author with an epic tale to tell. He lays the paths of possible ways the story could go, we just have to wonder if we are thinking the correct path. Just when you are on the right path you come to a fork in the road again. The story can change directions at any time, but the rules never change and the information is there to keep you on the correct path of thought, thus creating a great mystery adventure.
Being a second book of a series Ken has started us right into the next story. Not even 50 pages into the book and I was caught up with where I left off on the first book and full scale right into the middle of another great mystery of the Whymr maze in this amazing fantasy book.
This book has; mechoservitors ~ Kens' term for metal men, magick ~ which has limits, Gods ~ are a distant past but are there in the background, an ancient vendetta of two old families and ways of lives, and current people trying their hardest to find where there home is.
These books are amazing reads from the point of view of the characters. You learn so much in this way with the way Ken writes it. Very well done to understand what is going on, just pay attention to get the details.
koreilly's review against another edition
3.0
The first novel in this series had some quality world-building with interesting little flourishes like an emphasis on non-verbal communications (i.e. secret sign languages) but the promise of the first one is only partly delivered here.
All the characters return for what is mostly a filler novel that spends a good 380 pages setting up things for the next novel in Scholes' planned five-part series. Lots of ancient prophecies and unknown enemies abound throughout the book but it still has a few set pieces to keep it going.
The style of alternating narrators keeps things interesting even if you start to get bored of certain stories while longing for other ones. Still the book feels kinds of like a trailer for another book so it's hard to recommend whole heartedly but if you enjoyed the first, why not?
All the characters return for what is mostly a filler novel that spends a good 380 pages setting up things for the next novel in Scholes' planned five-part series. Lots of ancient prophecies and unknown enemies abound throughout the book but it still has a few set pieces to keep it going.
The style of alternating narrators keeps things interesting even if you start to get bored of certain stories while longing for other ones. Still the book feels kinds of like a trailer for another book so it's hard to recommend whole heartedly but if you enjoyed the first, why not?
shane_tiernan's review against another edition
3.0
I actually liked this book much more than the second book and it was shaping up to be REALLY good but then I was very disappointed with the ending. Seemed like not enough closure. I also got lost a little a couple times. I'm not sure it's because it's on audio and I got distracted or because the author just kind of left the blanks to be filled in by the reader and I didn't get it.
Looks like the 3rd book is out and maybe 2 more are planned and since this book left things kind of hanging I'm hoping there's some closure in the 3rd book.
Looks like the 3rd book is out and maybe 2 more are planned and since this book left things kind of hanging I'm hoping there's some closure in the 3rd book.
kodermike's review against another edition
4.0
Lamentation, in my opinion, was a little rough to start off, but by the end you knew you had a decent tale you were dealing with. Certainly a good show for a debut. Canticle takes that precipice that Lamentation left off on and just hurls you into the stratosphere. It feels like you are constantly pumped up on scout magicks as the novel races across the landscape of the Nine Lands (and a glimpse beyond). Book two of the arc is largely a book of reveals, where our perception of the characters doesn't change much (much), but what we know of the world around them grows a lot. While its hard to say whether its critical to have read this book yet for its reveals versus the scope of the series, if you enjoyed Lamentation, really, how could you not read it? (plus, *I* gave it 4 stars. Surely that counts for something!)
peapod_boston's review against another edition
3.0
Scholes second outing builds on the powerful groundwork laid in "Lamentation." While this work appears to suffer on the surface from a bit of "destiny-itis", Scholes seems to be laying the groundwork for his characters to free themselves from the metaphysical chains that bind them.
Be warned, this book features the most horrible thing I have ever seen done to a character and what was, to me, one of the most gut-wrenching scenes I have ever read in a book. It's not gore or violence that does it (although blood is spilled), but the emotional weight of the moment.
Throughout, Scholes takes those characters I came to know in "Lamentation" and forces them to make hard choices between loves, desires, and duties--choices that they do not always find the correct responses to. I especially enjoy the way he grows the character of Winters.
Sorrow, anger, joy, madness, violence, wonder, loyalty, and mystery all combine to prove that "Lamentation" was not a fluke--this man can teach all the modern fantasists a thing or two about telling a story.
Be warned, this book features the most horrible thing I have ever seen done to a character and what was, to me, one of the most gut-wrenching scenes I have ever read in a book. It's not gore or violence that does it (although blood is spilled), but the emotional weight of the moment.
Throughout, Scholes takes those characters I came to know in "Lamentation" and forces them to make hard choices between loves, desires, and duties--choices that they do not always find the correct responses to. I especially enjoy the way he grows the character of Winters.
Sorrow, anger, joy, madness, violence, wonder, loyalty, and mystery all combine to prove that "Lamentation" was not a fluke--this man can teach all the modern fantasists a thing or two about telling a story.
mferrante83's review against another edition
4.0
Canticle by Ken Scholes follows up the author’s debut novel Lamentation. Canticle opens up six months after the desolation of the city of Windwir with the various characters we were introduced to in the previous novel having moved forward into their new roles in the suddenly changed world. Like Lamentation before it Canticle splits the narrative into several pieces each following one of the main characters in the story while most of these perspectives follow the overarching thread of a single cohesive plot several branch into different directions that help give both characters and the world they inhabit greater depth.
Canticle improves upon my impressions from Lamentation. I was left with the feeling after the first novel that not much had happened and that Lamentation worked better as a part of a greater whole rather than a story in its own right. Canticle, while very much a direct continuation of the first novel, manages to stand on its own far better then its predecessor. The plot unfolds with razor like precision and for all the new bits of information that Scholes doles out over the course of the narrative he never strays from events that are integral what is unfolding now in favor of looking towards what is to come. However, there is a sense of inevitability to the story that manages to be both engaging and at times a bit frustrating. Much like in Lamentation, where we learn that much of Rudolfo’s life has be orchestrated by the crazy manipulative Tam family, we learn that yet more decades (or longer) manipulation are behind many of the events in Canticle. Despite the characters becoming aware of this manipulation it is seemingly too late to do anything about it by the time the novel ends and the consistent success of manipulation by still mysterious party’s casts a bit of a darker pall over much of the novel.
Like Lamentation before it Canticle excels in its handling of characters. Canticle has several standouts in this regard particularly Neb, Winters, and Vlad Li Tam. Vlad was a bit of surprise since he was something of a villainous, or at least morally ambiguous, character who we saw little of in the first novel. But Scholes manages to do a masterful job of painting a potentially abrasive character in such a away as to turn him completely around into someone sympathetic to the point of heart breaking. Winters, previously a slightly more enigmatic figure, is given a touch of humanity here and Schole’s does well to remind us that prophecies aside she is still a young woman who has spent most of her life sheltered from realities of casual human relationships. Like Vlad she becomes something of a tragic figure as she is stripped of her power by the trials she faces and begins to rebuild herself into something new and, one hopes, better. Neb is a more familiar hero trope the “Chosen One,” or homeseeker as Scholes dubs the time-honored fantasy cliche in his world. This could be tiresome but the world that Neb is exposed to is fascinating enough in its right that his role in an ambiguous prophecy takes backseat to the mystery of the wastelands he sets out explore. The sense of horror and wonder there kept me wanting to read more of Neb’s travels. Rudolfo and his wife Jin take interesting paths that don’t quite measure up to the three characters mentioned above; though Jin does manage to sneak in one moment of awesome that had me grinning.
In terms of world-building and characterization Scholes is absolutely top-notch. He infuses the Named Lands with a sense of history by scattering the landscape with detritus of its past both recent and ancient. He fleshes out that same sense of history by tying one of the main plot threads to the short story “A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon” and the nature of Canticle’s orchestrated plot lends a sense of urgency to the preceding; rarely have the bad guys of any novel been so well organized. While certainly passable, like Jin Li Tam’s moment of awesome mentioned above, most of the action scenes of the novel are understated affairs that Scholes’ never lingers on. There are at least two big action set pieces in Canticle towards the beginning and the end of the novel but neither are as tense or gripping as the big dramatic scenes that Scholes sets up: Winters trudge up the mountain to declare herself, the Council of Kinclave, Winters final actions towards the novel’s end, and any number of countless small moments all stand out in my minds eye over any big sweeping action.
If you haven’t given Ken Scholes a shot yet I highly recommend doing so. Canticle is a definite improvement over the already excellent Lamentation and as Scholes handle on long form fiction improves I find myself increasingly excited to see where the Psalms of Isaak are going to go next. Thankfully I won’t have long to wait since Book 3 of the Psalms of Isaak, Antiphon, is due out this coming September.
Canticle improves upon my impressions from Lamentation. I was left with the feeling after the first novel that not much had happened and that Lamentation worked better as a part of a greater whole rather than a story in its own right. Canticle, while very much a direct continuation of the first novel, manages to stand on its own far better then its predecessor. The plot unfolds with razor like precision and for all the new bits of information that Scholes doles out over the course of the narrative he never strays from events that are integral what is unfolding now in favor of looking towards what is to come. However, there is a sense of inevitability to the story that manages to be both engaging and at times a bit frustrating. Much like in Lamentation, where we learn that much of Rudolfo’s life has be orchestrated by the crazy manipulative Tam family, we learn that yet more decades (or longer) manipulation are behind many of the events in Canticle. Despite the characters becoming aware of this manipulation it is seemingly too late to do anything about it by the time the novel ends and the consistent success of manipulation by still mysterious party’s casts a bit of a darker pall over much of the novel.
Like Lamentation before it Canticle excels in its handling of characters. Canticle has several standouts in this regard particularly Neb, Winters, and Vlad Li Tam. Vlad was a bit of surprise since he was something of a villainous, or at least morally ambiguous, character who we saw little of in the first novel. But Scholes manages to do a masterful job of painting a potentially abrasive character in such a away as to turn him completely around into someone sympathetic to the point of heart breaking. Winters, previously a slightly more enigmatic figure, is given a touch of humanity here and Schole’s does well to remind us that prophecies aside she is still a young woman who has spent most of her life sheltered from realities of casual human relationships. Like Vlad she becomes something of a tragic figure as she is stripped of her power by the trials she faces and begins to rebuild herself into something new and, one hopes, better. Neb is a more familiar hero trope the “Chosen One,” or homeseeker as Scholes dubs the time-honored fantasy cliche in his world. This could be tiresome but the world that Neb is exposed to is fascinating enough in its right that his role in an ambiguous prophecy takes backseat to the mystery of the wastelands he sets out explore. The sense of horror and wonder there kept me wanting to read more of Neb’s travels. Rudolfo and his wife Jin take interesting paths that don’t quite measure up to the three characters mentioned above; though Jin does manage to sneak in one moment of awesome that had me grinning.
In terms of world-building and characterization Scholes is absolutely top-notch. He infuses the Named Lands with a sense of history by scattering the landscape with detritus of its past both recent and ancient. He fleshes out that same sense of history by tying one of the main plot threads to the short story “A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon” and the nature of Canticle’s orchestrated plot lends a sense of urgency to the preceding; rarely have the bad guys of any novel been so well organized. While certainly passable, like Jin Li Tam’s moment of awesome mentioned above, most of the action scenes of the novel are understated affairs that Scholes’ never lingers on. There are at least two big action set pieces in Canticle towards the beginning and the end of the novel but neither are as tense or gripping as the big dramatic scenes that Scholes sets up: Winters trudge up the mountain to declare herself, the Council of Kinclave, Winters final actions towards the novel’s end, and any number of countless small moments all stand out in my minds eye over any big sweeping action.
If you haven’t given Ken Scholes a shot yet I highly recommend doing so. Canticle is a definite improvement over the already excellent Lamentation and as Scholes handle on long form fiction improves I find myself increasingly excited to see where the Psalms of Isaak are going to go next. Thankfully I won’t have long to wait since Book 3 of the Psalms of Isaak, Antiphon, is due out this coming September.
csdaley's review against another edition
4.0
Not quite as good as the first one but still a great read. I can't wait to see where it goes next.
cornosaurus's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5