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kivt's review against another edition
3.0
I don't really buy some of the reveals at the ending, but overall it was a pretty good book and a solid addition to the worldbuilding/meta-plot of Lyra.
betharanova's review against another edition
4.0
Before all my friends get onto me: I didn't KNOW this was the third book in a series. And it can be read as a standalone. So there.
This is a good, cozy read! The main characters are solid and interesting. You can tell they have history, and I very much enjoyed how their dynamics were shown rather than told. I got pretty emotional over them, to be honest. The many, many secondary characters, some of which have POV scenes, were less so. Their scenes were evasive in the name of suspense, but I wish I'd gotten more of them.
The plot is just what it says on the tin. Everyone is after a harp, but the one hanging onto it is a bard who knows the stories and that it's maybe cursed.
The lore got delightfully weird toward the end! Granted, I'm not sure how much of it was supposed to be a surprise. That, ah, may be where it would have come in handy to start with book one.
Fun, classic fantasy with all the goods!
This is a good, cozy read! The main characters are solid and interesting. You can tell they have history, and I very much enjoyed how their dynamics were shown rather than told. I got pretty emotional over them, to be honest. The many, many secondary characters, some of which have POV scenes, were less so. Their scenes were evasive in the name of suspense, but I wish I'd gotten more of them.
The plot is just what it says on the tin. Everyone is after a harp, but the one hanging onto it is a bard who knows the stories and that it's maybe cursed.
The lore got delightfully weird toward the end! Granted, I'm not sure how much of it was supposed to be a surprise. That, ah, may be where it would have come in handy to start with book one.
Fun, classic fantasy with all the goods!
cimorene1558's review against another edition
3.0
My least favourite of the Lyra books. There just isn't much to it compared to the others.
rahellarad's review against another edition
3.0
Certainly not my favourite of Wrede's works, but nonetheless still enjoyable. I like returning to Lyra to see what new and fantastic tales there are to be spun, and The Harp of Imach Thyssel certainly sits under the fantastic heading.
Having said that, the worldbuilding in this installment is decidedly lacking compared to the others in the Lyra series, and it makes for a confusing read. Much of the emphasis placed on people and characters would have been better spent making the plot clearer and easier to follow. While the ending was tidy and my ideal amount of good and bad, the sequence of events leading up to it was a shambles and it was only after much back and forth, and a rather hasty final-pages-reveal that I was able to make any kind of sense of the events that happened. Don't be fooled into thinking that it was a satisfying reveal either - this was very much a time where any information we'd been withheld was quickly dumped into the scenes.
Much was left to the imagination regarding the harp of Imach Thyssel - altogether too much for my liking. Where did the harp itself come from? What about the city in Emereck's dreams? Why, at no point, did nobody bother to actually discipline Flindaran's sister??
While this all makes it sound like I hated it, I did enjoy the story, even if the characters and pacing were at times insufferable. I only wish there was slightly more of it, so that I might have felt satisfied when it ended.
Having said that, the worldbuilding in this installment is decidedly lacking compared to the others in the Lyra series, and it makes for a confusing read. Much of the emphasis placed on people and characters would have been better spent making the plot clearer and easier to follow. While the ending was tidy and my ideal amount of good and bad, the sequence of events leading up to it was a shambles and it was only after much back and forth, and a rather hasty final-pages-reveal that I was able to make any kind of sense of the events that happened. Don't be fooled into thinking that it was a satisfying reveal either - this was very much a time where any information we'd been withheld was quickly dumped into the scenes.
Much was left to the imagination regarding the harp of Imach Thyssel - altogether too much for my liking. Where did the harp itself come from? What about the city in Emereck's dreams? Why, at no point, did nobody bother to actually discipline Flindaran's sister??
While this all makes it sound like I hated it, I did enjoy the story, even if the characters and pacing were at times insufferable. I only wish there was slightly more of it, so that I might have felt satisfied when it ended.
karenina4777's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
gagey_baby's review
4.0
I liked it, good plot, likeable characters, and an unexpected ending. four stars.
cclurejam's review against another edition
5.0
Still one of my favorites. If you enjoy fantasy, this will probably be a good choice.
raidingbookshelves's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0