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4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
Got about a third of the way in, but couldn't finish it. Nothing original about the plot; nothing compelling about the characters. Run-on sentences everywhere, and not for stylistic reasons either. Not worth finishing when I've so much else to read.
Great story, nice world, and the author is definitely a student of High Fantasy, but parts of it are a little cliched. The writing comes across a little young at times and the characters do blur together a little. Luckily, they are a good set of characters and I enjoyed reading about them. I'm excited to read the rest of the series and watch as it evolves and grows.
This is a challenging and frustrating book to review. The first half or so is a compelling, quick reading piece that propels the story and its main character forward. It's worth four stars. But the second half really struggles for a variety of reasons.
The comparison has been made to Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles. Certainly shades of that can be seen in the first half of the book, but the comparison only serves to highlight the shortcomings of the book (even the best part of the book). Where the characters in Rothfuss's work are clear and vibrant -- almost every character memorable and distinct -- the characters in this book blend together, often acting more for service of the plot than as distinct entities.
If the first half enjoyably aspires more to Rothfuss without quite getting there, the second half aspires more to Abercrombie and falls well short. The protagonist goes from being a skilled, inquisitive individual to one who seems numb to everything, sleep walking through the pages.
The latter part of the book isn't helped by jumps in time and location that are only partially explained, with the intervening period vaguely hinted at. Even chapter headings with a location and a time ("4 years later") would have been appreciated. It's often explained in the chapter ("It had been 4 years since..."), but that means I was frequently grasping for context until I received it, distracting from whatever was actually happening.
Without revealing anything, the final portion of the book was more satisfying, but by then the damage had been done.
Like Name of the Wind, this book takes place vaguely as a retelling of a life's story, though it's told in third person and we're led to believe that the story we're getting and the story being related in the interludes are quite different. These chapters largely work to provide a structure for the story. As an aside, I should say it's really quite annoying to read an entire chapter's worth of text in italics. Just tell us it's the interlude, I promise I'll understand.
Between the four star first half, two star second portion and decent ending chapters, this gets three stars, but it's a frustrated three: it showed a lot of promise that wasn't carried through.
The comparison has been made to Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles. Certainly shades of that can be seen in the first half of the book, but the comparison only serves to highlight the shortcomings of the book (even the best part of the book). Where the characters in Rothfuss's work are clear and vibrant -- almost every character memorable and distinct -- the characters in this book blend together, often acting more for service of the plot than as distinct entities.
If the first half enjoyably aspires more to Rothfuss without quite getting there, the second half aspires more to Abercrombie and falls well short. The protagonist goes from being a skilled, inquisitive individual to one who seems numb to everything, sleep walking through the pages.
The latter part of the book isn't helped by jumps in time and location that are only partially explained, with the intervening period vaguely hinted at. Even chapter headings with a location and a time ("4 years later") would have been appreciated. It's often explained in the chapter ("It had been 4 years since..."), but that means I was frequently grasping for context until I received it, distracting from whatever was actually happening.
Without revealing anything, the final portion of the book was more satisfying, but by then the damage had been done.
Like Name of the Wind, this book takes place vaguely as a retelling of a life's story, though it's told in third person and we're led to believe that the story we're getting and the story being related in the interludes are quite different. These chapters largely work to provide a structure for the story. As an aside, I should say it's really quite annoying to read an entire chapter's worth of text in italics. Just tell us it's the interlude, I promise I'll understand.
Between the four star first half, two star second portion and decent ending chapters, this gets three stars, but it's a frustrated three: it showed a lot of promise that wasn't carried through.
I've almost forgot how good this book is.
Sort of a coming-of-age tale but with so much more. We follow Vaelin Al Sorna, the only son of the Battle Lord (top general) of the Realm, who are handed over to a tough school, where he learns about friendship, wilderness survival, fight and to be a warrior of the Sixth Order, defender of the Faith. Vaelin has a secret that he barely know himself, but as we follow him and his brothers in their progress through the training and beginning to become men of war, we meet several important characters in this world. Vaelin Al Sorna has an ability through skill and name to meet all the movers and shakers in this world, and a guiding song to help him understand actions and see the deeper motives of these people.
The world building is great, the plot deep yet simple, the pacing great and the story interesting continuously throughout the book. There are some weird time jumps and some backpedaling later on, but it's easily understood that the linear order are broken. epic tale. The premonitions of things to come a clattered all over the book and so many of these hints are executed perfectly (including in later books).
Overall this is a fantastic debut book and maybe it should be a 5 star review.
Sort of a coming-of-age tale but with so much more. We follow Vaelin Al Sorna, the only son of the Battle Lord (top general) of the Realm, who are handed over to a tough school, where he learns about friendship, wilderness survival, fight and to be a warrior of the Sixth Order, defender of the Faith. Vaelin has a secret that he barely know himself, but as we follow him and his brothers in their progress through the training and beginning to become men of war, we meet several important characters in this world. Vaelin Al Sorna has an ability through skill and name to meet all the movers and shakers in this world, and a guiding song to help him understand actions and see the deeper motives of these people.
The world building is great, the plot deep yet simple, the pacing great and the story interesting continuously throughout the book. There are some weird time jumps and some backpedaling later on, but it's easily understood that the linear order are broken. epic tale. The premonitions of things to come a clattered all over the book and so many of these hints are executed perfectly (including in later books).
Overall this is a fantastic debut book and maybe it should be a 5 star review.
4,5 von Setrenen
Beim zweiten mal lesen kam mir vieles bekannt vor,an anderes erinnerte ich mich gar nicht mehr.
Aber die Gefühle für die Charaktere sind noch genauso stark wie beim ersten mal lesen
Beim zweiten mal lesen kam mir vieles bekannt vor,an anderes erinnerte ich mich gar nicht mehr.
Aber die Gefühle für die Charaktere sind noch genauso stark wie beim ersten mal lesen
Well the "hero" gets out of all the sticky situations, but then, would not be much of a book if he did not.
Enjoyable, maybe 4 stars a touch too far, but kept my attention.
Also, prepared to "rewind" if I'd missed a bit; which is not always the case, down to old age and insomnia.
Looking forward to the rest of the series.
Enjoyable, maybe 4 stars a touch too far, but kept my attention.
Also, prepared to "rewind" if I'd missed a bit; which is not always the case, down to old age and insomnia.
Looking forward to the rest of the series.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
The overall plot was good.
The world creation was above average.
It's the telling that left me feeling uninspired.
I can rationalize that by saying that either main character dictating the story was telling it this way or the historian who was receiving it paraphrased it that way but that doesn't change the reading experience. There were chapters that felt more like summary than story.
I was never fully involved in the main character. He was too successful to encourage empathy.
There was a lack of humor and female characters were scarce.
I listened to this as an audiobook. The narrator's voice lacked variation. I'm sensitive to the frequency of word use in audiobooks and tired quickly of hearing "Brother" despite its appropriateness.
I'm not sure I'll pursue the rest of the series.
The world creation was above average.
It's the telling that left me feeling uninspired.
I can rationalize that by saying that either main character dictating the story was telling it this way or the historian who was receiving it paraphrased it that way but that doesn't change the reading experience. There were chapters that felt more like summary than story.
I was never fully involved in the main character. He was too successful to encourage empathy.
There was a lack of humor and female characters were scarce.
I listened to this as an audiobook. The narrator's voice lacked variation. I'm sensitive to the frequency of word use in audiobooks and tired quickly of hearing "Brother" despite its appropriateness.
I'm not sure I'll pursue the rest of the series.
I read this book hoping to be at least decently entertained. Instead, I was to my delight completely captivated. This book on the surface seems to be another copy of the familiar motif of the hero-to-be created from a childhood of the hardest training. Instead, I found a new author that has created a masterpiece that I can confidently say that I enjoyed as much as my favorite author, Brandon Sanderson. I hope the rest of the series can live up to the very high bar this first book gives, and that this author continues gifting the world with such excellent examples of epic fiction at its best. Bravo.