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literarygeorge's review against another edition
3.0
Originally reviewed at For Your Literary Pleasure
Because my comments for the last three books in the series are similar I'm cheating and making them have one review - sue me. In all honesty, this series could have been shorter. There were many scenes that dragged on despite having one of the more intricate plots I've read in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy book. My drive to finish the series was pushed by my inability let characters go with no resolution - I NEEDED to know what happened to Lila, Zal and Teazle. I was disappointed Teazle always got the short end of the stick and we never truly explored his dynamic with Zal and Lila. He was my favourite character, especially after Zal had his accident because Zal never quite returned to the quirky guy I adored. The final book was paced faster than any of the others and despite reading ALL of the books over 3 days I still managed to lose track of what was going on. I ended up reading the last chapters of the last book multiple times just to get the plot threads straight... Argh. My overall conclusion is that while I enjoyed the series overall it was a challenge that wasn't always entertaining.
xxx Literary George
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Because my comments for the last three books in the series are similar I'm cheating and making them have one review - sue me. In all honesty, this series could have been shorter. There were many scenes that dragged on despite having one of the more intricate plots I've read in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy book. My drive to finish the series was pushed by my inability let characters go with no resolution - I NEEDED to know what happened to Lila, Zal and Teazle. I was disappointed Teazle always got the short end of the stick and we never truly explored his dynamic with Zal and Lila. He was my favourite character, especially after Zal had his accident because Zal never quite returned to the quirky guy I adored. The final book was paced faster than any of the others and despite reading ALL of the books over 3 days I still managed to lose track of what was going on. I ended up reading the last chapters of the last book multiple times just to get the plot threads straight... Argh. My overall conclusion is that while I enjoyed the series overall it was a challenge that wasn't always entertaining.
xxx Literary George
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mackle13's review against another edition
3.0
Not a bad book, but probably the weakest in the series. I just felt like not that much actually happened, nor did we really get any sort of profound character development. Even more annoyingly, some of the characters changed in odd and unexplained ways. (For instance, when did Malachi become so unbearingly overprotective? Or maybe I've just forgotten.)
I have two major complaints about the book:
1) It seemed really jumpy. While it did a decent job of helping me fill in my memory blanks of what happened in the series thus far, it was sort of all over the place. I would say this could be due to the perspective changes, but I don't think that's really it. Mostly it was because things would happen, or be said to have happened or be happening, and I kept thinking I'd skipped a page or something. It didn't seem to flow very naturally at all.
2) A lot of action seemed to happen "off-stage". Some of this we are filled in about via dialogue, but other stuff is just left completely unexplained. I imagine that this is going to be redressed in the next book, since it was left very unresolved.
I never really felt attached to the characters or the action like I have in past books, and there was really no tension.
Overall the book felt sort of rushed, haphazard, and very much like filler - just getting the gang back together in order to get to the next part of the story, as opposed to a viable piece of the story in and of itself.
All in all I was disappointed in a book that I'd been anticipating. That said, with all those complaints, it was still more generally enjoyable than a lot of the rest of what I've been reading lately... so it gets bonus points for that.
I have two major complaints about the book:
1) It seemed really jumpy. While it did a decent job of helping me fill in my memory blanks of what happened in the series thus far, it was sort of all over the place. I would say this could be due to the perspective changes, but I don't think that's really it. Mostly it was because things would happen, or be said to have happened or be happening, and I kept thinking I'd skipped a page or something. It didn't seem to flow very naturally at all.
2) A lot of action seemed to happen "off-stage". Some of this we are filled in about via dialogue, but other stuff is just left completely unexplained. I imagine that this is going to be redressed in the next book, since it was left very unresolved.
I never really felt attached to the characters or the action like I have in past books, and there was really no tension.
Overall the book felt sort of rushed, haphazard, and very much like filler - just getting the gang back together in order to get to the next part of the story, as opposed to a viable piece of the story in and of itself.
All in all I was disappointed in a book that I'd been anticipating. That said, with all those complaints, it was still more generally enjoyable than a lot of the rest of what I've been reading lately... so it gets bonus points for that.
lienemcs's review against another edition
3.0
Chasing the Dragon kicks up the frenetic pace that has continued to build throughout the series, but the feeling is like someone trying to race across a rickety rope bridge before the entire thing collapses.
Perhaps this is intentional, attempting to instill in the reader a better sense of Lila's mental stability as she races from one mad set of actions to another, trying to ignore the gaping holes in her life and her semi-acknowledged unwillingness to confront her feelings about them.
Otherwise, the effect is starting to look a little sloppy, as the narrative jumps and skips in places, with some events apparently just happening at random, unexplained and unexamined.
In regard to theme, there didn't seem to be much - other than if you're both lucky and happen to have supernatural friends and super-powered accoutrement, then one can get by with slap-dash, off-the-cuff solutions to problems with a minimum of discomfort, thought, or sacrifice involved. Particularly after the previous installment, where serious sacrifices were being made - sacrifices made all the more horrifying and dear because they weren't Lila's, but her friends' sacrifices on her behalf - Chasing the Dragon, and Lila, came off as pretty shallow.
Not the best book in the series so far, but we'll see how the next turns out.
http://www.valejorian.net/sffreviews/AllReviews.html
Perhaps this is intentional, attempting to instill in the reader a better sense of Lila's mental stability as she races from one mad set of actions to another, trying to ignore the gaping holes in her life and her semi-acknowledged unwillingness to confront her feelings about them.
Otherwise, the effect is starting to look a little sloppy, as the narrative jumps and skips in places, with some events apparently just happening at random, unexplained and unexamined.
In regard to theme, there didn't seem to be much - other than if you're both lucky and happen to have supernatural friends and super-powered accoutrement, then one can get by with slap-dash, off-the-cuff solutions to problems with a minimum of discomfort, thought, or sacrifice involved. Particularly after the previous installment, where serious sacrifices were being made - sacrifices made all the more horrifying and dear because they weren't Lila's, but her friends' sacrifices on her behalf - Chasing the Dragon, and Lila, came off as pretty shallow.
Not the best book in the series so far, but we'll see how the next turns out.
http://www.valejorian.net/sffreviews/AllReviews.html
jetsilver's review against another edition
3.0
It ... read differently to the previous books. Lila has changed rather a bit. Everyone is a bit colder, a bit more practical. I think I liked it.
Still. Needs more half elf half demon rock star boyfriend.
Still. Needs more half elf half demon rock star boyfriend.
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