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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
The Vagrant was one of the best fantasy novels of 2015, but The Malice I could not finish. The fabulous group of characters from the first volume are gone, the new ones are completely uninteresting and the world brings nothing new.
„Yes.“
Posle ogromnog uživanja čitajući prvi deo ove trilogije, koja je na ramenima nemog protagoniste stvarno bila nešto posebno i potpuno drugačije, bojao sam se da uzmem drugi deo u ruke, odlagao ga i odlagao, jer (činilo mi se apokaliptičnim) glavni lik više nije pomenuti Vagrant, već Vesper, klinkica koja, kao i manjeviše svi ostali, ume da priča. To je to, mislio sam, ode sve niz vodu, sve ono što je činilo prvu knjigu toliko upečatljivom.
E, ali Njuman se zainatio, a ja na sreću često nisam u pravu, i eto, Vesper mi je postala možda čak i draža. Sve vrline prvog dela su tu, a mane na sreću ispeglane, i Njuman nastavlja da u suštini priča priču ne toliko bitne narative (iako svet nije ništa manje fascinantan i poseban) koliko te neke nevine topline kojom ona zrači: jer najteža vremena su upravo vremena za idealizam. Moderni, a zabavni esej o moralu, ni manje ni više u fantastici toliko sklonoj "ali on je zao!", okružen nekolicinom odličnih likova, ukrašen divnim stilom koji mogu da čitam do sutra.
Može se reći da sam (popriličan) fan.
5
Posle ogromnog uživanja čitajući prvi deo ove trilogije, koja je na ramenima nemog protagoniste stvarno bila nešto posebno i potpuno drugačije, bojao sam se da uzmem drugi deo u ruke, odlagao ga i odlagao, jer (činilo mi se apokaliptičnim) glavni lik više nije pomenuti Vagrant, već Vesper, klinkica koja, kao i manjeviše svi ostali, ume da priča. To je to, mislio sam, ode sve niz vodu, sve ono što je činilo prvu knjigu toliko upečatljivom.
E, ali Njuman se zainatio, a ja na sreću često nisam u pravu, i eto, Vesper mi je postala možda čak i draža. Sve vrline prvog dela su tu, a mane na sreću ispeglane, i Njuman nastavlja da u suštini priča priču ne toliko bitne narative (iako svet nije ništa manje fascinantan i poseban) koliko te neke nevine topline kojom ona zrači: jer najteža vremena su upravo vremena za idealizam. Moderni, a zabavni esej o moralu, ni manje ni više u fantastici toliko sklonoj "ali on je zao!", okružen nekolicinom odličnih likova, ukrašen divnim stilom koji mogu da čitam do sutra.
Može se reći da sam (popriličan) fan.
5
3.5 stars
Remember Fatty Bolger from The Lord of the Rings? Or Seamus from Harry Potter? Maybe you do and maybe you don’t – they’re not all that prominent compared to other characters. Now imagine if Fatty replaced Frodo in The Two Towers or Seamus replaced Harry in The Chamber of Secrets. Wouldn’t that be a gamble on the part of the author? Wouldn’t it disrupt the flow of the story after you fell in love with a certain character and they just got thrown out in an experimental fashion?
This is exactly what happened to the Malice, the second installment in The Vagrant series. The Vagrant followed a mute man accompanied by only a holy sword, a baby and a stubborn goat that make their way through a wasteland infested with demons and taint. I loved the Vagrant – he is one of the most well-written fantasy characters I have enjoyed in recent memory. The Malice is still considered a part of The Vagrant series, but The Vagrant himself only features for one chapter. Instead we follow Vesper, the baby he carried with him in the first book. Now Vesper is grown up and just a little annoying.
The book begins with The Vagrant attempting to resist the call of the sword, but he refuses to answer. Vesper, our high-and-mighty protagonist, decides to help her old dad out by taking the sword to the Knights of the Seven, who she expects, in turn, will deliver the sword to the Breach. She hopes her actions will let her father live on in peace. Instead of dropping off the sword and heading on back home for teatime, Vesper is forced into a quest to deliver the sword to the breach herself. She is accompanied by a baby goat and a snarky bodyguard named Duet. Duet and the baby goat made up for where Vesper lacked.
"Days of travel blend together.”
I feel like this description of Vesper and Duet’s travels is self-referential to the occasional repetition in the book. A lot of the encounters that the duo has are entertaining, but in the end, that’s all they are – encounters and nothing that contributes to the plot. Infernals and humans alike help or dissuade the trio from their path but a lot of it is forgotten by the end of the book. I loved this type of episodic adventure in The Vagrant, but it seemed forced in The Malice and just a little repetitive.
The reason I’m still rating the book so high is because Newman implements such fantastic world-building. The Malice still lends itself toward the immersive and intriguing world of The Vagrant with its half-bloods, dogspawn and infernals. The attitudes and ideas around the tainted individuals are full of political intrigue and thought-provoking commentary on racism. The past ten years have seen a lot of post-apocalyptic worlds in literature, but I feel that none have been able to encapsulate uniqueness as well as Peter Newman’s world.
“Why are they tainted? Because we let them down. The Seven let them down. How can we hate them for being what they are?”
The narrator of the audiobook, Jot Davies, is fantastic. Newman is good at writing believable dialogue and Davies enhanced this aspect of the book extremely well. Davies convincingly alters his voice from a young girl to a dry-throated infernal in seconds. I never once questioned who was saying what and it added to my enjoyment of the book.
I’ll end the review on one of my favourite moments in the book:
“For what’s its worth I like it better now that the other you isn’t here.”
She looks up, disbelieving. “But I’m horrible to you.”
“Only sometimes.”
She punches Vesper on the arm. “I think I’m starting to like you too.”
“I thought so.” Duet punches her again, a little harder this time.
“Owe! What was that for?”
“It’s not easy for me. I’m not like you.”
“Okay.”
“Vesper?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to die.” Vesper squeezes Duet’s hands.
“I don’t want to talk anymore. Let’s eat.”
Okay. I’ll admit it. I bumped the rating up another half star just for Duet because she’s the grumpiest ball of grump that ever grumped and I love it.
Remember Fatty Bolger from The Lord of the Rings? Or Seamus from Harry Potter? Maybe you do and maybe you don’t – they’re not all that prominent compared to other characters. Now imagine if Fatty replaced Frodo in The Two Towers or Seamus replaced Harry in The Chamber of Secrets. Wouldn’t that be a gamble on the part of the author? Wouldn’t it disrupt the flow of the story after you fell in love with a certain character and they just got thrown out in an experimental fashion?
This is exactly what happened to the Malice, the second installment in The Vagrant series. The Vagrant followed a mute man accompanied by only a holy sword, a baby and a stubborn goat that make their way through a wasteland infested with demons and taint. I loved the Vagrant – he is one of the most well-written fantasy characters I have enjoyed in recent memory. The Malice is still considered a part of The Vagrant series, but The Vagrant himself only features for one chapter. Instead we follow Vesper, the baby he carried with him in the first book. Now Vesper is grown up and just a little annoying.
The book begins with The Vagrant attempting to resist the call of the sword, but he refuses to answer. Vesper, our high-and-mighty protagonist, decides to help her old dad out by taking the sword to the Knights of the Seven, who she expects, in turn, will deliver the sword to the Breach. She hopes her actions will let her father live on in peace. Instead of dropping off the sword and heading on back home for teatime, Vesper is forced into a quest to deliver the sword to the breach herself. She is accompanied by a baby goat and a snarky bodyguard named Duet. Duet and the baby goat made up for where Vesper lacked.
"Days of travel blend together.”
I feel like this description of Vesper and Duet’s travels is self-referential to the occasional repetition in the book. A lot of the encounters that the duo has are entertaining, but in the end, that’s all they are – encounters and nothing that contributes to the plot. Infernals and humans alike help or dissuade the trio from their path but a lot of it is forgotten by the end of the book. I loved this type of episodic adventure in The Vagrant, but it seemed forced in The Malice and just a little repetitive.
The reason I’m still rating the book so high is because Newman implements such fantastic world-building. The Malice still lends itself toward the immersive and intriguing world of The Vagrant with its half-bloods, dogspawn and infernals. The attitudes and ideas around the tainted individuals are full of political intrigue and thought-provoking commentary on racism. The past ten years have seen a lot of post-apocalyptic worlds in literature, but I feel that none have been able to encapsulate uniqueness as well as Peter Newman’s world.
“Why are they tainted? Because we let them down. The Seven let them down. How can we hate them for being what they are?”
The narrator of the audiobook, Jot Davies, is fantastic. Newman is good at writing believable dialogue and Davies enhanced this aspect of the book extremely well. Davies convincingly alters his voice from a young girl to a dry-throated infernal in seconds. I never once questioned who was saying what and it added to my enjoyment of the book.
I’ll end the review on one of my favourite moments in the book:
“For what’s its worth I like it better now that the other you isn’t here.”
She looks up, disbelieving. “But I’m horrible to you.”
“Only sometimes.”
She punches Vesper on the arm. “I think I’m starting to like you too.”
“I thought so.” Duet punches her again, a little harder this time.
“Owe! What was that for?”
“It’s not easy for me. I’m not like you.”
“Okay.”
“Vesper?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to die.” Vesper squeezes Duet’s hands.
“I don’t want to talk anymore. Let’s eat.”
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Follows the baby girl that we were introduced to in The Vagrant. She really made me mad with her truly awful decision making. I love flawed characters but she had her head stuck so far in the sand and got so many people killed for no dang reason.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Absolutely excellent - five stars. Excellently narrated as I listened to this as an audiobook
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced