Reviews

Das Rätsel by Alison Croggon

ariannazampella01's review against another edition

DNF'd this one. I never do that, but I wasn't that into it.

amylandranch's review against another edition

3.0

Same as the first book. Great story, clogged up with too much description.

sassenachthebookwizard's review against another edition

Rtc

mostlyshanti's review against another edition

4.0

The Riddle is long and good and deceptive. But I actually quite enjoyed it! Seeing the world that Alison Croggon has created was pretty cool. I loved the adventure, the fact that it never got repetitive, and all the emotional scenes that were so well written.
This pretends to be a translation (but isn't) and it's really all about the adventure. Rather like Star Wars movies, The Riddle operates on a series of fight/chase scenes punctuated by emotionally fraught moments. But it's not as repetitive as Star Wars. Anyway, I liked all the different places we saw in this novel--Thorold was so cool, and I liked the Rite of Renewal. The scene crossing the pass broke my heart. Then there were the dogs and the Jussacks and the Winterking and wolves and basically the excitement never stopped. That adventure-- and of course all the magic it contains-- made The Riddle so fun to read. I could really root for Maerad throughout her trials and tribulations.
With MASSIVE fantasy series like this one, it can be easy just to expect what's coming. But I never quite knew what was going to happen next and that was why I kept reading. The different settings, which were described pretty well, made it more interesting also. I just didn't get bored, and that must be a good thing, right?
There's also so much emotional stuff in this book.

So Cadvan died. For the first hundred pages I kept expecting him to come back, because his death was so sudden; there was no finality. But then I decided he was really dead, so the end actually surprised me.

the emotion of Maerad falling in love with the Winterking felt sort of artificial, but added a very interesting element to the story.

But the deaths, unlike in most fantasy books, felt really powerful and real, not just thoughtless or for 'shock value' which I really appreciated.

"Love is no protection against being wounded.Do we then seek to dominate what we love, to make it bend to our will, to stop hurting us, even though to do so is to betray love? And that is only where the difficulty begins.

"'You shall have to find someone to kiss.'
'I don't want to kiss anyone'...
'There are plenty who want to kiss you.... You'll just have to work out how to stop them.'"

(good advice for all YA heroines tbh)

"And the earth loved the sky and the sky loved the earth"

(this is just a section of a beautifully written founding myth)

But now, instead of quailing before her future, a part of Maerad leapt to meet it
with exhilaration, a bittersweet gladness that they were beginning at last."

" Her grieving love welled through the pure, haunting notes, filling the desolate mountainside with inconsolable yearning for all she had lost."

" I live and I do not die. The wind lives, the snow lives, the ice lives, the mountain lives. Rock and ice have their own voices, their own lives, their own breath, their own pulse. Do you deny them that?"

I just loved how evocative all these conversations and scenes in the ice palace were.
The Riddle is beautiful fantasy, filled with adventure, yearning for more, wonderful writing and characterisation, without ever being repetitive. I really enjoyed it.

simon_davis777's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

kayjaybeereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

grandtheftautumn's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed the second half of this book more than the first half. I found the first half to be a little lacking in action, especially considering that it was opening from Maerad's and Cadvan's escape of Norloch. The first two parts of the book felt slow, even when the duo left Gent and were once again on their own. It wasn't until

Cadvan's apparent death that anything seemed to really be interesting. I think it was really good to have Maerad on her own for the second half of the book and let her work through her feelings without having them constantly confused by Cadvan's presence

. I also really enjoyed the Winterking in this book. Throughout the entire book, we're getting hints that he's probably trying to kill Maerad, so to finally get to meet him and learn he's more complex than the humans imagined... I don't know, I just find him a really interesting character. I hope there's more of him in the later books.

radina's review against another edition

4.0

(Note: I first read this series in 2014 and am reviewing this book now after a reread)

I continue to love this series! This one is a lot more depressing than the last, although at least it ends on an upbeat note. Many moments when you want to just shake the main character and get her to make better decisions - but watching her grow is part of the series of course.

jmandrake's review against another edition

5.0

Arkan is only in this book for, like, 50 pages, but he has ruined me for all other amoral faerie romances.

laurenhiya21's review against another edition

4.0

Is often fairly slow, similar to how the first book was, but I still really enjoyed the world and characters. I especially enjoyed the hardships that poor Maered has to go through here. Big downside though is that the characters don't learn all that much about what they need to do until very close to the end. Most of the book is travelling around, unsure of what to do. Still, I did enjoy it, but it's not something I could widely recommend.