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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I wasn't sure about the book originally, I tried it after finishing the Iron Druid chronicles, and I liked those because the narrator was witty and it had lots of comedic relief. But the narration style of the Bard taking on each character captivated me and made it an entertaining read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, War
Loved this book! It featured a unique magic system and the story was told by a bard who was able to take on the appearance of the characters he was talking about. There were some jumps in time, but they weren’t confusing to me - perhaps because of the story being told by a bard. One thing I would have appreciated would have been a glossary explaining the different categories of magic and the various powers within each category. Not a game-killer, though -just a wonderful read!
3.5 stars
I enjoyed the first couple books of Hearne's UF Iron Druid series set in the modern era, so I thought I'd try his straight-up fantasy.
You might have guessed it wasn't quite to my taste. It was definitely interesting, and lots of work evident in the development of the several different cultures presented in the story, but it read more like a Dungeons & Dragons guide to a campaign world then a story. I'm character-driven, I want to fall in love with a character and know them deeply. The conceit behind this book, that a Bard takes on the appearance of main characters from each of the different cultures to tell the story of twin invasions of Hathrim (a culture of the "first kenning" having to do with folks who manipulate fire) and mysterious Bone Giants, means we're flip flopping between different characters all the time.
Like a history book. So I never really attached myself to anyone, or rather, I attached myself to Nel of the "plant kenning" peoples and Abbhi of the new-found "sixth kenning" of animals, but then they would disappear for a long time as others' stories were told. I actually started to somewhat skim when we were in the Hathrim parts...because their somewhat bloodthirsty, angry talk got monotonous.
And by page 400 I was no longer as invested in finding out all the cool powers, creatures, and characters as much as I just wanted to get on with the story (and it went on more than another 100 pages).
Imagination galore packs these pages. But what also packs these pages was for me a somewhat ham-handed "look at the Fornish culture! They talk in plant metaphors!" ; "Look at the Brynt culture, they talk in water metaphors!" and there was even a wind culture who had a philosophy of living in the present that was basically rehashed Zen meditation the author didn't try too hard to gussy up in fantasy trappings.
There's also an elderly scholar who is friends the Bard, trying to take in refugees from the war, and his realization at the end that giving folks a safe space to live and breathe is just as heroic as fighting battles was probably the best part of the book for me.
So folks who like D & D or gamelit or reading books for the purpose of discovering fascinating tidbits will enjoy this book. As a character-drive reader, it wasn't to my particular taste. Sorry.
I enjoyed the first couple books of Hearne's UF Iron Druid series set in the modern era, so I thought I'd try his straight-up fantasy.
You might have guessed it wasn't quite to my taste. It was definitely interesting, and lots of work evident in the development of the several different cultures presented in the story, but it read more like a Dungeons & Dragons guide to a campaign world then a story. I'm character-driven, I want to fall in love with a character and know them deeply. The conceit behind this book, that a Bard takes on the appearance of main characters from each of the different cultures to tell the story of twin invasions of Hathrim (a culture of the "first kenning" having to do with folks who manipulate fire) and mysterious Bone Giants, means we're flip flopping between different characters all the time.
Like a history book. So I never really attached myself to anyone, or rather, I attached myself to Nel of the "plant kenning" peoples and Abbhi of the new-found "sixth kenning" of animals, but then they would disappear for a long time as others' stories were told. I actually started to somewhat skim when we were in the Hathrim parts...because their somewhat bloodthirsty, angry talk got monotonous.
And by page 400 I was no longer as invested in finding out all the cool powers, creatures, and characters as much as I just wanted to get on with the story (and it went on more than another 100 pages).
Imagination galore packs these pages. But what also packs these pages was for me a somewhat ham-handed "look at the Fornish culture! They talk in plant metaphors!" ; "Look at the Brynt culture, they talk in water metaphors!" and there was even a wind culture who had a philosophy of living in the present that was basically rehashed Zen meditation the author didn't try too hard to gussy up in fantasy trappings.
There's also an elderly scholar who is friends the Bard, trying to take in refugees from the war, and his realization at the end that giving folks a safe space to live and breathe is just as heroic as fighting battles was probably the best part of the book for me.
So folks who like D & D or gamelit or reading books for the purpose of discovering fascinating tidbits will enjoy this book. As a character-drive reader, it wasn't to my particular taste. Sorry.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
tense
fast-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
This book was amazing!
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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:
Complicated
It reminds me of Canterbury Tales and Name of the Wind. Interesting world-building and magic system, but I’d like to see more world-building and have more backstory re: general history and religion since religion plays a pretty big role in the characters’ everyday lives.
All in all, a good read! And I’m looking forward to the next one.
All in all, a good read! And I’m looking forward to the next one.
I enjoyed the writing style, much like Patrick Rothfuss. I felt the ending was a little lacking, but will attribute that to its being the 1st in a book series, and I'll sign up to read more.
Re-read: I started the 2nd book, and stopped. I decided to reread this one as Blight of Blackwings picks right up at the end of the first book without much re-introduction of the characters. The 2nd book is making more sense now.
Re-read: I started the 2nd book, and stopped. I decided to reread this one as Blight of Blackwings picks right up at the end of the first book without much re-introduction of the characters. The 2nd book is making more sense now.
Listened to the audio book; the narrators were fine by some of the accents and inflections were initially grating until I accustomed to them.
Contrary to what my rating might say, I did not like a Plague of Giants. Despite my personal enjoyment though, the book has competent characters, world building, progression and prose (though the dictionary was over-used in some places.) It is a competent narrative sprinkled with some light comedy, several nice action sequences, and uses of magic. It is also a story the insists on punishing the reader for investing in its characters, killing no less then three POV characters for no other discernible purpose than gritty realism. It is a punishing book, which is fine at the start where the inciting calamity occurs, but as the narrative progresses into the second half and the author kept adding misery onto the narrative, I grew first tired of the misery, then frustrated and aggravated as characters I was supposed to like and root for (and nominally did) were given romance interests and teased with happy endings only to be summarily killed by the author. It wasn't a fun, rewarding, or enlightening reading experience.
There are some readers who will enjoy this for the same reasons I didn't. For these: the plot is solid, but a bit slow to start as you accustom yourself to the way the narrative is composed the various primary POV's are introduced, and set up where set up is required. There's only a few moments during the story where the plot got me excited to keep reading/listening (the discovery of the sixth kenning and the translation of the book along with the answers that promised) but the rest of the narratives are solid. I listened to the book while working, but for plain reading some people may find the lack of a concerted driving narrative a bit of a slog.
Contrary to what my rating might say, I did not like a Plague of Giants. Despite my personal enjoyment though, the book has competent characters, world building, progression and prose (though the dictionary was over-used in some places.) It is a competent narrative sprinkled with some light comedy, several nice action sequences, and uses of magic. It is also a story the insists on punishing the reader for investing in its characters, killing no less then three POV characters for no other discernible purpose than gritty realism. It is a punishing book, which is fine at the start where the inciting calamity occurs, but as the narrative progresses into the second half and the author kept adding misery onto the narrative, I grew first tired of the misery, then frustrated and aggravated as characters I was supposed to like and root for (and nominally did) were given romance interests and teased with happy endings only to be summarily killed by the author. It wasn't a fun, rewarding, or enlightening reading experience.
There are some readers who will enjoy this for the same reasons I didn't. For these: the plot is solid, but a bit slow to start as you accustom yourself to the way the narrative is composed the various primary POV's are introduced, and set up where set up is required. There's only a few moments during the story where the plot got me excited to keep reading/listening (the discovery of the sixth kenning and the translation of the book along with the answers that promised) but the rest of the narratives are solid. I listened to the book while working, but for plain reading some people may find the lack of a concerted driving narrative a bit of a slog.
I enjoy the story, and the idea of daily storytellings, but the author's voice comes through too strongly with each character; I lose the illusion of the story constantly because every character sounds the same.