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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
As hard as I tried I just couldn't finish this book. It started off well, then just dwindled until I kept putting off picking it back up again, so I didn't.
It's dissappointing because the first book was so good, the story flowed and I was interested in the characters. This book was clunky and so very slow, I got bored.
It's dissappointing because the first book was so good, the story flowed and I was interested in the characters. This book was clunky and so very slow, I got bored.
Innocence Lost (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker, #2);
Who is this for? People who love (the development of) relationships in a solid fantasy setting.
story 4/5 Loved the focus on the relations and politics, pleasant read.
characters 4/5
writing 4/5
audio/paper Paper.
reread? I might!
Recommend it? Yes.
Voor wie? Voor mensen die houden van (de ontwikkeling) allerlei relaties in een fijne fantasie setting.
Verhaal: 4/5 Vond de focus op de politiek en de relaties tussen de karakters heel fijn lezen.
Karakters: 4/5
Schrijfstijl: 4/5
Papier/audio? Papier.
Herlezen: Misschien!
Aanrader? Ja.
Who is this for? People who love (the development of) relationships in a solid fantasy setting.
story 4/5 Loved the focus on the relations and politics, pleasant read.
characters 4/5
writing 4/5
audio/paper Paper.
reread? I might!
Recommend it? Yes.
Voor wie? Voor mensen die houden van (de ontwikkeling) allerlei relaties in een fijne fantasie setting.
Verhaal: 4/5 Vond de focus op de politiek en de relaties tussen de karakters heel fijn lezen.
Karakters: 4/5
Schrijfstijl: 4/5
Papier/audio? Papier.
Herlezen: Misschien!
Aanrader? Ja.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Sigh....The first book of this duology was a promising start that I thought would improve as it left the land of set-up, and got on to the main event. However, in this second book I find that the pace is slower, the plot more empty, and the dialogue degrading into madness. I enjoyed the way the innocent mage present some familiar story elements in a slightly new way and new light. I did find some of the dialogue odd, but not that much. However, in this book, there was no payoff, and the characters go from staid and stolid to foaming at the mouth and raving in an instant. Perhaps that was on the audiobook narrator a bit, but I don't think so. The narrator I listened to did what I consider to be a great job of emoting, rather more so than usual I think; I just slightly wish he had not, because he was emoting a script that oscillated wildly from zero to 60 and back. Characters should not ALWAYS be that quick to anger - sometimes is good, but not always - and honestly if people spoke like some of the "privy counselors" (aka politicians) in this book, then they would be thrown in the loony bin, or at least thrown out of polite company. No matter what era of historical culture you are trying to portray, or what sort of striated society, people will jump on that kind of naked fury and vitriol, if only to advance themselves by taking down a rival for him impoliteness and vulgarity. Plus, it grates on my ears!
On the other hand, the portions where the characters are not going schizoid hold some wonderful developments. I do like the ruffian character of Asher, and enjoy many of the side-characters as well. Gar became a mopey whiney fellow, but with understandable reason. His were actually the most understandable outbursts. So, I really wanted to like this book more than I did, but sink me sideways if I could.
On the other hand, the portions where the characters are not going schizoid hold some wonderful developments. I do like the ruffian character of Asher, and enjoy many of the side-characters as well. Gar became a mopey whiney fellow, but with understandable reason. His were actually the most understandable outbursts. So, I really wanted to like this book more than I did, but sink me sideways if I could.
3.5*
This was incredibly long for no reason, the action didn't really even start until after pg 600. I still enjoyed it though.
This was incredibly long for no reason, the action didn't really even start until after pg 600. I still enjoyed it though.
At the end of the day it all comes down to this. The Kingmaker, Kingbreaker duology should have just been a single book. (Also they don't really explain the title of this series at all!). There is a few exceptional chapters in both The Innocent Mage and The Awakened Mage but I would say out of the 650 pages between the books about 350 of it is fluff.
There are some great characters in this series and a ton of character development. I particularly liked the expansion of the secondary characters of Darran the Royal Secretary and Captian Orrick of the City Guard but man! did the banter and roundabout arguments ever tear this book down. Plus some of the great character traits were lost; Asher's simple humour faded into simple anger, Gar's relentless attitude to adversity was worn thin and crippled just like his magic was.
It's got a pretty decent ending but then you sit back and think..... that was about 20 pages of action in this book and 50+ pages of arguments and bickering.....
You could make a good movie based on the two, has all the ingredients just the wrong amount of everything.
There are some great characters in this series and a ton of character development. I particularly liked the expansion of the secondary characters of Darran the Royal Secretary and Captian Orrick of the City Guard but man! did the banter and roundabout arguments ever tear this book down. Plus some of the great character traits were lost; Asher's simple humour faded into simple anger, Gar's relentless attitude to adversity was worn thin and crippled just like his magic was.
It's got a pretty decent ending but then you sit back and think..... that was about 20 pages of action in this book and 50+ pages of arguments and bickering.....
You could make a good movie based on the two, has all the ingredients just the wrong amount of everything.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I listened to the audiobook version of this.
Most of the first part of the book is just "people are stricken with grief" and that permeated so much of the rest of it as well. Many others have already brought up pacing issues and I mostly agree. A lot of that is why it took me so long to finish the book. On the flip side, it made it easier to just pick up the book again where I left off and not have to worry about forgetting a bunch of details, because frankly there weren't a lot of new ones to hang onto that I'd forgotten about.
I also take umbrage with how queerbaiting this and the previous book were. I can appreciate being able to show wholesome best friendships between the two main characters but even in terms of that, there wasn't a whole lot new or subverting to the status quo in terms of how they showed platonic affection to each other, either.
Another problem I have is with the fact that the book ended with Gar having martyred himself for his kingdom. It isn't the WORST of problems because it seemed to fall in line with his character and wasn't something that came out of the blue. We knew for a while leading up to the end that one of the main characters would die, though we thought it would be Asher. Emotionally I'm not that fussed. He died, whatever. I didn't cry or feel betrayed about it. And if they had made anything gay cannon, I'd definitely be more upset about his death, for sure.
My problem with it lies because through the whole duology, the narration and characters always explicitly referred to him with derogatory terms for disabled people. The book pretty clearly categorized him as a disabled person. (Because of his lack of magic, which was not typical for those of his origins.) His excuses for allowing himself to die were things like having "broken" promises that he had entirely intended to keep but were beyond his control. Things about not "usurping" the crown from his younger sister (who literally was murdered - beyond his control). Things about breaking promises he didn't have the option to keep because he was being extorted by evil forces threatening to kill a whole kingdom of marginalized peoples.
Essentially we had a disabled character killed and not forgiven for any of those things until after he died, only prompted really because of his death. That's pretty hecked up?
I recognize that in most plots, lacking forgiveness or greater perspective or maturity is supposed to be part of what holds the plot together. But frankly I am tired of it. I find it exhausting and it makes the characters less likeable.
All that said, I still enjoyed the book. I did complete it. I do love the concept, and prophecies and heroic fantasy are my favourite. If there were more options for me to choose from for this kind of thing, I might not rate this so highly. But frankly, I want Goodreads to recommend me more books like this.
I also personally think a lot of the issues with the writing can be blamed on the editing. There was a lot of good work in this book that really could have been given better justice, if only editors had asked that some scenes be a little more condensed, maybe.
Most of the first part of the book is just "people are stricken with grief" and that permeated so much of the rest of it as well. Many others have already brought up pacing issues and I mostly agree. A lot of that is why it took me so long to finish the book. On the flip side, it made it easier to just pick up the book again where I left off and not have to worry about forgetting a bunch of details, because frankly there weren't a lot of new ones to hang onto that I'd forgotten about.
I also take umbrage with how queerbaiting this and the previous book were. I can appreciate being able to show wholesome best friendships between the two main characters but even in terms of that, there wasn't a whole lot new or subverting to the status quo in terms of how they showed platonic affection to each other, either.
Another problem I have is with the fact that the book ended with Gar having martyred himself for his kingdom. It isn't the WORST of problems because it seemed to fall in line with his character and wasn't something that came out of the blue. We knew for a while leading up to the end that one of the main characters would die, though we thought it would be Asher. Emotionally I'm not that fussed. He died, whatever. I didn't cry or feel betrayed about it. And if they had made anything gay cannon, I'd definitely be more upset about his death, for sure.
My problem with it lies because through the whole duology, the narration and characters always explicitly referred to him with derogatory terms for disabled people. The book pretty clearly categorized him as a disabled person. (Because of his lack of magic, which was not typical for those of his origins.) His excuses for allowing himself to die were things like having "broken" promises that he had entirely intended to keep but were beyond his control. Things about not "usurping" the crown from his younger sister (who literally was murdered - beyond his control). Things about breaking promises he didn't have the option to keep because he was being extorted by evil forces threatening to kill a whole kingdom of marginalized peoples.
Essentially we had a disabled character killed and not forgiven for any of those things until after he died, only prompted really because of his death. That's pretty hecked up?
I recognize that in most plots, lacking forgiveness or greater perspective or maturity is supposed to be part of what holds the plot together. But frankly I am tired of it. I find it exhausting and it makes the characters less likeable.
All that said, I still enjoyed the book. I did complete it. I do love the concept, and prophecies and heroic fantasy are my favourite. If there were more options for me to choose from for this kind of thing, I might not rate this so highly. But frankly, I want Goodreads to recommend me more books like this.
I also personally think a lot of the issues with the writing can be blamed on the editing. There was a lot of good work in this book that really could have been given better justice, if only editors had asked that some scenes be a little more condensed, maybe.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, Violence, Death of parent, War
Moderate: Torture, Blood
Minor: Excrement