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bergha1998's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
High Fantasy, Chosen Ones, Lots of Travel/Fleeing Bad Guys
“I read the books, all the travelers’ accounts, and it began to burn in me that I had to see, not just read.” ~Loial
“And the more I read, the more I knew that I had to go Outside, go to the places we have been.” ~Loial
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
mistert's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Violence and War
Minor: Death, Vomit, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
iloponis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
criticisms include the main character being boring for the first 75% of the book, not enough of the women’s povs, and too many fucking characters and places for me to keep track of. kind of loved it tho
Graphic: Death and Murder
_mirambo_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Sexism and War
diazona's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.25
Minor: Death, Violence, Vomit, and Kidnapping
ggcd1981's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, War, and Injury/Injury detail
tiana_king's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry
Minor: War
johnawickline's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Violence and Murder
Minor: Torture and Vomit
contre_qui's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Minor: Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
ariel790's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
That said and out of the way, I read this book because of the Amazon TV series. In watching, I joined discussion threads about it, and came across one citing how different the books were. My interest piqued. If there is a book, I want to read it. Even if it is just to spot the differences. So I borrowed the book from my local library and here we are. There are many between the two... but I'm not here to discuss that, even though I could, but this is a book review, so I'll only really cover from now how I've felt about the book.
Possible spoilers beyond this point..
The book does cover familiar fantasy, adventure tropes. If you're into either, it is a safe story to read. The main protagonist is a boy who pretty much knows nothing of the world he lives in. You discover it as he does. He's joined by other characters that fit into other familiar character types. An Aes Sedai (elite of the magically inclined, mages, or 'witches and wizards'), the best friend who many not have the best of intentions, the romantic interest who has other interests to pursue, a Warder (ranger/warrior) leading the way, a Wisdom (healer/cleric), and a friend with an unexpected power. Each with their own strengths and weaknesses that eventually contribute to plot points within the story. This or that creature or persons of other powers added as needed.
The antagonist, The Dragon, is pretty much ominous, dark, and foreboding, without being delved much into until the end. He isn't directly chasing our characters, so minions are the primal driving force of pushing the characters to where they're needed. I assumed more so because this was intended as the start of a series. Final defeat of the greatest power being in the final book. As that comes to resolution with this story as its own; not every mystery opened up is solved, but biggest, first source of strength of The Dragon is confronted.
Overall, a decent read, but wouldn't put at the top of my all time favorites list. Each character on their own was interesting, I made a few favorites, together, I don't know. The pacing to keep them going was too slow so when I did set the story down, I wasn't super excited about returning to it unless a character I really liked was in the middle of being developed. Perrin or Thom in particular for me. I will probably continue with the series, but only when I have a few other reads I'm more enthralled about out of the way.
Graphic: Death and War
Minor: Animal death