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A review by tani
King of Sword and Sky by C.L. Wilson
3.0
After procrastinating on this series for years, one of my goals for this year was to try and finish this series. I really enjoyed the first two books, so was expecting something pretty decent from this one. I was a bit unpleasantly surprised, to be honest. I felt like I slogged through about 90% of this book, with only the last 10% or so really capturing my interest. Admittedly, the ending was exciting enough that I thought about upgrading this to 4 stars, but still.
Of course, I will admit that I've been distracted. Real life is interesting for me right now. In a couple days, I will be getting married and then setting out on my honeymoon, so perhaps you'll forgive me for a bit of distraction. I actually thought that this book would be a good choice for a time like this. I remember the earlier books as being fun romps with just enough danger to keep things interesting. I wasn't counting on the disconnect that I instantly felt. I had forgotten just how over-the-top these books are. Everything is epic. Everything is a matter of life and death. Souls are sworn and forsaken and things are always a big deal. I struggled mightily with this, and I spent about 100 pages at the beginning of the book complaining about it.
I had thought I had settled into the style after the first hundred pages, and things went OK for a while, but I felt like not a lot was happening. And when things did happen, it was the enemy making moves, and not our hero and heroine. Wilson spends a lot of time with Vadim Maur in the first half of the book, and I did not enjoy it. I can get down with a villain, but only if he's actually somewhat sympathetic. If you've read the the other books, you know that Vadim Maur is as irredeemable as they come, and I would have been much happier if the book had been edited down to exclude some of the sections that feature him. Villains are more fun, in my opinion, if you're actually surprised by what they do. Also, I will admit that I get really annoyed by the good guys when they don't act on all this knowledge of the villain's plans that I've been given. Never mind that they don't actually know everything I do. It's just annoying to me. Too much knowledge is not a good thing, sometimes.
Other than that, I'd say there are some pacing issues here. In some ways, the book felt like the first book of a series, because Ellysetta spends a lot of time trying to figure out what to do. I appreciate that the problem is a difficult one, but it didn't make this any more interesting to read. The middle part of the book felt pretty stagnant. I actually didn't read for about a week, to be honest. I got a little over halfway through and just put the book down, without any urge to pick it back up again. It was my impending honeymoon that prompted me to pick it up again. I'm traveling light, so I only intend to bring my Kindle for reading material, and I didn't want this book sitting around for more than a week, waiting for me to come home. Despite my lack of concentration, I forced myself through 100 pages last night, and then finished it up tonight. Finally!
As I said in the beginning of the review, the last part was definitely the strongest. Wilson can write a good action scene, and she was quite deft in unleashing all of the build-up that she'd put into place. Things got really exciting! And then the book ended, because of course.
I did enjoy the character growth that we get in this book, despite feeling like there wasn't a lot of action. Rain and Ellysetta grew both separately and together, and that was much appreciated. I hope that they will be much more impressive in the next book. I also hope that we see more resolution to the threads that Wilson has been weaving throughout these books. In particular, I want to see something done about Ellysetta's parents, who I've grown quite fond of. I just hope that the next book moves a bit quicker than this one did!
Of course, I will admit that I've been distracted. Real life is interesting for me right now. In a couple days, I will be getting married and then setting out on my honeymoon, so perhaps you'll forgive me for a bit of distraction. I actually thought that this book would be a good choice for a time like this. I remember the earlier books as being fun romps with just enough danger to keep things interesting. I wasn't counting on the disconnect that I instantly felt. I had forgotten just how over-the-top these books are. Everything is epic. Everything is a matter of life and death. Souls are sworn and forsaken and things are always a big deal. I struggled mightily with this, and I spent about 100 pages at the beginning of the book complaining about it.
I had thought I had settled into the style after the first hundred pages, and things went OK for a while, but I felt like not a lot was happening. And when things did happen, it was the enemy making moves, and not our hero and heroine. Wilson spends a lot of time with Vadim Maur in the first half of the book, and I did not enjoy it. I can get down with a villain, but only if he's actually somewhat sympathetic. If you've read the the other books, you know that Vadim Maur is as irredeemable as they come, and I would have been much happier if the book had been edited down to exclude some of the sections that feature him. Villains are more fun, in my opinion, if you're actually surprised by what they do. Also, I will admit that I get really annoyed by the good guys when they don't act on all this knowledge of the villain's plans that I've been given. Never mind that they don't actually know everything I do. It's just annoying to me. Too much knowledge is not a good thing, sometimes.
Other than that, I'd say there are some pacing issues here. In some ways, the book felt like the first book of a series, because Ellysetta spends a lot of time trying to figure out what to do. I appreciate that the problem is a difficult one, but it didn't make this any more interesting to read. The middle part of the book felt pretty stagnant. I actually didn't read for about a week, to be honest. I got a little over halfway through and just put the book down, without any urge to pick it back up again. It was my impending honeymoon that prompted me to pick it up again. I'm traveling light, so I only intend to bring my Kindle for reading material, and I didn't want this book sitting around for more than a week, waiting for me to come home. Despite my lack of concentration, I forced myself through 100 pages last night, and then finished it up tonight. Finally!
As I said in the beginning of the review, the last part was definitely the strongest. Wilson can write a good action scene, and she was quite deft in unleashing all of the build-up that she'd put into place. Things got really exciting! And then the book ended, because of course.
I did enjoy the character growth that we get in this book, despite feeling like there wasn't a lot of action. Rain and Ellysetta grew both separately and together, and that was much appreciated. I hope that they will be much more impressive in the next book. I also hope that we see more resolution to the threads that Wilson has been weaving throughout these books. In particular, I want to see something done about Ellysetta's parents, who I've grown quite fond of. I just hope that the next book moves a bit quicker than this one did!