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queenerdloser 's review for:
The Tempering of Men
by Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette
Okay, so in terms of world-building and writing, this book matches all of the standards of the first one. The world is every bit as interesting and complex - the trellwolves especially are great and I love the idea of pack-sense.
My problem with this book is more that the first book built up Isolfr, the protagonist, and then in this book we barely see him for five minutes at a time. I guess it's more of a personal thing - Isolfr was my favorite character in the first book and the most interesting character for me, and having him be relegated to the sidelines in this book was disorienting and, for me, took away quite a bit of my enjoyment.
Probably the weakest part of the book was the plot, which meanders and doesn't really go anywhere - we get a lot of clean-up from the last book, but not much going on in itself. If this were to be a second book in a trilogy, that might make it a bit better, since then it would be transitional, but as it is, it just kind of drops the ball, plot-wise. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing - the characters themselves are full and complex and I like watching them do things. I just wish they had been given a bit more to do - and that we didn't get the whiplash to having Isolfr's POV to him being a background character.
My problem with this book is more that the first book built up Isolfr, the protagonist, and then in this book we barely see him for five minutes at a time. I guess it's more of a personal thing - Isolfr was my favorite character in the first book and the most interesting character for me, and having him be relegated to the sidelines in this book was disorienting and, for me, took away quite a bit of my enjoyment.
Probably the weakest part of the book was the plot, which meanders and doesn't really go anywhere - we get a lot of clean-up from the last book, but not much going on in itself. If this were to be a second book in a trilogy, that might make it a bit better, since then it would be transitional, but as it is, it just kind of drops the ball, plot-wise. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing - the characters themselves are full and complex and I like watching them do things. I just wish they had been given a bit more to do - and that we didn't get the whiplash to having Isolfr's POV to him being a background character.