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A review by losgiraffee
Elven Star by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman
4.0
Soooooooo....this one was not as good as the first book in the series; Dragon Wing. In fact, I was bored out of my mind during the first 100 pages or so. It actually made me sad because my expectations were so high.
The characters were grossly underdeveloped. This is quite unfortunate considering the whole beginning of the book is just them talking to each other and I just...didn't....care!! It's like they were each given one character trait and that was all they had. You just get what you get. Crazy dad. Narcissist sister. Grumpy sister. Empathetic brother. Human survivors. Slighted dwarf. They don't develop beyond that. One emotion, all the time.
But like a good soldier, I strapped in and trudged on! You eventually get the introduction to Zifnab the wizard and his dragon. What's the male version of a manic pixie dream girl? He was kinda that. Spontaneous, daffy, quirky, kinda weird. I enjoyed his character and do hope he appears again in at least one of the remaining books. And you of course get the return of Haplo and Dog. As far as characters go, those were really the only ones I cared for.
For anyone who likes characters to fall in love, I apologize in advance for what I'm about to say....buuuuuut I HATE forced love interests. HATE. LOATH. DETEST. ABHOR. DESPISE. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate love. I enjoy a good, natural love story as much as the next person if you're reading a love story...not so much a fantasy.... but Rega and Paithan falling DESPERATELY in love 2.5 seconds after meeting each other made me physically roll my eyes. I don't understand why a male character placed with a female character never seems to end up with the two parting ways as friends after their time together ends. I mean, come on! I don't fall in love with every male coworker or friend or chance encounter I've had. It's not how life works. It's not how RELATIONSHIPS work. But even past all that, which can be boiled down to personal preference, their sudden love for each other was super sudden and cringey and just over the top.
ANYWHOOOO, now that I have gotten all the negative out there, you'd probably be wondering why I gave it 4 stars....but I promise overall the book is good! The world was extremely interesting and as the action started and all the talking stopped it became hard to put the book down. The tytans were friggen awesome and the rush to get away to the star was nail biting. And the characters did end up calming down in their over-the-topness as the story progressed. The ending was awesome even though it raised more questions than it answered. But I was ok with the wondering, even if it doesn't get brought up again in later books.
All in all, the book is great, the story is great, the characters become palatable, and it's worth the read. Even if it's just to get on to the next book in the series.
The characters were grossly underdeveloped. This is quite unfortunate considering the whole beginning of the book is just them talking to each other and I just...didn't....care!! It's like they were each given one character trait and that was all they had. You just get what you get. Crazy dad. Narcissist sister. Grumpy sister. Empathetic brother. Human survivors. Slighted dwarf. They don't develop beyond that. One emotion, all the time.
But like a good soldier, I strapped in and trudged on! You eventually get the introduction to Zifnab the wizard and his dragon. What's the male version of a manic pixie dream girl? He was kinda that. Spontaneous, daffy, quirky, kinda weird. I enjoyed his character and do hope he appears again in at least one of the remaining books. And you of course get the return of Haplo and Dog. As far as characters go, those were really the only ones I cared for.
For anyone who likes characters to fall in love, I apologize in advance for what I'm about to say....buuuuuut I HATE forced love interests. HATE. LOATH. DETEST. ABHOR. DESPISE. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate love. I enjoy a good, natural love story as much as the next person if you're reading a love story...not so much a fantasy.... but Rega and Paithan falling DESPERATELY in love 2.5 seconds after meeting each other made me physically roll my eyes. I don't understand why a male character placed with a female character never seems to end up with the two parting ways as friends after their time together ends. I mean, come on! I don't fall in love with every male coworker or friend or chance encounter I've had. It's not how life works. It's not how RELATIONSHIPS work. But even past all that, which can be boiled down to personal preference, their sudden love for each other was super sudden and cringey and just over the top.
ANYWHOOOO, now that I have gotten all the negative out there, you'd probably be wondering why I gave it 4 stars....but I promise overall the book is good! The world was extremely interesting and as the action started and all the talking stopped it became hard to put the book down. The tytans were friggen awesome and the rush to get away to the star was nail biting. And the characters did end up calming down in their over-the-topness as the story progressed. The ending was awesome even though it raised more questions than it answered. But I was ok with the wondering, even if it doesn't get brought up again in later books.
All in all, the book is great, the story is great, the characters become palatable, and it's worth the read. Even if it's just to get on to the next book in the series.