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A review by cpark2005
On Borrowed Luck by T.J. Muir
3.0
On Borrowed Luck is a very different sort of fantasy read. It’s a coming-of-age story set in a low fantasy setting that has hints of magic. And it isn’t afraid to take some very dark turns at times, turning some of the tropes we’ve come to expect in coming-of-age tales on their heads.
I personally found the main character very well characterized. I understood his motivations and felt like I understood the decisions that he was making. From the very first pages I was engaged with what was going to happen to Kirrin. The action picks up right away and while there are moments of downtime, it largely doesn’t let up. Muir has a way of writing fight scenes that is just brutal. I don’t mean brutal in terms of the blood and gore described, but rather in the scrappy way you would expect street fights to take place. They are very well done.
There are some moments in the plot where the story feels like it jumps around a little. This is particularly true of the middle of the book when time passes but we aren’t always informed of exactly how much time has passed. There are a few small continuity or believability issues as well. For instance, Kirrin spends huge amounts of time away from his mother and she doesn’t appear overly concerned about this. I also found the side characters to be universally flat. They just didn’t connect with me at all.
Potential readers should also be aware that one of the ways this story turns some coming-of-age tropes on their heads is that the main character often makes poor decisions about who to listen to and who to allow to influence him. As a result the story ends up taking some pretty dark turns and the man that Kirrin becomes is hardly a shining example to others. Don’t mistake this for grimdark, however. The setting isn’t particularly grim, Kirrin just makes several questionable decisions.
I found this dark turn a little jarring at times. Overall the story was engaging and although I don’t like the place Kirrin came out I can’t particularly fault the book for that. 3/5 stars.
5 – I loved this, couldn’t put it down, move it to the top of your TBR pile
4 – I really enjoyed this, add it to the TBR pile
3 – It was ok, depending on your preferences it may be worth your time
2 – I didn’t like this book, it has significant flaws and I can’t recommend it
1 – I loathe this book with a most loathsome loathing
I personally found the main character very well characterized. I understood his motivations and felt like I understood the decisions that he was making. From the very first pages I was engaged with what was going to happen to Kirrin. The action picks up right away and while there are moments of downtime, it largely doesn’t let up. Muir has a way of writing fight scenes that is just brutal. I don’t mean brutal in terms of the blood and gore described, but rather in the scrappy way you would expect street fights to take place. They are very well done.
There are some moments in the plot where the story feels like it jumps around a little. This is particularly true of the middle of the book when time passes but we aren’t always informed of exactly how much time has passed. There are a few small continuity or believability issues as well. For instance, Kirrin spends huge amounts of time away from his mother and she doesn’t appear overly concerned about this. I also found the side characters to be universally flat. They just didn’t connect with me at all.
Potential readers should also be aware that one of the ways this story turns some coming-of-age tropes on their heads is that the main character often makes poor decisions about who to listen to and who to allow to influence him. As a result the story ends up taking some pretty dark turns and the man that Kirrin becomes is hardly a shining example to others. Don’t mistake this for grimdark, however. The setting isn’t particularly grim, Kirrin just makes several questionable decisions.
I found this dark turn a little jarring at times. Overall the story was engaging and although I don’t like the place Kirrin came out I can’t particularly fault the book for that. 3/5 stars.
5 – I loved this, couldn’t put it down, move it to the top of your TBR pile
4 – I really enjoyed this, add it to the TBR pile
3 – It was ok, depending on your preferences it may be worth your time
2 – I didn’t like this book, it has significant flaws and I can’t recommend it
1 – I loathe this book with a most loathsome loathing