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paladinjane 's review for:
The Providence of Fire
by Brian Staveley
I still enjoyed this book, but it was nowhere near as good as the first book. It reminded me a lot of the middle of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series because in this book, a lot of the characters seemed to get bogged down in travel and repositioning themselves so that they could be in the right place at the right time for the big (admittedly thrilling) finale. IMO, it didn't flow as well as the first book, and I was constantly frustrated with the characters for making poor decisions. A lot of the characters' problems would have been solved if they'd just talked amongst themselves (which might have been possible if certain characters had the traveling capacities available to them that you would have expected of them), but then again, the author wanted to drum up drama based on that misinformation and misunderstanding. I found it clunky.
Adare was the worst. Without being too spoilery, I'll just say that the author made her much dumber than she was in the first book. In book 1, she was still smart and competent, although she made some (pretty understandable) mistakes. In book 2, she starts out ok, and then ends up making a lot of incomprehensible decisions that are clearly just designed to put her where she is at the end of the book, because drama, I guess.
Valyn had been the most interesting character in book 1, but in book 2 he also ends up making a bunch of decisions that make him less interesting over the course of the book. In fact, the author adds an extra POV character because Valyn splits the party and goes off to pretty much do nothing, except for a dramatic bit at the end. The other POV character, Gwenna, is far better. I did like Gwenna.
Kaden is the royal sibling who starts to shine in this book. If it weren't for him, I think I might have given up on this book. I'm a little skeptical at his political savvy after being in a monastery for so long, but if it makes him interesting, I'll take it.
All in all, I did enjoy the book but it was a bit clunky and the POV characters made a lot of incomprehensible, stupid decisions. A lot of the plot twists and major revelations were fun (though I wasn't a fan of one of the last ones). I'd say if you were on the fence about the series after book 1, this might be the book that makes you drop the series. If you really enjoyed the first book and want to get invested in the series, then sure, read this one. I do think this series will probably end up being good.
Adare was the worst. Without being too spoilery, I'll just say that the author made her much dumber than she was in the first book. In book 1, she was still smart and competent, although she made some (pretty understandable) mistakes. In book 2, she starts out ok, and then ends up making a lot of incomprehensible decisions that are clearly just designed to put her where she is at the end of the book, because drama, I guess.
Valyn had been the most interesting character in book 1, but in book 2 he also ends up making a bunch of decisions that make him less interesting over the course of the book. In fact, the author adds an extra POV character because Valyn splits the party and goes off to pretty much do nothing, except for a dramatic bit at the end. The other POV character, Gwenna, is far better. I did like Gwenna.
Kaden is the royal sibling who starts to shine in this book. If it weren't for him, I think I might have given up on this book. I'm a little skeptical at his political savvy after being in a monastery for so long, but if it makes him interesting, I'll take it.
All in all, I did enjoy the book but it was a bit clunky and the POV characters made a lot of incomprehensible, stupid decisions. A lot of the plot twists and major revelations were fun (though I wasn't a fan of one of the last ones). I'd say if you were on the fence about the series after book 1, this might be the book that makes you drop the series. If you really enjoyed the first book and want to get invested in the series, then sure, read this one. I do think this series will probably end up being good.