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A review by kapellosaur
Shadows of the Dark Crystal #1 by J. M. Lee
3.0
I hadn't realised this when I bought the books, but this is the series that the Netflix adaptation was based on. The narrative in this book was sufficiently different to the series that I didn't feel like I knew what was going to happen next, with a different set of main protagonists to the TV series.
This was clearly written as part one of a set of books, and unfortunately that stands against this book as an individual entity. The vast majority of the book is setting up characters and situations, which wouldn't be a problem if it were the start of a longer book, but the narrative basically cuts off at the first major reveal ().
I liked that we had a strong female character as the main protagonist during this novel; the author also built well on the world of the original film, and remained faithful to the lore of the novelisation too (I particularly liked the working in of the word vliya - the life essence as named in the novelisation - into the term vliyaya for various Gelfling magics). I found irksome that the author italicised every instance of non-English words (vliyaya, maudra, bola, etc) in a way that I've not seen in modern sf&f. It was jarring, especially given that the narrative was from the point of view of Gelfling to whom the words wouldn't be unusual.
While I was generally satisfied with the worldbuilding, I think a couple of things felt out of place. Firstly was the deification of Aughra. While this may have been hinted at in the original film, it wasn't something I'd picked up on and I certainly didn't think it needed to be made so explicit in these novels. Secondly, I struggle to understand how the Gelfling could have been so factionalised along sub-species lines, when dreamfasting allowed instant empathy between all creatures. The TV adaptation touched a little on this; I hope we see at least some clues of how clans were turned against each other during the rest of the book series.
As a lovely bit of extra material, the illustrations provided every few chapters for key narrative moments were beautiful.
Overall, a good book as the introduction to a series, but doesn't stand on its own.
This was clearly written as part one of a set of books, and unfortunately that stands against this book as an individual entity. The vast majority of the book is setting up characters and situations, which wouldn't be a problem if it were the start of a longer book, but the narrative basically cuts off at the first major reveal (
Spoiler
that the Crystal of Truth has been corrupted and the Skeksis are draining Gelfling and Podlings - the first episode of the Netflix series was essentially an expansion of the dreamfast memories in the final couple of chaptersI liked that we had a strong female character as the main protagonist during this novel; the author also built well on the world of the original film, and remained faithful to the lore of the novelisation too (I particularly liked the working in of the word vliya - the life essence as named in the novelisation - into the term vliyaya for various Gelfling magics). I found irksome that the author italicised every instance of non-English words (vliyaya, maudra, bola, etc) in a way that I've not seen in modern sf&f. It was jarring, especially given that the narrative was from the point of view of Gelfling to whom the words wouldn't be unusual.
While I was generally satisfied with the worldbuilding, I think a couple of things felt out of place. Firstly was the deification of Aughra. While this may have been hinted at in the original film, it wasn't something I'd picked up on and I certainly didn't think it needed to be made so explicit in these novels. Secondly, I struggle to understand how the Gelfling could have been so factionalised along sub-species lines, when dreamfasting allowed instant empathy between all creatures. The TV adaptation touched a little on this; I hope we see at least some clues of how clans were turned against each other during the rest of the book series.
As a lovely bit of extra material, the illustrations provided every few chapters for key narrative moments were beautiful.
Overall, a good book as the introduction to a series, but doesn't stand on its own.