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A review by wishanem
The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip
3.0
In a way that is common in Fantasy novels, particularly in older ones, the story begun in this book does not nearly wrap up by the end. This is clearly part one of at least two, and almost certainly 3 or more books. All the way up to the last page new elements of the story are being added, with an implicit promise of development, and very little pay-off. The ending isn't entirely unsatisfying, but it really does feel like a story finally leaving the introductory phase rather than something concluding.
On the positive side, the book's protagonist has a delightful reluctance to be a hero that is rooted in a very reasonable attitude towards getting oneself killed and a pig-headed stubbornness about being led around by fate instead of making his own decisions. The book is full of surprises and many of them feel like twists, so I never knew what to expect from chapter to chapter. There's a big reveal at the end that I absolutely did not see coming, but which didn't surprise me a bit in retrospect.
On the negative, mostly nitpicking, but so very many small complaints. The pace in this book feels meandering, partly because there are mysteries layered on mysteries, and partly because the world of the book is vague and fairy-tale-ish. I didn't have a sense of the scope or scale of the regions the book took place in, and the world was neither close enough to real history or supported enough by detail to ever really give me reasonable expectations. New magic powers and sorts of magical creatures were rolled out regularly, with rare explanations, and the book's protagonist (being a roll-with-the-punches sort) mostly didn't provide much by way of reaction regardless of whether the magic was new to him or not. In the cases where he was upset by something he learned, it was more effective, but as a reader I felt like he knew a lot more than I did for the vast majority of the book. Speaking of things he knew that I didn't, the book introduces scads of characters with names and important-sounding titles or details, but rarely takes the time to give them more than a sketch of description or characterization. I couldn't track which of the 200 or so named characters would come up again, and thus needed to be remembered, and which were one-offs who could be safely forgotten.
I think a TV or movie adaptation of this book would probably be better than the source material, because almost all of the weaknesses of this story would be shored up by having a visual medium and a decent musical score.
On the positive side, the book's protagonist has a delightful reluctance to be a hero that is rooted in a very reasonable attitude towards getting oneself killed and a pig-headed stubbornness about being led around by fate instead of making his own decisions. The book is full of surprises and many of them feel like twists, so I never knew what to expect from chapter to chapter. There's a big reveal at the end that I absolutely did not see coming, but which didn't surprise me a bit in retrospect.
On the negative, mostly nitpicking, but so very many small complaints. The pace in this book feels meandering, partly because there are mysteries layered on mysteries, and partly because the world of the book is vague and fairy-tale-ish. I didn't have a sense of the scope or scale of the regions the book took place in, and the world was neither close enough to real history or supported enough by detail to ever really give me reasonable expectations. New magic powers and sorts of magical creatures were rolled out regularly, with rare explanations, and the book's protagonist (being a roll-with-the-punches sort) mostly didn't provide much by way of reaction regardless of whether the magic was new to him or not. In the cases where he was upset by something he learned, it was more effective, but as a reader I felt like he knew a lot more than I did for the vast majority of the book. Speaking of things he knew that I didn't, the book introduces scads of characters with names and important-sounding titles or details, but rarely takes the time to give them more than a sketch of description or characterization. I couldn't track which of the 200 or so named characters would come up again, and thus needed to be remembered, and which were one-offs who could be safely forgotten.
I think a TV or movie adaptation of this book would probably be better than the source material, because almost all of the weaknesses of this story would be shored up by having a visual medium and a decent musical score.