A review by lawbooks600
Lodestar by Shannon Messenger

adventurous slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Representation: Asian characters
Score: Six and a half out of ten.

Is it me or has Shannon Messenger plateaued? I enjoyed Keeper of the Lost Cities and the second and third instalments were delightful too, but from there it's only okay. The fourth one, Neverseen, wasn't it--it didn't reach the same level as book one. I wanted an improvement when I read Lodestar but I didn't get that.

It starts (more like continues) with Sophie and other characters picking up after the events of the fourth novel, Neverseen in the opening pages, where nothing much is happening other than the characters processing everything that happened. Remember the issues I found in Neverseen? They're also in Lodestar, but more prominent I don't know where to begin, but I'll try, first, the repetition. I'm tired of the repetitive plot telling me parts of the story I already heard of before like the Black Swan and the Neverseen. The only new subplots introduced in Lodestar are (you guessed it,) the Lodestar, at least the symbol of it, and a special stone that uses blood. The conflict thickens, but not by much as the ogres are the against council, and the Black Swan is supposed to be this benevolent organisation What is the Lodestar supposed to do? The pacing is like Neverseen, but slower as Lodestar spans more than 600 pages, most of which are filler. Removing filler could've tightened the reading experience. I still like the characters like Sophie, but without any character development, I disconnected from them. I can't relate to the characters if they don't have character development. Did Messenger forget to put that in? Please fix it in the sixth part, Nightfall. At least the conclusion has a slightly faster pace but the final pages are predictable since the finish is the same as the other narratives.
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