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A review by isabellarobinson7
The Fallon Blood by Robert Jordan, Reagan O'Neal
Did not finish book. Stopped at 37%.
DNF at page 141 (37%)
Rating: 2 stars (which is being pretty generous)
I went into this book knowing fully well that I wasn't going to like it. It sounds like a strange way to read a book, considering reading is ideally meant to be for enjoyment. And I'm not one to read this week's popular YA novel out of spite just so I can rant about it, and feel some sort of vindication out of proving that I'm "not like other girls".
So why did I pick up The Fallon Blood? Well, because Robert Jordan (or James Rigney Jr. if you want to be politically correct). I didn't want to be one of those people who claim they absolutely love an author, having only read one series written by them. That's a love of the series, not the author. The argument could be made that a reader might love the writing style of an author after reading only a few of their books, but I digress. For instance, I love Rick Riordan, and have done for many years, but it's not just the Percy Jackson series that makes him a favourite of mine. I love everything he has ever written (I should know; I own at least one copy of everything he's published).
So now as I begin my second read through of Jordan's Wheel of Time (only a week after completing my first), I wanted to read more of his works and see if I could consider him a favourite author. I turned to his historical fiction Fallon series. My first reaction was how similar his writing style is, regardless on genre, and I subconsciously expected someone to come and balefire another in 19th century America.
As the story kicked off, I just got bored. But I can deal with bored. I just really wanted to finish. Then I got annoyed. If people complain about the lack of agency given to men in The Wheel of Time, then boy would they get mad at The Fallon Blood. The best way I can describe what was happening was that everyone acted like other characters were pawns on a chess board to be moved and manipulated in order to achieve whatever they needed, and they themselves were also one to another character. No one, man or woman, had any kind of free will and choice. And on top of it all, it was more romance than historical fiction, and we all know how "well" Jordan handles romance.
I don't think I'll be continuing on with the series, or even finish the first book. Perhaps, as my first Jordan work outside Wheel of Time, I will give Warrior of the Altaii a go (which I actually read last year, but don't remember much of) or even try his Conan the Barbarian books. Blood and ashes, what have I got myself into?
Rating: 2 stars (which is being pretty generous)
I went into this book knowing fully well that I wasn't going to like it. It sounds like a strange way to read a book, considering reading is ideally meant to be for enjoyment. And I'm not one to read this week's popular YA novel out of spite just so I can rant about it, and feel some sort of vindication out of proving that I'm "not like other girls".
So why did I pick up The Fallon Blood? Well, because Robert Jordan (or James Rigney Jr. if you want to be politically correct). I didn't want to be one of those people who claim they absolutely love an author, having only read one series written by them. That's a love of the series, not the author. The argument could be made that a reader might love the writing style of an author after reading only a few of their books, but I digress. For instance, I love Rick Riordan, and have done for many years, but it's not just the Percy Jackson series that makes him a favourite of mine. I love everything he has ever written (I should know; I own at least one copy of everything he's published).
So now as I begin my second read through of Jordan's Wheel of Time (only a week after completing my first), I wanted to read more of his works and see if I could consider him a favourite author. I turned to his historical fiction Fallon series. My first reaction was how similar his writing style is, regardless on genre, and I subconsciously expected someone to come and balefire another in 19th century America.
As the story kicked off, I just got bored. But I can deal with bored. I just really wanted to finish. Then I got annoyed. If people complain about the lack of agency given to men in The Wheel of Time, then boy would they get mad at The Fallon Blood. The best way I can describe what was happening was that everyone acted like other characters were pawns on a chess board to be moved and manipulated in order to achieve whatever they needed, and they themselves were also one to another character. No one, man or woman, had any kind of free will and choice. And on top of it all, it was more romance than historical fiction, and we all know how "well" Jordan handles romance.
I don't think I'll be continuing on with the series, or even finish the first book. Perhaps, as my first Jordan work outside Wheel of Time, I will give Warrior of the Altaii a go (which I actually read last year, but don't remember much of) or even try his Conan the Barbarian books. Blood and ashes, what have I got myself into?