Scan barcode
A review by incrediblefran
Fallow by Jordan L. Hawk
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
4.25
Back in Widdershins with Whyborne and Griffin!
Returning to Griffin's hometown of Fallow as a great choice and it opened up a lot of interesting avenues. It's a pretty bleak book - Fallow is an insular, dying town, one that drove Griffin away and another man to his death. Griffin has to face his mother again after her rejection of him, and Hawk doesn't make that easy.
The Rust is a great villain, one of the best so far. Though the Rust itself isn't really the villain, but the people are - Creigh and Marian are terrible people, but it's Griffin's mother who delivers the worst blows. Which is to be expected - in Hawk's world, the Other is something to be understood, maybe allied with, maybe even loved. It's humans who are to be feared.
Whyborne reverted back to his neurotic self for a lot of this book which was a little annoying, but the ending also had the high point of his and Griffin's relationship so I came around on it. And while last book I felt like Griffin's voice wasn't distinct enough from Whyborne's, this book hugely improved on it.
Other plus points: fun action scenes, and some excellent Christine (and Iskander) moments. I like Whyborne and Griffin, but Christine remains the MVP of these books. Love her. The whole series is so fun, and I'm looking forward to going straight into Draakenwood. Hopefully Whyborne will fret about his relationship with Griffin a bit less now.
Returning to Griffin's hometown of Fallow as a great choice and it opened up a lot of interesting avenues. It's a pretty bleak book - Fallow is an insular, dying town, one that drove Griffin away and another man to his death. Griffin has to face his mother again after her rejection of him, and Hawk doesn't make that easy.
The Rust is a great villain, one of the best so far. Though the Rust itself isn't really the villain, but the people are - Creigh and Marian are terrible people, but it's Griffin's mother who delivers the worst blows. Which is to be expected - in Hawk's world, the Other is something to be understood, maybe allied with, maybe even loved. It's humans who are to be feared.
Whyborne reverted back to his neurotic self for a lot of this book which was a little annoying, but the ending also had the high point of his and Griffin's relationship so I came around on it. And while last book I felt like Griffin's voice wasn't distinct enough from Whyborne's, this book hugely improved on it.
Other plus points: fun action scenes, and some excellent Christine (and Iskander) moments. I like Whyborne and Griffin, but Christine remains the MVP of these books. Love her. The whole series is so fun, and I'm looking forward to going straight into Draakenwood. Hopefully Whyborne will fret about his relationship with Griffin a bit less now.