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A review by esnupi
Quests for Glory by Soman Chainani
2.0
Sigh. This is a re-read, seeing as One True King comes out so soon, but... it wasn't really a pleasant one. This book falls under what I have dubbed Chaotic Setup, in which an author takes a book early in a series and makes everything go wrong all at once so they can slowly fix it over the upcoming books. However, this makes for very unpleasant reading, as it's hard to enjoy a book in which everything starts bad and gets worse. This is the first time I've picked it up since I read it two years ago.
Let's start with the plot. Having read and enjoyed the first trilogy of this series, and seen how this was to be set up as the Camelot Years, I was hoping for something a bit more court-intrigue; a different sort of threat to 'Evil Man threatens to kill our heroes for power.' Did I get it? ...No, not really.
We START promisingly, but by less than a quarter way through, everyone's gallivanting around the Woods again, fighting pirates and whatnot, and I feel like there's a notable regression from the (very neat, very satisfying) end of Book 3 in order to get this new book to work. Surely, we've already done all this 'should Tedros be King?' stuff? And Sophie as Dean was a nice end to her arc! I would actually go as far as to say that this series needed different protagonists, not just Sophie, Agatha and Tedros again. They could have been characters, yes, but happily settled into their established roles, just helping someone else face a new threat. Also, the plot gets WAY too complicated WAY too quickly. You're bombarded by questions. Who's Lady Gremlaine? Why can't Tedros pull the sword? Why is everyone failing on their quests? What did Chaddick know? Who are the Mistral Sisters? Where's all Camelot's money going? What the hell has Kei got to do with anything??? Lion and Snake and Eagle?
However, as this is the first book of three, I can forgive a confusing plot FOR NOW. I personally like a lot of questions, especially if I guess them before they're revealed (which I didn't with this, but...)
My main problem with this book is the characters. Now, Soman is great at one-liners and little verbal sparrings between characters, but I feel like he really falls down on characterisation in this book. Agatha seems a little bland in comparison to her early days, and I was INFURIATED by her continuing to spend all her time worrying about whether she should really be Queen or not. YOU SPENT ALL OF THE LAST BOOK CRYING OVER THIS, WOMAN! MOVE ON! Her completed arc is found in a ditch with two smashed kneecaps! I could forgive the occasional wobble, given the (asinine) situation, but her and Tedros' fight at the end?! Sophie regresses as well. What happened to 'I'm happy alone?!' Over Rhian, too. Smh. Also, and probably most importantly, there's WAYY too many characters. New people like Bogden and Willam are barely relevant, and old side characters aren't developing at all (Beatrix, Reena, Ravan, etc.). Chaddick and Nicola are probably the only exceptions, but Chaddick dies and Soman seems to be actively trying to get people to hate Nicola, so...
The best new character in this book is Boobeshwar. I will not be told otherwise. Dumb as hell, sure, but bloody inspired.
Now, that's not to say I dislike everything about this book. There's some pretty good worldbuilding; I like Four Point, and seeing more detail on more kingdoms is interesting. Soman's good at humor, action scenes, and also at building tension in high-stakes situations. (Not in this book, but Sophie in the Trial is one of my favourite middle-grade/YA sequences ever.) HOWEVER, I personally dislike his style of writing romance; it comes off a bit cheesy. Also, sometimes there are scenes where everything just goes SO wrong it's physically hard to read (@/coronation scene), and I don't think that should ever be the case, to be honest. Also, what is up with the highly detailed descriptions of fit boys?
In conclusion; I'll be honest, I don't think we really need this series at all, or it needed to be drastically different. In terms of plot and moral dilemmas, it feels like a remix of the first series, just with some different castles. But I WILL be finishing this series, even if it is just so I can find out where the hell all the money went and who Kei is. Priorities!
Let's start with the plot. Having read and enjoyed the first trilogy of this series, and seen how this was to be set up as the Camelot Years, I was hoping for something a bit more court-intrigue; a different sort of threat to 'Evil Man threatens to kill our heroes for power.' Did I get it? ...No, not really.
We START promisingly, but by less than a quarter way through, everyone's gallivanting around the Woods again, fighting pirates and whatnot, and I feel like there's a notable regression from the (very neat, very satisfying) end of Book 3 in order to get this new book to work. Surely, we've already done all this 'should Tedros be King?' stuff? And Sophie as Dean was a nice end to her arc! I would actually go as far as to say that this series needed different protagonists, not just Sophie, Agatha and Tedros again. They could have been characters, yes, but happily settled into their established roles, just helping someone else face a new threat. Also, the plot gets WAY too complicated WAY too quickly. You're bombarded by questions. Who's Lady Gremlaine? Why can't Tedros pull the sword? Why is everyone failing on their quests? What did Chaddick know? Who are the Mistral Sisters? Where's all Camelot's money going? What the hell has Kei got to do with anything??? Lion and Snake and Eagle?
However, as this is the first book of three, I can forgive a confusing plot FOR NOW. I personally like a lot of questions, especially if I guess them before they're revealed (which I didn't with this, but...)
My main problem with this book is the characters. Now, Soman is great at one-liners and little verbal sparrings between characters, but I feel like he really falls down on characterisation in this book. Agatha seems a little bland in comparison to her early days, and I was INFURIATED by her continuing to spend all her time worrying about whether she should really be Queen or not. YOU SPENT ALL OF THE LAST BOOK CRYING OVER THIS, WOMAN! MOVE ON! Her completed arc is found in a ditch with two smashed kneecaps! I could forgive the occasional wobble, given the (asinine) situation, but her and Tedros' fight at the end?! Sophie regresses as well. What happened to 'I'm happy alone?!' Over Rhian, too. Smh. Also, and probably most importantly, there's WAYY too many characters. New people like Bogden and Willam are barely relevant, and old side characters aren't developing at all (Beatrix, Reena, Ravan, etc.). Chaddick and Nicola are probably the only exceptions, but Chaddick dies and Soman seems to be actively trying to get people to hate Nicola, so...
The best new character in this book is Boobeshwar. I will not be told otherwise. Dumb as hell, sure, but bloody inspired.
Now, that's not to say I dislike everything about this book. There's some pretty good worldbuilding; I like Four Point, and seeing more detail on more kingdoms is interesting. Soman's good at humor, action scenes, and also at building tension in high-stakes situations. (Not in this book, but Sophie in the Trial is one of my favourite middle-grade/YA sequences ever.) HOWEVER, I personally dislike his style of writing romance; it comes off a bit cheesy. Also, sometimes there are scenes where everything just goes SO wrong it's physically hard to read (@/coronation scene), and I don't think that should ever be the case, to be honest. Also, what is up with the highly detailed descriptions of fit boys?
In conclusion; I'll be honest, I don't think we really need this series at all, or it needed to be drastically different. In terms of plot and moral dilemmas, it feels like a remix of the first series, just with some different castles. But I WILL be finishing this series, even if it is just so I can find out where the hell all the money went and who Kei is. Priorities!