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A review by cultureulterior
The Way Into Chaos by Harry Connolly
3.0
I'm a big fan of the Twenty Palaces series- they an amazing piece of urban fantasy, and that's why it was a pleasure and privilege to back Connolly's kickstarter. Now, part of that is that the author is holding any future novels in that series hostage to him becoming rich and famous. Still, I came into this book dying to be convinced that he knew what he was doing.
After having read this book, and the other two on this series, I am not happy. The best part of this story is that of Cazia, a sorceress and professional hostage, but even her story gets more and more attenuated as the series goes on. I'd say my biggest complaint about this sorry epic fantasy is that no-one feels competent. Every quest and activity goes by like a comedy of errors, with mistakes and bumbling plotlines that seem to serve no purpose than lengthen the book.
Connolly is super liberal- It's obvious when you read even the 20 palaces series, not in the least when he gives his main character a secret means to always avoid killing that nobody else has, and then spends his time complaining that other people have to kill, but he's managed to restrain somewhat this time, and I did not sigh about his naivete more than a few times per book.
In all, I would probably not have finished this series unless I'd paid for them all already, but I'll definitely read future works by Connolly, since he's ably demonstrated that he can write.
After having read this book, and the other two on this series, I am not happy. The best part of this story is that of Cazia, a sorceress and professional hostage, but even her story gets more and more attenuated as the series goes on. I'd say my biggest complaint about this sorry epic fantasy is that no-one feels competent. Every quest and activity goes by like a comedy of errors, with mistakes and bumbling plotlines that seem to serve no purpose than lengthen the book.
Connolly is super liberal- It's obvious when you read even the 20 palaces series, not in the least when he gives his main character a secret means to always avoid killing that nobody else has, and then spends his time complaining that other people have to kill, but he's managed to restrain somewhat this time, and I did not sigh about his naivete more than a few times per book.
In all, I would probably not have finished this series unless I'd paid for them all already, but I'll definitely read future works by Connolly, since he's ably demonstrated that he can write.