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grumpusgoblin 's review for:
Emperor Mage
by Tamora Pierce
Oh sweet sweet nostalgia. I remember having quite the soft spot for the 3rd book in The Immortals quartet because I particularly loved Prince Kaddar at the time, haha! Never understood why Piece then decided to romantically entangle her character with Numair instead, her mentor far older than her (though still attractive...of course). Maybe she didn't want to do the Prince Jonathan vs. a gifted commoner love triangle thing again, maybe?
I have a lot to critique rereading these books so many years later, it's a dangerous thing treading on childhood favorites (especially when I get to Eragon, oi vey...). But I also find that I don't want to critique them all harshly at the same time! Reading a Song of Ice and Fire definitely makes me read other types of fantasy that don't go into nearly as much moral complexity with a far more negative lens. All the good characters are too good and all the bad characters are classic Disney villain bad like Ozorne (such an evil sounding name, they all should've been tipped off simply by that!). Kaddar's the only morally sorta grey character but he's still vanilla as hell despite his reluctance to give up slavery. Daine's rising of the dinosaur skeletons should've killed a lot more innocent lives, but naturally Daine is so powerful that all the animals obey her and will do their best not to trample anyone evil. It's just not realistic, even in a fantasy world! She's a bit too OP with all these animal powers, but screw it, doesn't matter. I'm reading all the Tortall books despite all my mean old criticisms.
I have a lot to critique rereading these books so many years later, it's a dangerous thing treading on childhood favorites (especially when I get to Eragon, oi vey...). But I also find that I don't want to critique them all harshly at the same time! Reading a Song of Ice and Fire definitely makes me read other types of fantasy that don't go into nearly as much moral complexity with a far more negative lens. All the good characters are too good and all the bad characters are classic Disney villain bad like Ozorne (such an evil sounding name, they all should've been tipped off simply by that!). Kaddar's the only morally sorta grey character but he's still vanilla as hell despite his reluctance to give up slavery. Daine's rising of the dinosaur skeletons should've killed a lot more innocent lives, but naturally Daine is so powerful that all the animals obey her and will do their best not to trample anyone evil. It's just not realistic, even in a fantasy world! She's a bit too OP with all these animal powers, but screw it, doesn't matter. I'm reading all the Tortall books despite all my mean old criticisms.