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A review by michaeljohnhalseartistry
Steles of the Sky by Elizabeth Bear
3.0
I started reading this trilogy a year ago, and I enjoyed it, for the most part. Each book does move at a glacial pace, with the exception for this one, the final book, which I found had a much quicker pace than than book two... which dragged on forever, despite nothing really happening. And while I've loved Bear's world-building in this series, I always felt a little disconnected from the characters, really only because of the dialogue. It never seemed to fit with the culture or how I was reading the characters, it was very modern, and just seemed out of place almost. HOWEVER, I would be lying if I said I didn't tear up a little at the end. It ended perfectly. Exactly how I would have wanted it to end. It's a totally bittersweet ending (and I love those).
One thing that really bothered me though, was how entire storylines were just sort of dropped... it almost felt like there needed to be another books of the series to expand more on these characters. I won't give anything away, but I was disappointed in the closings of Yangchen-tsa, the empress of Tsarapeth and Anil-la, and it seemed like Lady Diao was just forgotten about... and Ümmühan, a character I was really interested in, her storyline really didn't matter in the end, she could've been written out and it wouldn't have made a difference.
I did really love the close to Tsering-la's story, and the storyline of the main characters, though I wish there had been more of Hong-la in this book, only because he was my favourite character from the previous book.
Otherwise, it's an exceptional world, so intricate and well developed. And for that reason I think fantasy-fans and writers should read this series... just, try not to concentrate too much on the dialogue, haha.
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One thing that really bothered me though, was how entire storylines were just sort of dropped... it almost felt like there needed to be another books of the series to expand more on these characters. I won't give anything away, but I was disappointed in the closings of Yangchen-tsa, the empress of Tsarapeth and Anil-la, and it seemed like Lady Diao was just forgotten about... and Ümmühan, a character I was really interested in, her storyline really didn't matter in the end, she could've been written out and it wouldn't have made a difference.
I did really love the close to Tsering-la's story, and the storyline of the main characters, though I wish there had been more of Hong-la in this book, only because he was my favourite character from the previous book.
Otherwise, it's an exceptional world, so intricate and well developed. And for that reason I think fantasy-fans and writers should read this series... just, try not to concentrate too much on the dialogue, haha.
---
FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse