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A review by sipping_tea_with_ghosts
A Blight of Blackwings by Kevin Hearne
3.0
As much as I rather enjoyed Plague of Giants, I unfortunately can't say I enjoyed its followup nearly as much. The strengths of the first entry are still here: the world building is interesting and diverse, there are some real gut punches in self-contained war stories, and a good amount of the characters are fun to follow around.
My problems start with overall character development of some of the key players such as Dervan and Fintan, and how their supposed chances to grow were thrown onto completely different characters instead. Dervan went through a lot in the first book, learning a lot about the world outside of Survivor's Field, and having to come to grips with what happened to his beloved. One could reasonably say he had enough exposure in the first book, but with how he's the central narrator (or at least the guy writing down the thoughts of the main voice), its a little distracting how sterile he comes across compared to everyone else. There are some nice moments with him but they get lost in an avalanche of other character highlights and superfluous romance plots told by Fintan.
Also if you're expecting a bit of a recap since your read of the first entry was quite a ways back, you're not getting it. You might be like me and be confused for a little while on who ____ is and why them getting _____ was a big deal. The character glossary up front is far too barren and lacking in information for a cast this large.
Second issue is the amount of time dedicated to the previously said unneeded romance plots and secondary characters. When we're delving into the struggles of Abhi, Olet, Gondel, Koesha and otherwise, I'm having a great time. When the narrative decides to focus on the Sixth Kenning children such as Hamina and her rogue's gallery of juveniles, I roll my eyes and honestly skim most of the sections. These sections highlight an overly verbose writing style, dedicating paragraphs to describe a child's thinking and their ghost hand grip on philosophy of power. One chapter literally read like it was half Viva la Revolution and half fart jokes.
I only highlight these negatives so profusely because they regrettably take up a fair amount of the book. I should've finished this book much sooner than I did (took about 4 months I think). It starts really strong and then falls into a ditch for about 150 pages. The climax finally picks things back up and then the ending comes and goes like a fart in the wind.
Like I said before, there's still really good stuff here and I might pick up Hearne's Hounded series in the future because of it. You just have to get through a fair amount of doldrums to get to those awe inspiring world views and heartbreaking losses of life.
My problems start with overall character development of some of the key players such as Dervan and Fintan, and how their supposed chances to grow were thrown onto completely different characters instead. Dervan went through a lot in the first book, learning a lot about the world outside of Survivor's Field, and having to come to grips with what happened to his beloved. One could reasonably say he had enough exposure in the first book, but with how he's the central narrator (or at least the guy writing down the thoughts of the main voice), its a little distracting how sterile he comes across compared to everyone else. There are some nice moments with him but they get lost in an avalanche of other character highlights and superfluous romance plots told by Fintan.
Also if you're expecting a bit of a recap since your read of the first entry was quite a ways back, you're not getting it. You might be like me and be confused for a little while on who ____ is and why them getting _____ was a big deal. The character glossary up front is far too barren and lacking in information for a cast this large.
Second issue is the amount of time dedicated to the previously said unneeded romance plots and secondary characters. When we're delving into the struggles of Abhi, Olet, Gondel, Koesha and otherwise, I'm having a great time. When the narrative decides to focus on the Sixth Kenning children such as Hamina and her rogue's gallery of juveniles, I roll my eyes and honestly skim most of the sections. These sections highlight an overly verbose writing style, dedicating paragraphs to describe a child's thinking and their ghost hand grip on philosophy of power. One chapter literally read like it was half Viva la Revolution and half fart jokes.
I only highlight these negatives so profusely because they regrettably take up a fair amount of the book. I should've finished this book much sooner than I did (took about 4 months I think). It starts really strong and then falls into a ditch for about 150 pages. The climax finally picks things back up and then the ending comes and goes like a fart in the wind.
Like I said before, there's still really good stuff here and I might pick up Hearne's Hounded series in the future because of it. You just have to get through a fair amount of doldrums to get to those awe inspiring world views and heartbreaking losses of life.