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A review by tzurky
Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn
2.0
The deus ex machinas are getting really annoying. Every single one of the books follows the same pattern of slowly building interesting storylines with lots of tension between the characters and then a quick, neat resolution of every single one of them within 10 pages by a miraculous event or series of events. Too convenient and it cheapens all the suffering and character development that took place beforehand.
So why the two stars? Because I liked the storylines and the characters, with the exception of the main character. And while the beginning was, as always, slow and boring, the build-up was pretty good.
The fights are incredibly badly written though. Huge armies are supposed to clash together here and there is almost no description of any fighting at all. The fighting begins and ends in the next sentence, which is pretty lame, given how central it is to the plot. The same is true of the ninja fights.
Also, the ramblings on peace, and religion and such are pretty annoying. I get that she is trying to give the main character some depth but he is one of the most badly written characters I have ever read. Every single other character has more depth and personality than him. He basically stumbles his way through everything, pushed along by the plot into every decision that is necessary for its progression, decisions that are so contradictory and out-of-character that he is not left with much character to speak of. He is stupid or smart as the plot demands, kind and innocent like a baby or ruthless killer as the plot demands, madly in love or completely unconcerned with his wife or recklessly bold and cowardly and defeatist. Unbelievably annoying.
So why the two stars? Because I liked the storylines and the characters, with the exception of the main character. And while the beginning was, as always, slow and boring, the build-up was pretty good.
The fights are incredibly badly written though. Huge armies are supposed to clash together here and there is almost no description of any fighting at all. The fighting begins and ends in the next sentence, which is pretty lame, given how central it is to the plot. The same is true of the ninja fights.
Also, the ramblings on peace, and religion and such are pretty annoying. I get that she is trying to give the main character some depth but he is one of the most badly written characters I have ever read. Every single other character has more depth and personality than him. He basically stumbles his way through everything, pushed along by the plot into every decision that is necessary for its progression, decisions that are so contradictory and out-of-character that he is not left with much character to speak of. He is stupid or smart as the plot demands, kind and innocent like a baby or ruthless killer as the plot demands, madly in love or completely unconcerned with his wife or recklessly bold and cowardly and defeatist. Unbelievably annoying.