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halffast 's review for:
Pathfinder's Way
by T.A. White
Shea is a pathfinder (like a professionally trained scout) who knows how to navigate the wilderness and watch for signs of dangerous beasts. After a betrayal, she catches the eye of a warlord invading a neighboring territory. She escapes but ends up going into hiding as a scout in his army.
I liked a lot of things about this book -- very intelligent and skilled heroine who continually outsmarts not only an enemy warlord but his entire army, interesting world building with savage monsters, and strong themes of finding an identity and family with unlikely people. Approximately 70% of the book is a build-up to It's a testament to the author's skill that I was really into the story despite the lack of any romance or steam until that far in. And once it kicked in, the tension between the two leads was great.
Some of the things that kept this from being a 5 star read for me: I don't like when modern slang leaks into fantasy novels. Things like "hella" and "workaholic" just take me out of the story world. On the same note, I was confused by the mix of names. There would be rustic, fantasy-appropriate names like Indra and Witt and Jarak, and in the same scene there'd also be Henry, Paul, and Jason. I'd understand if all the traditional names came from one country, but that wasn't the case.
I was also confused by how Fallon and one of his commanders
The reviews of books 2 and 3 in the trilogy aren't super flattering so I'm unsure if I'll keep reading.
I liked a lot of things about this book -- very intelligent and skilled heroine who continually outsmarts not only an enemy warlord but his entire army, interesting world building with savage monsters, and strong themes of finding an identity and family with unlikely people. Approximately 70% of the book is a build-up to
Spoiler
Fallon, the warlord, realizing that Shea has been hiding under his nose for months.Some of the things that kept this from being a 5 star read for me: I don't like when modern slang leaks into fantasy novels. Things like "hella" and "workaholic" just take me out of the story world. On the same note, I was confused by the mix of names. There would be rustic, fantasy-appropriate names like Indra and Witt and Jarak, and in the same scene there'd also be Henry, Paul, and Jason. I'd understand if all the traditional names came from one country, but that wasn't the case.
I was also confused by how Fallon and one of his commanders
Spoiler
end up prisoners of a small, weak town and apparently don't even have a plan to save themselves until Shea comes along. Also, after Shea escapes Fallon in the tent he tells Darius to keep an eye on the scouts, because he has an intuition about it. Then not too long after, he meets "Shane," this mysteriously skilled young scout, and barely bats an eye at him. Like??? Where'd your intuition go, man?The reviews of books 2 and 3 in the trilogy aren't super flattering so I'm unsure if I'll keep reading.