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A review by jscarpa14
Pathfinder by Angie Sage
4.0
I loved most of this book, though like always as I'm a person that could see flaws in perfection, there's a few things that bothered me.
One of the things I noted in reading the Septimus Heap series was that more often than not the adults were idiots too wrapped up in their own pride or former teaching to make smart decisions or to trust the children that had proven their capability time and time again. I never liked the way that most of the adults were portrayed as idiots, in fact I can't think of a single adult in the series that was never portrayed as an idiot at some point or other. Now in this series, Septimus, Jenna, Nicko, Snori and Beetle are adults too and like their predecessor adults each has a bit of that clueless about them. Well not so much Snori and Beetle who are more passing background characters than anything else, but Septimus who is extraordinary wizard doesn't even know that someone in his care is kidnapped. He's too caught up in flirting, after being dumped by Rose, the relationship that was just sparking to live at the end of his own series and had apparently ended when Rose decided she was more interested in Foxy, to pay attention to things. Jenna acts almost territorial of Septimus, less like a sister and more like a jealous ex-girlfriend in some scenes. She's dating Beetle, but still her behavior with Septimus is a bit weird. While they weren't nearly as bad as the adults in the prior series I can't help but be concerned that Sage portrays adulthood as in part losing sight of what's important in exchange for more trivial concerns. While we all have a trivial concerns both in childhood and adulthood, growing up doesn't mean becoming an idiot. So I'm kind of hoping there's less of that soon because there are intelligent adults that actually listen to children and consider what they have to say too.
Sage continues on with her this is occurring in a far distant future take on the world she's created. The main character Alice-Toddhunter Moon is part of the Pathfinder people who are descended from what sounds like genetically altered astronauts. They're ostracized by many people because they're different and they guard their secrets closely. I guess I kind of get why Sage decided to date the world in the final Septimus Heap book because of the origin of the people at the center of her spin off series. However, it still seems jarring to me considering how many old fashioned traditions these people have and how little technology seems to exist that this book takes place in a time yet to come.
There was still the issue of contradictions between what has previously been established, but because of the shift in character focus, there weren't as many, or maybe because Sage is paying more attention to her own pre established rules in this series, I couldn't say for sure.
This new series doesn't meander nearly as much or have the charming after passages that tell of what has happened to each character as the series before did, but it still presenting and interesting and enthralling story that I highly recommend.
One of the things I noted in reading the Septimus Heap series was that more often than not the adults were idiots too wrapped up in their own pride or former teaching to make smart decisions or to trust the children that had proven their capability time and time again. I never liked the way that most of the adults were portrayed as idiots, in fact I can't think of a single adult in the series that was never portrayed as an idiot at some point or other. Now in this series, Septimus, Jenna, Nicko, Snori and Beetle are adults too and like their predecessor adults each has a bit of that clueless about them. Well not so much Snori and Beetle who are more passing background characters than anything else, but Septimus who is extraordinary wizard doesn't even know that someone in his care is kidnapped. He's too caught up in flirting, after being dumped by Rose, the relationship that was just sparking to live at the end of his own series and had apparently ended when Rose decided she was more interested in Foxy, to pay attention to things. Jenna acts almost territorial of Septimus, less like a sister and more like a jealous ex-girlfriend in some scenes. She's dating Beetle, but still her behavior with Septimus is a bit weird. While they weren't nearly as bad as the adults in the prior series I can't help but be concerned that Sage portrays adulthood as in part losing sight of what's important in exchange for more trivial concerns. While we all have a trivial concerns both in childhood and adulthood, growing up doesn't mean becoming an idiot. So I'm kind of hoping there's less of that soon because there are intelligent adults that actually listen to children and consider what they have to say too.
Sage continues on with her this is occurring in a far distant future take on the world she's created. The main character Alice-Toddhunter Moon is part of the Pathfinder people who are descended from what sounds like genetically altered astronauts. They're ostracized by many people because they're different and they guard their secrets closely. I guess I kind of get why Sage decided to date the world in the final Septimus Heap book because of the origin of the people at the center of her spin off series. However, it still seems jarring to me considering how many old fashioned traditions these people have and how little technology seems to exist that this book takes place in a time yet to come.
There was still the issue of contradictions between what has previously been established, but because of the shift in character focus, there weren't as many, or maybe because Sage is paying more attention to her own pre established rules in this series, I couldn't say for sure.
This new series doesn't meander nearly as much or have the charming after passages that tell of what has happened to each character as the series before did, but it still presenting and interesting and enthralling story that I highly recommend.