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A review by see_sadie_read
The Burning Magus by Don Allmon
3.0
I was disappointed in this book. It's not that it's bad, but rather that I loved the first one, liked the second one and found this one uninspired. It felt much more rushed. I thought it had too many characters, too much pointless sex and too little pay off.
To elaborate, all the previous characters are here in this one, so the book felt unfocused. And though I have no problem with sex in my books, like and expect it even, the sex here is largely voyeuristic and too frequently not between the established couples. (So, it adds nothing to strengthen the bond we're supposed to believe exists.) What's more, some of it felt very much like the author went, "Oh, this is SO in right now. I better add it, even if it feels like an after-the-fact add and isn't well stitched into the plot."
As to pay-off, (this is hard to address without spoilers) questions are presented and not answered, and I didn't feel Allmon made any effort to lead the reader to decide on their own. Instead, the whole thing feels forgotten. A whole important character is introduced and not given any significant page-time (and it really was needed). And bad guys are defeated easily (even ones that took whole books to beat in the past) and simply fade away without fuss.
All in all, I still like Allmon's writing style. And I like this series. But, when compared with the previous books, The Burning Magus fell extremely flat for me.
To elaborate, all the previous characters are here in this one, so the book felt unfocused. And though I have no problem with sex in my books, like and expect it even, the sex here is largely voyeuristic and too frequently not between the established couples. (So, it adds nothing to strengthen the bond we're supposed to believe exists.) What's more, some of it felt very much like the author went, "Oh, this is SO in right now. I better add it, even if it feels like an after-the-fact add and isn't well stitched into the plot."
As to pay-off, (this is hard to address without spoilers) questions are presented and not answered, and I didn't feel Allmon made any effort to lead the reader to decide on their own. Instead, the whole thing feels forgotten. A whole important character is introduced and not given any significant page-time (and it really was needed). And bad guys are defeated easily (even ones that took whole books to beat in the past) and simply fade away without fuss.
All in all, I still like Allmon's writing style. And I like this series. But, when compared with the previous books, The Burning Magus fell extremely flat for me.