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dknippling 's review for:
The Ruins of Gorlan
by John Flanagan
A ton of people have talked about the plot of this book.
I have to talk about the POV.
This is the most masterful 3rd-person omniscient POV that I've ever read. Okay, granted, I don't read a lot of 3rd person omniscient stuff. And of the stuff I do, it's further back in the past...classic literature stuff.
But this was amazing. The chapter would start out, doot da doo, apparently in the main character's head, or whoever. Then the main character would think about another character, often while they were talking, and would start describing that character in terms that only the character being described would use. Describing a warrior type? All kinds of vocab words that only a fighter would use would shift into the description.
And then, the author would shift directly into the other characters' heads at the exact moment when they had something amusing to think. Or we'd totally shift POV to give perspective on what the main character was feeling, the main character being a teen who doesn't really understand what's going on - so we get a moment of insight. The teen thinks he's being tortured, but we hop into the teacher's head for a moment in order to understand that the kid's not being tortured, and in fact the teacher's proud of him.
Consistently: the use of 3rd person omniscient to add wit and empathy throughout. A graceful use of POV.
I have to talk about the POV.
This is the most masterful 3rd-person omniscient POV that I've ever read. Okay, granted, I don't read a lot of 3rd person omniscient stuff. And of the stuff I do, it's further back in the past...classic literature stuff.
But this was amazing. The chapter would start out, doot da doo, apparently in the main character's head, or whoever. Then the main character would think about another character, often while they were talking, and would start describing that character in terms that only the character being described would use. Describing a warrior type? All kinds of vocab words that only a fighter would use would shift into the description.
And then, the author would shift directly into the other characters' heads at the exact moment when they had something amusing to think. Or we'd totally shift POV to give perspective on what the main character was feeling, the main character being a teen who doesn't really understand what's going on - so we get a moment of insight. The teen thinks he's being tortured, but we hop into the teacher's head for a moment in order to understand that the kid's not being tortured, and in fact the teacher's proud of him.
Consistently: the use of 3rd person omniscient to add wit and empathy throughout. A graceful use of POV.