More like 4 1/2, really. I wasn't very into it at the beginning, but then halfway through I really started to enjoy it a lot more and ended up lov...moreMore like 4 1/2, really. I wasn't very into it at the beginning, but then halfway through I really started to enjoy it a lot more and ended up loving it.
However, my edition sucked. Lots of commas in really weird places and such editorial blunders.(less)
You know, I wanted to like this, I really did, but nope.
I liked Gavin, and I liked the story of the brothers, I liked the black guard, and...moreYou know, I wanted to like this, I really did, but nope.
I liked Gavin, and I liked the story of the brothers, I liked the black guard, and the concept of the book itself was great. I didn't like Karris but she was alright-ish.
But... I hated Kip with a passion. On the first few chapters he seemed okay, kinda funny (not as funny as he thought he was, though) if annoying. Then it all went downhill with him. He became more and more annoying and just not very... right as a character. I can't really explain it. But I'll go back to that in a bit.
Most characters seemed to have the same sense of humour (or rather, lame sense of humour) and snarky-remarks at times, it felt a bit bothersome.
The magic system was cool but complex- having to be walked by the hand through it was both nice and a bit annoying at the same time because at times it distracted from the plot.
There were several parts that were quite repetitive. As in, three or four times the very same thing would be explained- in long, long detail -with different wording. Yes, I know, it's still the same book, you don't have to explain the world's politics or whatever yet again, I still remember it from the last chapter.
And then, we go back to Kip.
I hated him more and more as chapters progressed, so much that it made my reading of the book slow down and my enjoyment of it die a little with each new appearance. Hence the 1 star rating.
(view spoiler)[The fact that Gavin is "proud" of what the boy does bothers me to no end. Proud? The boy is a smart ass, loud mouth, rude, idiotic, annoying brat who could use some spanking. Sure, you can argue it's your average teenager, but he takes it just one step beyond. (hide spoiler)]
More than once I rolled my eyes at what he said that made it seem like we were supposed to think he was oh-so-funny-and-witty. He was not. He was a damn brat.
(view spoiler)[I knew Liv would be annoying and troubles too, when she was so easily pushed into things.
I nearly drop the book when we came to the part Kip decides to be a "not-really-a-hero" and go save the "damsel in distress"... and is promptly followed by stupid Liv instead of being turned in to the Prism. (hide spoiler)]
Really?
Seriously?
From then on I just skimmed through the chapters because I wanted to know what happened with everyone else, but Kip's complete and utter idiocy made me not want to read any more, even if I'm curious about Gavin and what will happen to the Guiles next. I just don't think I can put up with Kip's smart ass ways for yet another book.(less)
The book felt rushed and crammed of information that was spoon fed by plot devices (read: characters), and not sho...moreNow that was just silly.
The book felt rushed and crammed of information that was spoon fed by plot devices (read: characters), and not shown by the tale itself.
The parts that weren't rushed were fight descriptions, which unless they're really well done can bore me, and angsty lovey-dovey crap, which bore me unless there's an actual point to them- save for one or two parts that could have been shorter, I didn't think there was much of a point in them.
As it were, I read it like:
"Important stuff happened, important items were recovered, and potentially cool stuff happened, but rather than show you that let me skim over it and instead I'll make long musing rants about love and sex and how sad/happy character is to be not getting it/getting it. Oh, and here's a fight scene."
What was the point of the Wolf telling Kylar how everyone's life would go? I'm fairly sure, given what he is, that he would have been able to see it by himself. Did Weeks not want to write one more chapter to show that same thing?
And what about Uly's great great Talent? Is that leading anywhere or is it for another book?
There's nothing I hate quite so much as characters that don't learn- particularly secret-keeping characters that don't learn after being screwed twenty times for keeping them, that they should not keep those secrets from their apprentices/people who help them.
Youd think after the tenth time they'd just tell them everything, no? How stupid can they be?
Despite that, the fact that there was no decent villain whatsoever, that some things were left unexplained, and that the ending was cliché and I did not really like it one bit (Khali could have been so much more, so much better! She was so lame at the end! Ugh!), I'm giving it two stars instead of one because, in a whole, the trilogy has great ideas and great plot points.
It just... wasn't executed properly to the end, at least, for my own personal taste.
In a whole, I would reread the first and second, but I would get rid of the third. It's just disappointing. (less)
**spoiler alert** Hmm, difficult one to rate. I'm giving it a 3.5, but rounding it on 3 rather than 4, and here's why.
(I put a spoiler tag, ...more**spoiler alert** Hmm, difficult one to rate. I'm giving it a 3.5, but rounding it on 3 rather than 4, and here's why.
(I put a spoiler tag, but I'll try not to spoil it too much)
I really like the story in a whole so far, however, the beginning dragged. I get that one's trying to settle him into his new life, but the whole sad-that-I-can't-kill, sad-I-can't-get-laid, etc got tiring and made the start drag endlessly for me. It's not that I don't like angst, but I have a problem with half the book being inner musings of angst from one or another character. Also I usually hate kids in books.
Then Garoth Ursuul came along, and I really liked it. He was a great villain, in my opinion. I think he's my favorite character, which is funny given his short lifespan story wise. (Maybe it had to do with me picturing him like my favoritest villains, too.) Logan's story I also loved, it was a bit icky, but I loved it nonetheless. Those two right there made me want to rate it 4. The story with Momma K's girls also was quite touching.
But then it flipped back to angst angst angst, boo, I can't kill, boo I can't get laid or everyone rapes me, boo I can kill but now I don't have love, and it just got annoying. Fight wasn't bad, despite the random characters never heard of that suddenly seemed important. The whole deal with Curoch wasn't too bad either though Dorian started getting on my nerves towards the end, too (and he didn't even appear that much). But Garoth was then so. stupid. Which I guess you can forgive since he was feeling overconfident, but also seems to clash with what I understood to be not precisely -that- much of an idiot.
I wanted to like Vi, I really did, but nope. She's just your average fantasy girl who succumbs to love even if she's badass.
The whole god-questioning was a bit annoying (since book one, not particular to this one), it always makes me feel like they're trying to ram some hidden message down my throat when books mention fights between people's belief in "gods" plain and simple and "The One God" who is the only one getting capital letters.
The 'twist' at the end, if it can be called that, was disappointingly stupid (I liked Durzo only just about, but really?)
I would have liked to see more of Khali in this book, I'm hoping the next won't disappoint and have her disappear before showing some of her. I liked the glimpses that we were shown.
Despite the things I didn't likem I really enjoyed the read and I would definitely re-read it... and skim parts, but re-read it nonetheless. (less)
I think my only real gripe with this book was towards the middle of it, where a couple characters kept thinking how they would definitely act one way ...moreI think my only real gripe with this book was towards the middle of it, where a couple characters kept thinking how they would definitely act one way and then turn around and do the exact opposite without even appearing to try.
Now, I can get that may happen, but not with two or more characters so close together.
Other that that, I quite enjoyed the book. (less)
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