Review of "The Darkest Heart: The Shadow and the Wolf," by S. A. Maus

The Darkest Heart: The Shadow and the Wolf by S.A. Maus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Overall, I liked it a lot. There were a few things that bothered me, but mostly they were minor.

There were a few things that happened toward the middle that didn't seem to have any bearing at all on the plot, and I think they could have been left out without jeopardizing the structure of the story. But those were very minor, and even if they didn't seem to have anything to do with the plot, they were still interesting. They also might play into the second book, so I'm not dismissing that.

By far the biggest (negative) thing I noticed was a lack of characterization. There was a lot of focus on the surroundings, but not a lot on the characters themselves. Their reactions to things didn't seem proportional to what had happened; almost too dramatic. They also seemed to draw conclusions on other characters based on things we as readers don't see; such as one character being praised when all I'd seen were reasons to dislike them. The writing style is third-person omniscient, though, and a lot of the interaction seems to be skipped over, so those are things I would have expected to see some of anyway.

Other than that, I enjoyed it a lot. The world itself is very well realized, and vividly described. There is also obviously a lot of history behind the events taking place, which, being a Tolkien fan-girl, I can appreciate. xD While I didn't emotionally connect to the characters, and didn't really like most of them, it still kept my attention and proved a good read.

If Tolkien fans are looking for something in a similar style, this is a good one to try. :)

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