Review of Shadowplay by Tad Williams
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Shadowplay by Tad Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Okay, so overall I liked this book. In fact, there are really only a few things keeping it from being five stars.
1: That ending, though. Cliffhangers annoy me. Luckily, I have the next book already, so I don't have to suffer through an agonizing wait. But just dropping Ferras Vansen through a portal/door/thing and leaving Barrick, and then ending the book with Vansen finding out where he is and then passing out? There are worse endings, I'm sure, and it's not going to stop me from finishing the series. But I still found it a little irritating.
2: Constantly switching characters. I'm an author. I get that sometimes, when dealing with a complex plot and a large cast of characters, you need to do a certain amount of character switching in order for the story to make sense. Especially if events in one place are going to have a large impact in other places. I still, however, found it grating to have to figure out what character we were with every few pages, or, sometimes, twice on the same page. It would interrupt (for me) the flow of the story, and take me from a place and character I was invested in at that moment, and suddenly drop me in another place where I had to orient myself. It didn't disrupt to the point that I couldn't orient myself, couldn't adjust to the switch, or got overly frustrated, but it wasn't one of the more pleasant aspects of the book.
3: Questionable content. There isn't much by most standards. Fewer than ten words (I believe; I wasn't counting) that I'd call bad. But more than the first book. There's also reference to some sexual ideas and behaviors. This isn't necessarily a reason for knocking off a star, though. It's nothing too explicit, nothing that a mature teenager (in my opinion) couldn't handle. Concerned parents would find it relatively easy to go through and mark out things they don't feel their children are ready for, though there would be very little to worry about.
Now I have to say what I liked about it, because fair is fair.
1: Characters. I like most of the characters, and find it easy to want to know what happens to them. Most of them. I have a rather strong dislike of Barrick, mostly because he acts like such a martyr. But I quite like Briony, and Qinnitan, Chert, Opal, and even Tinwright. I think my favorite, though, might just be Ferras Vansen. He annoyed me a little bit through this book, mostly right after crossing the Shadowline with Prince Barrick. But he improved, and I think I relate most to him. After him (or perhaps making it a tie, I haven't decided yet) is Princess Briony. She's smart, passionate, and can be a bit mouthy while also genuinely caring for people. She's also realistic in that she gets frightened, wants to get revenge on the people who captured her father and stole her throne, and can be very ignorant about some things (the success of her disguise, for example).
2: Depth of plot. There is a lot going on in this book. A LOT. It has the potential to be mightily confusing, but it's not. You can see the middle of the story, and glimpses of why it's happening, but you have to follow the thread of the story to get your answers - and there are a lot of questions that need them. There are a lot of questions about why certain things are happening, and because of the depth to the series, you assume there are answers that will be forthcoming.
3: The skill in presenting events as we need them. I dislike head hopping. That said, it was (probably; I can't read the author's mind) necessary to give readers the information needed for the story to make sense. And it does. Despite the complexity of the plot, it's relatively easy to follow and connect the dots. You have the information you need, for the most part, in order to understand what's happening.
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Shadowplay by Tad WilliamsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Okay, so overall I liked this book. In fact, there are really only a few things keeping it from being five stars.
1: That ending, though. Cliffhangers annoy me. Luckily, I have the next book already, so I don't have to suffer through an agonizing wait. But just dropping Ferras Vansen through a portal/door/thing and leaving Barrick, and then ending the book with Vansen finding out where he is and then passing out? There are worse endings, I'm sure, and it's not going to stop me from finishing the series. But I still found it a little irritating.
2: Constantly switching characters. I'm an author. I get that sometimes, when dealing with a complex plot and a large cast of characters, you need to do a certain amount of character switching in order for the story to make sense. Especially if events in one place are going to have a large impact in other places. I still, however, found it grating to have to figure out what character we were with every few pages, or, sometimes, twice on the same page. It would interrupt (for me) the flow of the story, and take me from a place and character I was invested in at that moment, and suddenly drop me in another place where I had to orient myself. It didn't disrupt to the point that I couldn't orient myself, couldn't adjust to the switch, or got overly frustrated, but it wasn't one of the more pleasant aspects of the book.
3: Questionable content. There isn't much by most standards. Fewer than ten words (I believe; I wasn't counting) that I'd call bad. But more than the first book. There's also reference to some sexual ideas and behaviors. This isn't necessarily a reason for knocking off a star, though. It's nothing too explicit, nothing that a mature teenager (in my opinion) couldn't handle. Concerned parents would find it relatively easy to go through and mark out things they don't feel their children are ready for, though there would be very little to worry about.
Now I have to say what I liked about it, because fair is fair.
1: Characters. I like most of the characters, and find it easy to want to know what happens to them. Most of them. I have a rather strong dislike of Barrick, mostly because he acts like such a martyr. But I quite like Briony, and Qinnitan, Chert, Opal, and even Tinwright. I think my favorite, though, might just be Ferras Vansen. He annoyed me a little bit through this book, mostly right after crossing the Shadowline with Prince Barrick. But he improved, and I think I relate most to him. After him (or perhaps making it a tie, I haven't decided yet) is Princess Briony. She's smart, passionate, and can be a bit mouthy while also genuinely caring for people. She's also realistic in that she gets frightened, wants to get revenge on the people who captured her father and stole her throne, and can be very ignorant about some things (the success of her disguise, for example).
2: Depth of plot. There is a lot going on in this book. A LOT. It has the potential to be mightily confusing, but it's not. You can see the middle of the story, and glimpses of why it's happening, but you have to follow the thread of the story to get your answers - and there are a lot of questions that need them. There are a lot of questions about why certain things are happening, and because of the depth to the series, you assume there are answers that will be forthcoming.
3: The skill in presenting events as we need them. I dislike head hopping. That said, it was (probably; I can't read the author's mind) necessary to give readers the information needed for the story to make sense. And it does. Despite the complexity of the plot, it's relatively easy to follow and connect the dots. You have the information you need, for the most part, in order to understand what's happening.
View all my reviews
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