Peony’s Reviews > The Elvenbane > Status Update

The brother was interesting… until Alara stooped to a new low. *groans*

Well…the dragons’ interactions were underwhelming. We just see Alara be kind of neglectful, maybe some light pondering and some homework-giving, and mostly being a self-confident coward to her place in society without much cunning. They’re all too impossibly lucky the newborn didn’t die, and no matter what everyone says, Shannara’s ‘foster mother’ hasn’t been much of a mother—not even to her own.

Finally! Dragons!!! I don’t like how <spoiler> Smara is so unempathetic towards Serena—because I’m unsure if this voices the author’s own assessment of the brainwashed, groomed character making the best of an unbearable civilization she’s literally been given 0 alternative concepts against which to weigh, which is vastly unfair.</spoiler> The writing is….mh. But there’s some interesting-enough bits.

A little interesting. I like the writing style, but I liked the writing style at the beginning of “Herald Mage” too, until I came to hate it at the middle, so…