Daughter of Redwinter Q1: The Story
For the moment let's not consider the numerous side-branches (we'll cover them next), but just focus on the main plot - was it credible? interesting? comprehensible? Did it keep you reading?
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For the moment let's not consider the numerous side-branches (we'll cover them next), but just focus on the main plot - was it credible? interesting? comprehensible? Did it keep you reading?
Comments
I really enjoyed it, actually! I zipped right through, so yes to all three. I just lost myself in the story and let it all play out in my head! Special effects were notable!
Great!
I enjoyed it well enough. I can't really find much to criticize in the novel, to be honest. My GR rating was three stars, meaning 'I Liked It', and that's because I just couldn't muster more interest in the story at this time. I have also recently read The Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay and I felt exactly the same about that. Both steered more toward the 'political' story, by which I mean power figures jockeying for position in an organization. They were no so much about exploring fantasy worlds and encountering fantastic things. They were also not about 'Questing'. This got me to wondering if this is a 'new school' vs 'old school' thing?
Anyway, I liked both books about equally in terms of story, writing, and characters. Actually, I started noticing some writing quirks in the Kay novel that were turning me off a bit, like incomplete sentences when he wants to give an impression of something, and I got to wondering if he had fallen into a rut. Both novels were also similarly essentially Earth with the serial numbers filed off. Which is something I've normally been just fine with, but I don' know - this time around I think I found both stories a bit boring. A bit inconsequential, I guess. They didn't nudge the fantasy caravan forward, at all. They just passed the time.
By contrast, I've now just started listening to The Forest Laird by Jack Whyte (who is probably best known for his Arthurian Camulod series - this book is about William Wallace) and, although it's not fantasy but historical fiction, I'm finding it's scratching the itch a lot better. The writing is clear and lucid. The characters are not too many, and are becoming quite well developed. It's not a short novel, so he's got the space to develop detail in a way the others didn't (despite also not being short novels). My impression here is 'Jack Whyte really knows how to tell a story!'. Being historical fiction, this book will also not satisfy any of those things I want from fantasy, but only about 1/5 of the way in and already I think I'm going to find it more satisfying. And BTW, as an audio experience, I'm finding it really good! Great narrator.
I have been meaning to read some Jack Whyte since you first told me about him but haven't yet managed it. Very interesting points about this story
Probably. I must start reading Theory of Bastards now...