Yet another review...

[Leto]

Before start reading this review, people, please, bear in mind I'm not fond of fantasy in general and of Tolkien-like in particular.

Ready ? Here we go.
One stormy night, an powerful witch-princess dies giving birth to an infant girl. This little one is supposed to be the One, who will free the world of the influence of her Evil aunt, the Empress-goddess. Three wizards arrived in time to save the infant decide to get her out of her aunt and every other living sight.

Nineteen years later... Evil is winning the battle versus Good, the only hope is the arrival of the One, a mixed party (wizards, warriors, fey, humans) is dispatched to find and bring her back...

Sounds familiar ? Hell yes, that's the perfect plot for a fairy tale and replace the baby by a ring and you have a very similar plot for LOTR. Yet, this book is not a rehash of every fairy tales you've read. From a well known plot, Madeline Howard create new subplots : opposing frontly two couple (one father and his daugther vs one mother and her son), creating shades of grey were you could see only black & white (are the Empress motives truly evil ?), what are the other sentient species reaction to this permanent human war ? Are they too involved in their own conflicts ? Who's the astronomer in Pharoax ? And what are THE HIDDEN STARS ?

To make a long story short, and to avoid spoilers, this book is really enjoyable. If your a fan of fantasy, it's a must-have, if you're not it still worth your attention due to the tale told and the quality of the writing.
Unfortunatly for me, as it's the trend now, you won't find the answers by the end of this book. So please, don't let me down. Buy it, and buy it again. publishers must released books 2 & 3 soon.

The good :
- relationship between the character well defined
- although based on a classic structure, avoid most clichés
- easy to read and very entertaining

The bad :
- cliffhanger at the end
- names a bit confusing to remember
- lack of description on the visual side.

 

[dwndrgn]

Well, I was going to post a review but it seems that Leto hit most of my points. I'll add that I tend to be oblivious as I rarely see plot structures and cliches that remind others of previous works. I suppose I mostly get into the characters and ignore the big picture as long as the characterizations and the story is good enough to keep me interested. Therefore, it never occurred to me that this was similar to LOTR. I still feel that it isn't, even after having it pointed out to me. For what it's worth, I found the story original and engaging. I also thought that the 'evil' parties were well thought out and described, with true emotions and motivations of their own which can be a pitfall by which many established writers tend to get trapped into cardboard cutout baddies.

I liked the fact that the author made good use of foreshadowing and thus gave us many surprising plot points and I expect more to come.

I agree with Leto on the confusion of the names and the lack of 'atmosphere' that comes from a picture painted with words on the surrounding landscapes (not completely physical). This includes a description of The Hidden Stars, yes they were explained but not strong enough to stick in my head and give me a good idea of what people were talking about when they were mentioned again later (side note: this could be driver error ).

Truely an enjoyable story; I am definitely awaiting the next installment of this story though I agree with the frustration of a cliffhanger. When is the next one coming?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Thanks Leto and dwndrgn. (It's interesting, though, that you both wanted more description and atmosphere, because people have been known to accuse me of over-describing things.)

Unfortunately, book number two had been delayed. I spent several months last year as primary caregiver to my dying mother as well as battling health problems of my own, and fell way behind on my deadline. So the book, which would have come out this year, has been bumped into next year.

When it does come out, I hope to add some glossaries, maps, etc., that I wasn't able to finish in time for book one.