it probably doesn't matter what edition i have up here. there are probably a million different editions out there, and so i'll just stick with the first thing i find that's not the movie tie-in.
anyway, with this book it wasn't so much a matter of deciding what to read, but rather, it was an assignment from my children's literature class. i don't think i would've purposely decided to read a children's classic if i've already missed it in my childhood, but an assignment's an assignment. so reading ensued. my verdict:
the plot was a little all over the place. they jump into a random wardrobe, lucy meets mr. tumnus, and then we hear of this lion who is supposed to represent jesus out of nowhere. i would like to say that it's sort of formulaic in the order it presents its characters, but at the same time there's no build-up of tension. i guess that didn't really matter to the author at the time, seeing as how the symbolic representations are likely of more precedence to him.
speaking of those symbolic representations, i don't think i would've even made the link if it wasn't pretty much something i knew heading into the book. it seems like the average traditional fairy tale, with a clear-cut villain and a clear-cut hero; the world-building or character isn't as rich as it could be. but like i said, it seems neither were as important as having characters play their role in this reenactment of a religious theme, and so i guess i'm not sure i can so much fault that as say that i don't prefer that. the story, to me, is bland if there isn't much tension or character.
i don't know what else i can possibly say about this "book"; it was certainly a very short read, but the events that happens come out of nowhere. i'm just not sure it held my interest all that much. if i had read it on my own for entertainment as opposed to academic reasons, i'm sure i would dislike it that much more. as it is, it's only okay for me.
so i finally took the chance to finish this book, which i was about four chapters away from finishing this summer, because i caught the flu and was limited to staying in bed last weekend. i can't say as to what took me so long to finish; part of it, i can admit, is because of the sheer length of the book. anyone who's seen or picked up the book will know what a behemoth it is, though nothing special in comparison to some of the more hardcore fantasy novels. so that's no excuse. the other part i'm going to have to admit is simply because i grew too attached to some characters, and i knew they were gonna go. i accidentally flipped ahead, and also accidentally visited the wiki devoted to this series, and so i knew ahead of time who was going to die and partially how things would play out.
so then there are the personal reasons, like having no time to finish it, because a) the book was overdue from the library, b) the semester had just started, and c) i was still constantly doing photo shoots. all this adds up to a huge case of why i just recently managed to finish a book i started roughly 2-3 months ago. with all that aside, i can now move on to how the book actually was.
i had attempted to read this maybe about a year ago? i remember having checked it out from the library once before, and not having gone anywhere with it. i am personally a big fan of sherwood smith from having read some of her other books (which cater mainly to the YA crowd). it starts off slow, so i just kept putting it down, and eventually lost interest altogether. when i finally found my way back to inda though, i was determined to bull through that opening. i'll say for the opening that while it isn't dull per say.. it is somewhat hard to get through. we get introduced to at least a dozen different names/terms, there are the names of lands/countries to be learned, different titles to be learned, different class systems. it feels entirely like learning an alien culture, which is legitimate as that is the way a well-built world should be, but it would be easy enough to drown in information overload in this beginning.
once it gets going, however, it really draws you in. there is a huge amount of political intrigue that keeps the suspense going about how things will eventually play out; we know the factions involved, and we know what they want, but we gradually learn about why their motivations are what they are. and more and more these characters become multi-faceted as the plot thickens, and eventually, while you're not sympathizing with the villains, you do have to give some credit to the author for creating such unconventional villains. they become more real for their trials too, so you really do get a sense of everyone in the story getting fully fleshed out.
there are some things i thought were unnecessary: the ending is ripe with character deaths that were not foreshadowed or required by any means. the ending ends with the feel of, say, the unresolved conflict of the first episode of a tv series, but you know the second episode is coming soon, maybe in another week. this is a book. if i had read it when the sequels weren't already out, i might have lost interest by the time they did come out. while i said beforehand that a lot of the characters are fleshed out, at the same time i had kind of hoped that tdor, inda's betrothed, would have a bigger part in events, because otherwise i'm not sure i care either way about her. why is this important? because inda hits puberty at the end of this book, and he thinks about sex, and he thinks about tdor and how much he misses her, and i honestly couldn't feel where this was coming from. if i thought about the facts i could recognize that yes, tdor is his betrothed; but at the same time, i couldn't feel this connection in the writing. it could just be because of my long disconnection from the book, but i kind of doubt it, since i was only about four chapters from the end when i put it down. anyway.
i am definitely looking forward to reading the next book, despite being a bit intimidated by the size of that one too. i would get started on it right away if it wasn't for more pressing matters, like my waiting 20 page paper. so i'll say that i'm glad that sherwood smith has finally proven herself as a capable fiction author beyond writing for YA, but her scope may have been overextended. i'm sincerely hoping that isn't the case, since that would make for some amazing reading. at the moment, it looks like it doesn't matter anyway--i'll know when i read the subsequent volumes. the reviews on amazon look to be favorable so far though, so that is something to look forward to.
