3 posts tagged “c l wilson”
i've been putting off this read for long enough that i'd really not expected much from it.. in particular i wasn't attached to any of the characters, and so i didn't really care what happened to them either way. that, and the villain was very typically evil, so i wasn't much impressed. after having nothing to do and pretty much wondering what the hey, i was actually pleasantly surprised.
the bond between rain and ellysetta is definitely stronger. i don't get annoyed at ellysetta as much, because she's not quite the wimp she was when the first book started, or even throughout most of the second book. that she was willing to sacrifice herself in order to save the tairen eggs appealed to me for her character in a way it never has before, and that she's willing to take charge with rain makes it seem a bit more realistic too. throughout the second book i kept noting that they were supposed to be "equals" and yet she never really steps out of her place. this book addresses that issue nicely.
several characters perish in this book, i think. i'm not sure whether i should be glad or not, since i didn't care what happened to them either way, but it seems like a precursor for other characters to die. i think in order for them to win this war ellysetta is going to have to turn dahlreisen back into their former elf forms. tenn seems dead struck on opposing her, as are most of the council members. three marks.. what does that mean? she's that much closer to losing, and it comes a little too close for comfort. i think the battle at the end resembles helm's deep in lotr a lot, and i wonder if that's where she took her inspiration. how are ellysetta and allies supposed to find out the secret behind how he's opening these portals? if they're supposed to leave no trace of magic, i mean. and how are they going to rescue her fey parents and the tairen souls that are now under the mage's control?
i'm actually looking forward to the next book. which is infuriatingly hard to dig up info on, because on her site it says it'll release on june 2.. whereas on amazon and anywhere else, it hasn't even shown up yet. slow publishers? someone isn't doing their job as fast as they shouuulllld...
okay, so the only reason i started reading this book again was because none of the other library books i still had with me appealed to me. because i think i started this about 2 weeks ago, but put it down because it just didn't manage to get interesting for me. i mean, the characters are still there, but the pov kept switching to the villains just when i got remotely interested in the protagonists, and there goes my motivation. however, i do not regret picking this back up at all. because although the humor (or the attempts at humor) may be extremely forced and unnatural, there is still a sense of the epic in here that she conveys through her writing really well. and not only has she completely fixed my concerns from the previous book, but set the upcoming books up in a way that definitely makes me impatient as it is.
spoilers below.
the last book's main flaws to me were that mainly, the main characters were so fucking annoying i wanted to ram their heads against something until i see brain pulp. or, whatever it is that seemingly replaced their brains, anyway. take elly's mom. she nags and nags, which is typical for the mother figure, but not only does that end up setting the good guys up for an ultimate shitfest in this book, she does it feeling righteous. i just simply could not relate with her, at all. i don't know if the author meant to write her character as someone not to be sympathized with, but that's the general effect it had on me. luckily, in this book, she dies. it's a sad day when i end up cheering for the death of a character who's supposedly one of the "good guys," but hey, it's all for the best. from here on out i'll know there won't be any more prejudiced whining for no apparent reason every couple of sections.
another detail that's been changed so nicely is elly herself. she seemed weak and cowardly in the first book, and even in the former portion of this book, but manages to make a 360 in my esteem. there are two ways to do that, i think, and she did both. first, to play the martyr. and of course, secondly, to actually do the 360 herself as a character. my concerns in the last book that she does not deserve rain proves in this book to not be the case. she suffers betrayals from every corner, including from rain himself. seeing a character as whiny and witless as her actually work to earn the people and trust she has around her is my style exactly. her transformation at the end was very pleasing and i was actually cheering for her by that point.
other things to include: a lot of significant characters added. i think his name was gaelen, who she actually manages to restore from insanity, and also her real birth parents, whose suffering is well-portrayed. a shame in that scene when they were actually freed but were unconscious, and thus taken into captivity again. i've also always known she was a tairen soul though, since the hints beginning even from the very first intro of her character weren't exactly subtle. but i would have hoped that since she's finally revealed as one, that there would be a scene of her in flight alongside rain? i also have to wonder what happened to adrial and his truemate tarisa--was her husband willing to let her go? i imagine these points must be addressed in the next book, but now until october is a long ass time. but at least i'll have distractions in the meantime, because my next will finally be the karen chance book.
btw, she mentioned that her soul has a part of the high mage in it--is it possible that she is the only living tairen soul and female fey able to kill because she has part of a man's soul in her? just a thought. her turning pretty in the end was an unexpected bonus, but very welcome. anyway. onto the karen chance.
although a lot of reviews online praised this nonstop, i'm glad i didn't raise my expectations too high. not that this isn't good enough to meet those expectations, but i certainly wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as i did. there were still flaws in the writing, but i'm not sure if a lot of those were meant to be there, like.. character flaws? and the book was chock full of character flaws, actually.
for instance, her mother, who makes every scene she's written into unpleasant to read. i don't like bigots in real life, and i don't like them in characters either. especially not when they're supposed to be part of the team of good guys. or, maybe not? i have a feeling her mother will be an easy pawn in the future. but the one i really mind the most was elysetta herself; she's one of those hollywood screen types where i just want to reach out and shake sometimes. a lot of the things she does aren't even really spectacular--but everyone praises her for endless piles of nothing, nonetheless. she whines. she's annoying. but the one i really mind the most is that she's so WEAK. she can have the strongest powers ever, but if she's a coward at heart, there's just no way i can root for her. i need a protagonist with some strength of character, instead of a wobbly piece of pudding. hopefully, she's only written this way so it'll give her a chance to come into who she should be.
another very minor detail: apparently "aiyah" means "yes" in fey in this book. well, aiyah in chinese means something like "oh no!" so it was distracting to say the least. (and pretty hilarious at certain points) aiyah is something most older chinese people would say. and it's often laughed at, because it sounds so ridiculous to my abc ears. i really wish she hadn't used that as her version of "yes", but it doesn't detract enough from the book for me to say it takes away anything. too bad i can't move on to reading the next one like NOW.
