Seraphs and the Summoner
It almost sounds like they go together, but nope - two totally unrelated books.
Seraphs is the follow-up to Bloodring and... well, more of the same, predictably. The story picks up pretty immediately after the first delving into the domain of Darkness. I still like the characters. The whole mage-heat thing isn't really explained any better, but at least it's less pervasive this time around. The theory that the seraphs are not quite what people think is pushed a little bit more prominently, but remains unverified (perhaps even unverifiable). I still feel the human reaction to neo-mages is a bit over the top, especially when it comes to a head in this volume after our heroine has been officially licensed - fear is one thing, but why would a bunch of religious zealots go against the obvious will of what they take to be divine powers? I don't think any of my lingering questions have been answered yet, but I still like the story enough to order the end of the trilogy.
The Summoner is one of those titles I feel like I've seen on bookstore shelves for years and always passed over, though it only came out in 2007. Reading it, it feels pretty "old school" high fantasy too. I probably would have eaten it up back in the early 90's. Now, the jaded fantasy-fan in me finds it extremely cliche. Now, it does the cliches reasonably well, which makes it decent read, but there just isn't much here that feels original. The deposed prince/goddess-chosen hero is a necromancer, which should probably feel more unique than it does, but even the scenes of him calling on the spirits of the dead or helping them pass on feel pretty standard.
Aside from all that, the author commits what I've come to consider a sin of trilogies by focusing too much on the overall story and forgetting to provide any real arc/climax for individual books. Part of me wonders if I should read Lord of the Rings again to see how Tolkien did, but I've definitely come to prefer books that stand better on their own in addition to being part of a larger narrative. So... I'm sort of undecided on this one. I may wait and pursue the series later if/when I feel a craving for some of that classic fantasy style.
Seraphs is the follow-up to Bloodring and... well, more of the same, predictably. The story picks up pretty immediately after the first delving into the domain of Darkness. I still like the characters. The whole mage-heat thing isn't really explained any better, but at least it's less pervasive this time around. The theory that the seraphs are not quite what people think is pushed a little bit more prominently, but remains unverified (perhaps even unverifiable). I still feel the human reaction to neo-mages is a bit over the top, especially when it comes to a head in this volume after our heroine has been officially licensed - fear is one thing, but why would a bunch of religious zealots go against the obvious will of what they take to be divine powers? I don't think any of my lingering questions have been answered yet, but I still like the story enough to order the end of the trilogy.
The Summoner is one of those titles I feel like I've seen on bookstore shelves for years and always passed over, though it only came out in 2007. Reading it, it feels pretty "old school" high fantasy too. I probably would have eaten it up back in the early 90's. Now, the jaded fantasy-fan in me finds it extremely cliche. Now, it does the cliches reasonably well, which makes it decent read, but there just isn't much here that feels original. The deposed prince/goddess-chosen hero is a necromancer, which should probably feel more unique than it does, but even the scenes of him calling on the spirits of the dead or helping them pass on feel pretty standard.
Aside from all that, the author commits what I've come to consider a sin of trilogies by focusing too much on the overall story and forgetting to provide any real arc/climax for individual books. Part of me wonders if I should read Lord of the Rings again to see how Tolkien did, but I've definitely come to prefer books that stand better on their own in addition to being part of a larger narrative. So... I'm sort of undecided on this one. I may wait and pursue the series later if/when I feel a craving for some of that classic fantasy style.
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