The Broken Eye
What a glorious mess!
Which is not to say the third book in the Lightbringer series is a glorious mess of a story, rather it's a story of a glorious mess. A nation at war, people growing up, assassinations, plots... it's really pretty crazy. I only read the first book of A Song of Fire and Ice, so I can't make any sweeping comparisons there, but the shady politics are pretty high-level, even if Andross Guile's advantage border on plot-based rather than skill-based.
I also wonder if Brett Weeks and Jim Butcher have some sort of bet over who can drag their character through the most hell. Dresden's had some lows, but Gavin Guile... wrrf.
It seems like every time things are going well for the characters, a massive stumbling block is thrown in the way. And every time the chips are seriously down, the characters manage to scrape by. It's hard to root for the corrupt establishment. It's hard to root for the destructive rebellion. It's hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel at all. But the focal characters are enthralling to follow, even if they frequently trip up and keep secrets when (from a reader's perspective) it would clearly be better to do otherwise.
Kip's a solid character for the most part, and growing into fitness as well as a sharper mind. Teia grows into a character with an important path of her own. I'm sort of happy that Liv gets a lot less screen time than she did in the previous volume, as found her difficult to connect with. My only real dissatisfaction is that we don't get much view of the interaction between Kip and Karris while she trains him. Well, that and the wait until the next book...
Which is not to say the third book in the Lightbringer series is a glorious mess of a story, rather it's a story of a glorious mess. A nation at war, people growing up, assassinations, plots... it's really pretty crazy. I only read the first book of A Song of Fire and Ice, so I can't make any sweeping comparisons there, but the shady politics are pretty high-level, even if Andross Guile's advantage border on plot-based rather than skill-based.
I also wonder if Brett Weeks and Jim Butcher have some sort of bet over who can drag their character through the most hell. Dresden's had some lows, but Gavin Guile... wrrf.
It seems like every time things are going well for the characters, a massive stumbling block is thrown in the way. And every time the chips are seriously down, the characters manage to scrape by. It's hard to root for the corrupt establishment. It's hard to root for the destructive rebellion. It's hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel at all. But the focal characters are enthralling to follow, even if they frequently trip up and keep secrets when (from a reader's perspective) it would clearly be better to do otherwise.
Kip's a solid character for the most part, and growing into fitness as well as a sharper mind. Teia grows into a character with an important path of her own. I'm sort of happy that Liv gets a lot less screen time than she did in the previous volume, as found her difficult to connect with. My only real dissatisfaction is that we don't get much view of the interaction between Kip and Karris while she trains him. Well, that and the wait until the next book...
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