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2013 Book Review #62: The Wandering Fire
Title: The Wandering Fire
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Genre: Tolkien knock-off (book 2 of 3)
Thingummies: 2.5
Synopsis: Can we manage to kill off all of the five grad students sucked into a fantasy realm? If we do, will they stay dead?
Thoughts: This is just as much of a hot mess of overcomplicated mythology, far too many characters, and a wild mishmash of other people's legends, but at least there's less info dumping and more character development.
I still think an editor needed to sit Kay down and strip out approximately half the ideas he's got crammed in here. There's just too much backstory and too many different magic systems and gods and legends for the length of the book. There isn't enough current story to support the backstory, if that makes any sense.
But there are some heartbreakingly beautiful passages. The tragic fate of the knock-off elves was a nice twist on Tolkien. While Sharra is a thinly written princess, I'll admit to being charmed by her romance. And Darien is a compelling balance between murderous god and little boy.
I still don't recommend starting the series, to be honest. But if you start, you might as well finish, and this is an improvement over the first book.
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Genre: Tolkien knock-off (book 2 of 3)
Thingummies: 2.5
Synopsis: Can we manage to kill off all of the five grad students sucked into a fantasy realm? If we do, will they stay dead?
Thoughts: This is just as much of a hot mess of overcomplicated mythology, far too many characters, and a wild mishmash of other people's legends, but at least there's less info dumping and more character development.
I still think an editor needed to sit Kay down and strip out approximately half the ideas he's got crammed in here. There's just too much backstory and too many different magic systems and gods and legends for the length of the book. There isn't enough current story to support the backstory, if that makes any sense.
But there are some heartbreakingly beautiful passages. The tragic fate of the knock-off elves was a nice twist on Tolkien. While Sharra is a thinly written princess, I'll admit to being charmed by her romance. And Darien is a compelling balance between murderous god and little boy.
I still don't recommend starting the series, to be honest. But if you start, you might as well finish, and this is an improvement over the first book.