Comment #3346

2013-06-24T19:33:58Z

I wrote this as a comment on my own blog and am duplicating it here at Linda's request.

I have finished the book – finished it quickly for a father of two little ones – a testament to the engaging plot, and some of my comments align well with Linda’s.

I agree that the description of female characters is overdone: in one case, a character comes upon “probably the most beautiful woman he had seen up close in the flesh,” which apparently was 15 lines too short a description for Lawhead (an insufficient description it certainly is). Maybe he’s thinking that we should be as derailed as the male character, but that kind of writing jars my sensibilities (and I don’t mind beautiful female characters). On the other hand, perhaps we need the description to know that this was, indeed, a very beautiful woman, for previously the same character had stepped “into the most dazzling and unusual landscape [he] had ever seen.” This landscape turns out to be a sunny fishing village with a three masted schooner at dock and a definite re-enactment feel to it, which makes me think this character needed to get out more. I would have thought how he got there would have been far more unusual than the landscape itself.

There are also a few language mistakes, for instance attributing the word "gaijin" to Macao, as well as some German language oddities. Enough of these, and the reading pleasure diminishes, simply because my internal fact-checker turns on.

Still, a fun read, though I wish people who wrote trilogies (or n-logies) wrote such that the single tomes could stand alone. I appreciate the need for a cliffhanger, but here, after 400 pages, despite a few fights and pursuits little seems to have happens, and it all ends with characters AWOL, a deus ex machina of sorts, no comeuppance, and the sense that even death isn’t the final word. (That’s great news at Easter, but not so much in a suspense story.) To top it off, the epilogue introduces yet two more characters – again, I understand the need to get readers coming back for the sequel, but I feel manipulated by such an ending, feel my trust in the author broken.

That said, I’ll keep it around, in case I get to read sequels…

Comment #3345

2012-03-14T11:18:04Z

I'm not going to tell him anything about battles. I'll just say that it was a book you read that I thought he might like and see what he thinks.

Comment #3344

2012-03-14T10:10:09Z

I think he might -- and he wouldn't mind the battle scenes. :) Actually, I shouldn't have said "battle"; he might be disappointed. They're fights rather than battles: the heroes get attacked by the villains and fight with fists, swords, guns, whatever they have. Whether it's three or three thousand fighting, it's equally dull to me, but T might be expecting a more epic scene.

Comment #3343

2012-03-14T01:22:10Z

Looks like one T might enjoy. Local library has it, so I'll have to pick it up.

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