The Twisted Citadel
category: fantasy, author:Sara Douglass
book 2 of Darkglass Mountainoriginal copyright 2008,
read in September 2010
Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10
Here's an interesting observation: Reading in fits and starts allows more involvement with the story. It's a one-off observation -- yet to be tested -- on my own reading style. It is interesting to me. Perhaps, also, to you...?And here's another observation: The Search PissWeakly toolbar does not work. It does not find the second book in the PissWeakly list... It really is time for me to go back to my original index idea, a Google spreadsheet which can be sorted, searched and used as a link back to
PissWeakly... Now back to that first observation:
I recently read Darkglass Mountain book one: The Serpent Bride. I had read it before, I read it quite quickly, I enjoyed it the second time. Enjoyed it -- but was not greatly involved in the story. Why not?
Reading The Twisted Citadel, I was much more involved with the story: I wondered what was coming next, I wondered what was about to happen to the characters, I began to see more "character" in the characters. This was -- I think -- because I was reading more slowly.
Some books, you read a mile a minute... un-put-downable. Get to the end and wonder... What just happened? There is no time to think... no time to absorb. If it's a good book, I'll read it again, and possibly find more detail to the story.
I read Citadel in bits and pieces, with other -- non-reading -- activities in between. So I had time to absorb, to digest, to remember, to understand.
Did I enjoy it more? No, not really... It was just a different experience!
Read The Twisted Citadel for good fantasy. Not just fantasy the genre, but fantasy in the ideas: Infinity becomes a glass pyramid becomes a walking, talking villain; gods plan for millennia, mess up, change sides, lose their god-powers; super-evil-villain, arrival forecast for centuries, finally arrives and is eaten by an even-more-super villain... All very fantastic, all totally unbelievable... all perfectly acceptable in this tall tale of heroic heroes, evil villains and star-crossed lovers.
The star-crossed lovers -- and there are several pairs of them -- are the main themes of this book. Sure, they live in a fantastic, fantasy world. So what? Star-crossed love provides the real drama... And -- thank goodness -- it looks as though the various lovers may, eventually, get together. At least until the next trilogy begins...
So is this "fantasy" or is it really "romance"?
I categorised Twilight as both "fantasy" and "romance": the romance was essential, the fantasy element made the romance unique. Citadel has strong romance -- but the romance is based in the fantasy. I believe that a romance reader could read and enjoy Twilight. I believe that you would need to be a fantasy fan to enjoy the romance of Citadel.
That's my belief. For what it's worth. Which is -- in the context of this blog -- an awful lot of worth:-)
This second book of the trilogy is a lot of fun. Better yet -- for my preferences -- the book itself has a conclusion. Yes, there is a major storm brewing on the horizon. But the book concludes many of the plot threads.
Okay, "concludes" is probably too strong a word for it!
The Twisted Citadel could be read alone -- and enjoyed. It would make a lot more sense if you had read book one of Darkglass Mountain. To get a solid background on the characters -- rather than the quite effective back-story references -- there are at least three other books that you should read.
When you reach the end of this book, you can sit back and think, that was fun! Not, I wonder how they will get out of that? but, That was fun, and it ended well... It would be nice to find out what happens next -- but there have been enough satisfactory conclusions already.
Read, enjoy, and look forward to many more books to continue Douglass' fantastic saga.
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