The Usurper's Crown
[ Isavalta (2) ]
by Sarah Zettel
fantasy
copyright 2002
read in July 2013
rated 8: really quite good
An interesting approach to a trilogy: book two is a flashback from book one... And it works. Very well. Though with some strange side-effects...
First -- and this is, I suspect, just me --there's a constant sense of deja vu.
It's a while since I read book one. I've read several books in between. I keep thinking, But wasn't that in book one ?!
No, in sure that I'm reading a different book ! In this flashback... or extended back-story... Zettel uses repetition. That is, people and places from book one are re-visited in book two. They now show why certain things were happening in book one... Same people, same places, different actions. And from the point of view of a different heroine.
All of this makes me wonder, Which book am I really reading ?! But it's all good: I *know* which book I am reading. And I am enjoying book two... even more than I enjoyed book one.
Which leads to the other side-effect...
I prefer to read books with a happy -- or at least satisfying -- ending. From book one I know that certain people will survive... or possibly not. And this gives me a certain sense of peace.
As I read book two I have the comfort of knowing that... not everything will be destroyed. Okay, it's a very limited comfort :-) But I find it is comfort enough. And it adds to my enjoyment of this book.
On the other hand... I'm going to have to read book one again -- to remind myself what really happened... And to find out why book two really is so very familiar !
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Problems ? Solved
1 comment:
An update from the reviewer:
I have trouble remembering author's names. Book titles ? Also difficult. That's one of the main reasons I began this review blog -- so that I could look back and decide whether or not I enjoyed a previous book by a particular author.
Then -- in the interests of impartiality -- I avoid reading other people's opinions of a book until I have written my own review. And -- unfortunately -- I also avoid checking my own blog, for fear that it will bias my opinion of an author...
All of which now makes me feel a little foolish !
No wonder I read Usurper's Crown with a sense of deja vu. I had read it before !
Oh well.
I enjoyed it both times. Wrote two positive reviews. Read both, and enjoy the book. It's worth.. re... reading :-)
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