Vengeance
(Tainted Realm 1)
by Ian Irvine
fantasy
copyright 2011
read in December 2016
rated 6/10: read to pass the time
It's a lot of fun. I like the main characters. It's a nonstop Saturday matinee serial, with a cliffhanger at the end of each chapter.
Not so much plot development. More action climax in chapter one and nonstop action from there on.
There's also a feeling that I have missed the *real* book one. There are references to people and events from the past... as though they have special significance. Which is not explained. What, for example, is the special significance of the girl realising that the very old woman is her own great great grandmother?!
Not that this is a real worry... The book reads well as a standalone novel. The "significant references" don't take away from the enjoyment. This book is a satisfactory -- though somewhat over the top -- novel on its own... Until...
Until the final chapter.
Okay, the plot has sort of wrapped up. Everything has blown up but some plot threads have been nicely closed off.
And then -- the main characters are pushed off the edge of yet another cliff :-(
"The end will have you eagerly anticipating the next book". No. The end will leave you wondering why you ever read a fantasy novel which is part of a series.
Still. The cover clearly says, Book One. I was warned.
I just wish that this book had avoided the cheap and easy cliffhanger -- the "you must read the next book" -- ending.
===
01feb19: I reread this book. It takes a chapter or two to realise that I have read it before. No worries, it's easy to read. I agree with most of my original review, above. Though this time I am less annoyed at the ridiculous cliff-hanger ending. Perhaps because I am prepared for it.
Though I do have a fresh dislike for having characters in situations in which they have no control over their own fate. I'm sure the next book will show them taking some control but this ending is very much, They will have no freedom at all. Unpleasant.
The action -- on this reading -- strikes me as a series of non-stop somewhat contrived challenges. Dodge this villain and another villain pops up on the other side. There is no safety, no end, a continuous series of dangers. Yes, they do follow a reasonably tight plot. It just seems to be a few too many dangers to be dodged.
It's still, Read to pass the time. This time... I think that I will look for book two.
===
01feb19: I reread this book. It takes a chapter or two to realise that I have read it before. No worries, it's easy to read. I agree with most of my original review, above. Though this time I am less annoyed at the ridiculous cliff-hanger ending. Perhaps because I am prepared for it.
Though I do have a fresh dislike for having characters in situations in which they have no control over their own fate. I'm sure the next book will show them taking some control but this ending is very much, They will have no freedom at all. Unpleasant.
The action -- on this reading -- strikes me as a series of non-stop somewhat contrived challenges. Dodge this villain and another villain pops up on the other side. There is no safety, no end, a continuous series of dangers. Yes, they do follow a reasonably tight plot. It just seems to be a few too many dangers to be dodged.
It's still, Read to pass the time. This time... I think that I will look for book two.
====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====
"No plan survives contact with the enemy." … Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====
"No plan survives contact with the enemy." … Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
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