Dawn [Paperback]

I thoroughly enjoyed Dusk. I thought it was a breath of fresh air for the Fantasy genre when it was first published. It was good to see a serious Dark Fantasy novel as well as one which was well written and with captivating characters. Lebbon has a wild imagination and though some of the creatures his mind creates seemed a little "weird" to me, I was deeply immersed in his world. Dusk had me glued to the pages from start to finish and in serious withdrawl after the cliffhanger ending.

Unfortunately, Dawn is half the book Dusk is. It has been a while since I read Dusk but I don't remember being so annoyed with Dusk constantly changing to different character narratives the way Dawn does. If Dusk did tell its story like this, then the characters must have been more interesting. It seems that just when things are about to get good from one characters perspective, you are left hanging and have to follow around one of the more boring characters. The book sticks to this rigid pattern the whole way through. You read from Lenora's point of view, then Kosar, then Hope, then Trey, with a little bit of some other minor characters as well before you're back to Lenora again. Eventually, as the characters meet up and their paths cross, things start to speed up a little more. Overall the pacing of the book is off.

I wouldn't mind the sluggish pacing if the characters were interesting though. They are well thought out and plenty diverse from one another, but some are just boring. Lenora is a major character in this book and I just can't stand her. I was bored to tears the entire time the story followed her around. Kosar's story is much more enjoyable, especially when he hooks up with Lucien, but I felt like skipping through all of the Lenora stories just to get to him. As a matter of fact, I found parts of the Hope/Alishia storyline to be agonizing at times as well and they are a major part of the story. Trey was a big part of Dusk but in Dawn he is essentialy a throwaway character which is too bad because he was one of my favorites. Kosar and Lucien had the best storyline but the author abandoned their burgeoning relationship rather callously which didn't please me in the slightest. Lebbon obviously has plans for Lenora, but since she is such a dull character I doubt I'll read any more of this series if she plays a central role.

The first 250 pages of this book are a real chore to get through. Things definitely pick up from after they are over and get more interesting and exciting but the ending is anti-climactic. It really isn't a suitable sequel to Dusk. Dusk, at its core, is an exciting chase novel while Dawn is more of a siege novel (where the good guys have to hold off the bad guys). Dusk is just much better at what it does. If you really liked Dusk then I suggest you check out Dawn. Just force your way through the first 250 pages.

I loved Dusk and was pretty disappointed with this book. There were some good parts to the book but for the most part there was a lot of wasted pages dealing with the dream of a burning library. WIth such a great start as Dusk this was one of the most anticipated books for me this year. It kind of reminds me of Kill Bill. Part I was simply awesome but the second part--while a good movie in its own right--was a huge letdown. It is possible that if you read this book without reading the first book, you might just think it is fantastic. It is very well written as is everything from Lebbon but just didn't have the power of the first book. Oh well. I am still a fan of Lebbon and will probably read many more of his books in the future,

PG

Dawn is a good book. Not great, but good. It picks up right where Dusk left off with Kosar and the gang trying to find a way to stop Noreela from being destroyed. The problem the book seems to have to me is that the other characters other than Kosar just aren't interesting. Trey I could care less about, Alishia is unconcious the entire novel basically, and Hope is just annoying and stupid. I hated her in Dusk and still hate her now.

The Mages continue their invasion of Noreela, but I just don't feel that Lebbon made them as terrifying as they were implied to be in Dusk. They seemed rather pedestrian for some people that were supposed to bring about the end of the world. I was expecting some cold-blooded killers, when in reality they were just dull to me.

The Shanti were interesting enough I guess, although they really don't get used properly until the last half of the book.

The most interesting part other than Kosar is the Red Monk Lucien that accompanies him to New Shanti. I love the fact that Lebbon doesn't really say what they are, but drops hints as to what they COULD be without ever really confirming it. It makes Lucien a much deeper character and his "change of heart" all the more interesting to read.

I know there were a lot of complaints here but the book itself is not that bad. Its just that Dusk is so much more amazing to me, probably because of the opening scene to it alone.

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