The Ruling Sea [Mass Market Paperback]

Look, Redick's fantasy series is intriguing. Very. Perhaps my favorite developing out there now not written by Patrick Rothfuss. About two thirds of the way through The Ruling Sea, I thought to myself, you know, I hope I don't get in a car crash or acquire fast-moving cancer or something and not live to see the end of the story (currently projected as the Night of the Swarm, two books down the line, although we know how fantasy series projections go). That's a high compliment, obviously. And that was before I read the fantastic end of The Ruling Sea, less a cliffhanger than a "well, now that we've unexpectedly fallen off a cliff and hit bottom..." The series isn't driven by moral themes or philosophical statements about how the world works or high literary ambition: just good, solid, cleverly written, richly imaginative fantasy, unfolding plot twist after plot twist, filling the same niche in my reading repertoire that Greg Keyes used to do but filling it better. I don't put it down feeling healthier for having read it, but satisfied nonetheless. Plenty of enjoyable narrative calories that don't burn off immediately.

A few seams show. There's a little plot sloppiness in TRS. For instance, the reasons given for the estrangement between Pazel and Thasha, between Thasha and the Polylex, seem rather strained and artificial. As if something's coming in book 3 that would have come much earlier had the author not forced these actors apart. TRS does substantially improves the main problem I felt in The Red Wolf Conspiracy: that we were experiencing the fantasy world widely but not deeply. TRWC flagged when the characters got off the ship. TRS stays on the ship, mostly: good. We explore this wonderful fantasy world from a familiar base, a lesson smart Tolkien taught us when his hobbits packed the Shire & its rusticity wherever they went in Middle-earth. A fantasy story needs both familiarity and wonder. At the end, too, I do begin to miss the old Pazel and Thasha, and rue the high heroes that wear their names and take their shapes. The plot demands that they become heroes, but the change is awfully swift, and carries little (so far) of the old personalities with it.

Redick's learning how to write a fantasy epic. Sometimes the fantasy world creaks under creative strain; sometimes its plot bites off more than it can chew. There are a lot of characters and worlds to juggle. Not all appear in their most advantageous richness and depth. But for fertility of invention (both imaginative and verbal), Redick's your man, and this series is off to a most attractive start.

I agree with all the points made so eloquently by the previous reviewer (Too Ambitious). Rather than repeating those points, I will just say that I ordered this sequel when I was half way through the first book, which was going along well at the time. I sail a lot and the idea of a fantasy set on such a grand sailing vessel intrigued me. The author really knows his sailing terms and seems familiar with the subject. But fantasy writing, not so much. The good guys never win, and when they lose the bad guys never finish them off and actually end up helping them in a few pages. This circular narrative repeats over and over and that's all that happens. New villains keep cropping up, old ones never go away, and it's too confused. But most of all, I don't care what happens to Pazel and Thasha and Neeps. I don't want to continue with the third book because the same stuff will keep happening, and it's tough to continue reading the same story line over and over. Never a resolution or explanation of what's happened, just an immediate jump to the next dilemma. Disjointed, confused, not at all satisfying at any point. I have no qualms about never knowing what happens. I have a hunch the author has no idea what's going to happen either.

When I saw the reviews for this book, I was very eager to read it and based on the raves of other readers, went on ahead and purchased both "The Conspiracy" and "The Ruling Sea". I was disappointed. The author just seems to be trying to juggle too many characters, without any of them being truly fleshed out. It almost feels as though the author is trying too hard to make the story more complicated than it needs to be. I never really felt strongly about any of the characters and because of that, found that I was actually forgetting who the characters were and what happened in earlier parts of the book. The premise of the book was good and the plot was intriguing, but honestly, the book would have been better with more time spent on developing fewer more memorable characters. There were parts of the book I just found annoying, that I think were supposed to be plot twists, and surprises, but I felt were never really clearly represented, so that I had to ask myself "What just happened here?" and go back and read a section again.

This book was just too ambitious a project. It felt too contrived, and was confusing in parts, and after a while I just found myself not caring. This book needed a couple more re-writes, better editing and perhaps more time spent on fewer characters. There is nothing wrong with a complicated and long story, but the story has to be engaging and you have to care about the characters. He is most certainly no Robin Hobb or George R.R. Martin, both masters at complex world-building and creating memorable characters. This book was a tough slog, not because it didn't have enough action, but because it had too much action and not much else.