|
|
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth reading, Jun 15 2004
If this had been the first Carol Berg novel I read, I would have found it absolutely fantastic and given it five stars. Unfortunately, I read 'Song of the Beast' earlier, and while I'm sure 'Song of the Beast' was written later, nevertheless the two books have too much in common, making me doubt Berg's originality - hence the four stars.Nonetheless, this is definitely a book worth reading with its unusual deviation from run-of-the-mill fantasies. Berg is a deft hand at creating Seyonne as an older, angsty character who seems too broken and helpless to be even an anti-hero at first that it makes you wonder how he holds your attention through the first half of the book. But he does, and Berg has paced perfectly the careful unfolding of his true identity, dropping hints and red herrings to keep the reader absorbed, yet saving enough for the astounding climax. Also worth admiring is the way she handles Aleksander's transformation which runs parallel with Seyonne's own physical and emotional transformation from broken slave to confident warrior. It could have easily fallen flat on its face as a rather trite nasty-villain-is-actually-hero-in-disguise, but Berg makes it clear that his arrogant side is /not/ a disguise but a different side of his personality. Aleksander's maturing into a beloved friend is very believable. There are double and triple twists at the ending which are quite reminiscent of 'Song of the Beast', and they do carry the same problem of a little too much crammed into too little time. Less watchful readers will find themselves unable to keep up with the constantly changing plot, and with the multiple twists, I think even Berg has confused herself because there are several loose threads left hanging which, whether or not resolved in following books, made the ending slightly incomplete. But overall wonderful reading, though I'm not sure if I want to read the rest of the trilogy. Despite the loose threads, it seems more of a stand alone novel and the follow-ups perhaps superfluous.
|
