Commentaires client les plus utiles
|
|
2.0étoiles sur 5
In a Word, Lousy, Avril 25 2003
As a rule, whenever the main character's horse has more personality than the main character, you know you have problems. There isn't anything that is glaringly wrong with "Lords of the Sky", but there isn't much that's right with it either. The story is one that any fantasy fan must know by heart. We start with a young boy named Daviot who lives in a quaint seaside village and knows that his people are threatened by sinister invaders known as the "Sky Lords". Daviot soon learns that he has great magical powers, and leaves to be tutored in a foreign city, falls in love with a beautiful woman, makes friends and allies, and learns 'surprising' facts about the history of his people. Will he and his band of friends be able to unlock the necessary secrets in time to save his homeland from destruction? I won't give away the ending. Angus Wells, on the other hand, isn't so conscientious. He drops blatantly obvious clues almost from the start of the book, so any discerning reader will find it easy to predict not only how the book will end, but also exactly where the heroes will go and what they will do at almost every step along the way.The writing is generally weak, with too much repetition and emphasis on mannerisms rather than character development. The main character often feels his throat being clogged several times on the same page, and people's faces turn red more times than I can count. There are many occasions where characters spout dialogue for several pages on end without any attempt to make it sound like real human interaction. Description is nothing special, and the concluding sequences don't come close to having the narrative power that they should have. Wells makes the distracting choice of telling some of the story in the first person, but unnecessarily shifting to other viewpoints whenever he grows tired of his main character. It is to the author's misfortune that I picked up this work shortly after finishing Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy, a series of books with a similar plot but vastly superior implementation. Hobb masterfully blended elements of courtly intrigue into her story, but the few mentions of political manipulations in "Lords of the Sky" feel tacked-on. Hobb gave her cast of characters a variety of original and frightening magical talents, but Wells' wizards are limited to old standbys like enhanced memory and shooting bolts of fire. Most importantly, Hobb actually went into the minds of her characters while Wells is content to stick with stock characters and clichés. I wouldn't deem "Lords of the Sky" to be the worst book I've ever read, but we're undergoing a golden age of high fantasy right now, and there's no reason for fans of the genre to content themselves with mediocre work like this.
Aidez d'autres clients à trouver les commentaires les plus utiles
Ce commentaire vous a-t-il été utile ?
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
4.0étoiles sur 5
A solid and powerful piece of fantasy storytelliing, Mai 21 2002
Recently the fantasy bug, that comes and goes, has bitten me again. Not wanting to make the commitment to a series, I picked up Lords of the Sky. All in all I was very pleased. As has been stated by nearly every other reviewer, Lords of the Sky, by Angus Wells, is very well written. That is to say the writing style flows well, is colorful, poetic and romantic. The characters - Daviot the Storyteller, Rwan the Mage, Urt the "changed" servant turned leader and Tezdal, the warrior (male, female, male, male, respectively) - are immediately appealing, interesting and identifiable. The reader gets to know them quickly and intimately. Things are explained well and not just taken as is. You feel for these people and their rich chronicles. It has every aspect and characteristic of a great fantasy epic except for one key element; It's only one book. A long book (650 pages), but one book. If one is going to spend so many, many pages establishing characters and histories - in an engaging and exciting way, mind you - than one should spend at least a decent amount of time bringing all of these pieces to closure. At the end of the book there is a lot of telling about what happens and a less amount of showing what happens. Wells spends the last 15% of the book closing the first 85%, and it ended up being a little, just a little, rushed. Still, all questions are answered. No loose ends. It has all the potential of a Stephen Donaldson or a Robert Jordan series. In defense of Angus Wells, he did mention in his closing notes that the book was originally longer and that his editor had him chop it up a good amount. Perhaps she should have let him keep it the length he wanted to write it. Also there was a jolting change of point-of-view segue right in the middle of the book. We read through the main character's eyes - Daviot - when suddenly the storyline changes. We need to know this new information, yes, but Wells completely stops one to start the other. There are no back and forth chapters, which I myself prefer. There is 300 pages of this POV, then there is about 100 pages of that POV. Fortunately the storylines converge perfectly. Finally the main characters, at the end of the book - characters we've grown to care for - go through a major, and rather de-humanizing change. In all the best books characters do change, but it's along the lines of "something lost, something gained." In Lords of the Sky, the characters, at the end, gain much, but they loose much more; they lose what drew us to them for the first 500 or so pages. With all this said, I still HIGHLY recommend this book. It's intense, deep, powerful and resonant of excellent storytelling.
Aidez d'autres clients à trouver les commentaires les plus utiles
Ce commentaire vous a-t-il été utile ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
5.0étoiles sur 5
Movie Time, Janv. 1 2002
Lords of the Sky is one of the best books I've ever read. It's what made me fall in love with fantasy books and I honestly think it's time to make this book into a movie so everybody may enjoy this wonderful story.
Aidez d'autres clients à trouver les commentaires les plus utiles
Ce commentaire vous a-t-il été utile ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Commentaires client les plus récents
|
