18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Form Without Substance, May 24, 2008
Although the series got off to a promising start, this final book is a washout. Earlier, the series offers engaging ideas and characters. However as the series progresses, the author has become increasingly enamored with her own descriptive prose, losing sight of any larger purposes with which she began.
The Battle of Evernight comprises interminable accounts of pointless meanderings - and lurid fables that are largely irrelevant to the overall themes, the story or the characters. After an eternity of fragmentary "adventures", almost as an afterthought, a few of the many threads are hastily tied up in the closing pages.
Sadly, the ending is lame and all the seeming passion and intensity of the earlier books dissolves into a whimper. After grabbing our attention in book one, the author has strung us along through two subsequent books before finally revealing that she really had little of consequence to say and no grand insight or resolution to offer.
Overall, I'm afraid I felt cheated on reading this title. It revealed the whole series (a substantial invesment of reading time!) to have been mostly form (flowery prose) with little of substance. Mostly an excuse for eloquent (even loquacious) prose and interminable episodes/fragments of fantasy.
Even if you've invested your time and mindshare in the previous two books in the "Bitterbynde Trilogy", my advice would be to cut your losses and spare yourself the disappointmemt. I'm afraid I cannot recommend this book to anyone.
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29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Barely able to make it through this one...., June 7, 2004
When I read "Ill Made Mute", book one in the trilogy, I was in hopes of a very engrossing series. I am a huge fan of the darker, old-world faery tales, set in the primal world where capricious nature spirits are both friend and foe. Unfortunately, by book 2, Dart Thornton seems to have lost her grasp of the simple premise required to keep a reader interested in a story - that an interesting character is one that succeeds in the face of obstacles despite their flaws. Dart Thornton's multi-monikered heroine is perfect and infallible, and it's hard to empathize with a perfect character. Beyond this, she faces no real danger throughout, being nothing more than a damsel-somewhat-inconvenienced, rather than a damsel-in-distress. The struggling, imperfect mute in book one was MUCH more interesting.
The really sad fact is that Dart Thornton is just brimming with talent. It oozes from every page. Her command of the English language is superb, and she weaves such evocative prose from her words that one's mind cannot help but vividly imagine the images she creates. Her ability to instill interesting twists is genius (the givers of the kisses which brought on the amnesia in both Book 2 and 3 is unexpected and unique). However, her inability to develop a character that holds ones interest beyond the first few pages of Book 2 is a substantial handicap.
In Book 3, the heroine wanders through the wilderness with the two dead-weight ladies in waiting, saving them from all dangers and generally sorting out all problems on her own before the two dim witted women can come to her aid. She becomes a captive in the fortress of the Dark lord of the Faery, but, again, sits as a pampered songbird and suffers no inconvenience during this captivity. She spends her days reading and pining away for her lover, the King of Faery, and generally wasting away since she cannot get back to Faery and remove the curse placed upon her. Her patly portrayed brilliant intellect and the fact that all who view her fall in love with her seems to save her from any hardship, along with the fact that she has what amounts to an invincible bodyguard in the form of three faery companions in the first place, followed by the king of faery in latter parts of the book.
The trilogy is really bizarre, in that from Book 2 through the very ending of Book 3, the heroine is always being showered with favors, protected from harm, and generally pampered by the very villains we, the readers, should be encouraged by the author to fear. Only in the end does she fall to a tragic end. The tragic way in which the series ends, and the injustice of it all, perhaps reflects the fact that Dart Thornton realized her perfectly happy heroine was not sympathetic, but wouldn't it have been better to re-write the full trilogy rather than end it in a manner so obviously contrived? Then again, perhaps Dart Thornton is merely trying to play out the almost overlooked prophesy of the club-foot in Book 2, where, despite appearances, Faery and mortal cannot find happiness together? The long and short of it is that the reader, sufficiently annoyed by the ending, probably isn't inclined to ponder the point too much!
Dart Thornton is clearly trying to show the reader a heroine who succeeds despite her femininity. The sad thing is that it is those purely superficial aspects of her femininity that enable her to succeed: infinite beauty and delicacy, and the role of a woman as an object next to her husband. It's quite a betrayal of her sex as an author.
The incorporation of Faery tales is indeed novel, and makes for fascinating reading. Some of these I didn't even know of. The visual imagery is superb. The author definitely has superb potential. But a story of a perfect princess rescued at every turn by her perfect prince really isn't that interesting.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The battle of neverend, October 5, 2003
I was hugely disappointed by this book. After really quite enjoying the "Lady of the Sorrows" I wanted to read more and felt a true connection to the plot. I have to admit that I struggled with the "Ill made Mute " (the first book), but was glad I persevered as the second was much much better, though Ms Dart-Thornton still spends far too much time reeling off long lists of things which server only to pad out her already prolix style. The plot in the second book was actually very good, and the action reasonably paced. Coming from that straight into "The battle of Evernight" was like suddenly running into treacle after 300 meters of a 400 meter race. The characters wander around the country side with an aimlessness which did not do justice to their strength in earlier books. The major plot themes from the first two books don't really develop into any real denouement, but mostly peter out into nothing. I continued to read in the hope that the plot would eventually reappear, but instead there seemed to be a confusion in the mind of the author as to where to go next. The title implied an ending of some magnitude, but the actual battle refered to is barely mentioned, and is of no real moment, the action going off like a damp squib. Perhaps this is just a personal thing, but I dislike the overuse of song/poetry in books, it rarely serves to advance the plot, and usually is just an excuse for the author to pad a few pages with their poetic styling. Unfortunately , the Bitterbynde series is full of such devices, and this may have somewhat coloured my view. I also did not really like the (almost word for word) retelling of some famous fairy tales. It often seemed like the author was lost for an idea so stuck in a bit from some famous tale. Sometimes this worked quite effectivlely, particularly in the second book, but mostly it was just annoying.
The greatest disapointment was the ending. I am always concerned when I can feel that there are only a few pages left in a book and many threads have been left hanging - you can be sure that the author is going to have to cop out and leave the reader dissatisfied - but never have I come across such a limp and weak ending . All the wonderful ideas of the books are abandoned and we are left disappointed with the lamest of devices to tie up the book. It seems that many new writers are heralded with the "Tolkein " epithet, but if CDT is to ever gain that height she must do much much better. (and maybe borrow less from other ideas). If you want to read truly great writers of epic fantasy, then I strongly recommend Robin Hobb, whose work is nothing short of wonderful, and George R. R. Martin, who is going to cause me a nervous breakdown if he doesn't produce his next book soon!
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