Customer Reviews

Dawn

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

Tim Lebbon has put together a great pair of books. Dawn along with Dusk is as good as the best, buy these two and enjoy a very very good read..

Tim Lebbon still remains in my favorite category of writers.
This is proof that he has an uncanny tallent for dark fantasy.
Dawn is a great read. His fans will gather information from his mind and be drawn in to such a wondrous world that won't be able to tell fiction to reality.
Dawn is one of my favorites in dark fantasy today!
--Joseph McGee, author of In the Wake of the Night, Phil's Place, Darkness Won't Rest: Phils Place II and Snow Hill (forthcoming)

Everyone believes the land of Noreela is dead especially since the savior, former farm boy Rafe Baburn, was killed by the Mage with his body given to Angel. A second age of dark magic has begun to cast a shadow over the realm as Angel, the S'Hivez, and the Red Mages have avenged their stunning loss during the Cataclysmic War.

There is no hope with the savior vanquished. His compatriots, who fought to keep him safe, feel the devastating impact of gloom, doom, and disappointment even more deeply than the commoners. Hope the witch, Alishia of the books, Kosar the thief and Trey of the enigmatic yellow eyes know they failed on their quest. Yet Alishia believes they still have a chance to insure the ancient prophecy of rebirth by an unborn can happen. She demands they not quit, but valiantly continue the mission as she feels she contains an essence of Rafe that might prove enough to begin a resurrection if they can make it to the city of Kang Kang. The Mages are on mop up duty to prevent their success.

Though Alishia is a solid heroine, she lacks the freshness that Rafe brought to DUSK, as that tale was also a coming of age saga. She and her three comrades make DAWN an exhilarating action-packed horror fantasy though the enemy also lacks that signature villain such as the initial Red Mage who massacred the villagers of Trengborne in DUSK. Still this is top-quality tale that provides a staying alive adventure that makes it much more than a middle filler thriller as DAWN can be read without the previous story though reading DUSK first enhances the understanding of how much the death of Rafe impacts his world and casts a gloomy spell on his teammates.

Harriet Klausner