Customer Reviews

Deceptions: Book Two of The Blending Enthroned

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book has some attempt at a plot but is a major letdown after Sharon Green's other Blending books. Her characters are either these saints who know everything, or evil nobles who are plotting to take each other down. The main Blending's only purpose it seems is to point out how everyone else in the world is stupid, greedy, and far inferior to their great power. And why is it that every book involves some elaborate reason why all the characters must sleep with each other? It seems Ms. Green has run out of any other way of involving romance into the plot now that the characters have all paired off, so in order to keep her hornier readers interested she must give the characters a chance to screw around...again and again. And none of the main characters can do any wrong. They seem to be infallably kind and forgiving, while still able to point out a million flaws in everyone they meet. In fact, the only place they seem to have any problems is with their own relationships, which seem to have the same trite problems showing up over and over and over again. So Tamrissa can run an entire nation, and show what a strong female character she is, until Vallant (what's with the name anyway) comes near and she turns into a quivering mass of indecisiveness, self-pity, and doubt. I'll admit at first it was somewhat interesting, but by the seventh book it has been run into the ground enough times! This book is shallow, and simply an attempt to make money and finish off a dying series. Sharon Green should dunk her head in a bucket of water before she writes another book!

I concur wholeheartedly with the reviewer who pleaded for an editor for this book. The "Blendings" series started out great, with fascinating characters and circumstances. But it just got ugly from there. The "Blending Enthroned" series has the potential to be so good, but I think there's just too much pressure on the author to churn the books out, and quality is sacrificed. I'd rather wait a year for a good book than have an awful one in a couple of months.

I always enjoy Sharon's work, with the Blending/Enthroned being my favorites. But I will admit that I concider them to be like candy, fun while they are in front of you, but not really leaving a long aftertaste once they're done.

I can tell that Sharon has some final goal that our Seated Blending needs to reach, and my curiosity about that goal keeps me reading. I have noticed that she has started using archetypes for her villians, and in some places it has become repeatative...not that I mind too much...candy, remember...

The nobles working off their sentences are some of my favorite new characters, and I am really awaiting the next one (which comes out in time for my b'day ;-) ).

If you're looking for a seious delving into epic fantasy, you're better off looking elsewhere. But if you want a fun romp, with interesting characters, and a fascinating magic system, I think you'll be pleased with the Blending/Blending Enthroned.

Sharon Green has a very bizarre writing style. She tells an interesting story and you like her main characters, but for some reason she insists on "telling" everything that happens in the form of dialogue, rather than description. This can make the dialogue very stilted and contrived. Her editors (if there were any) certainly didn't do too good of a job - she uses the word fool in seemingly every other sentence. Her "bad guys" are all cartoons. And yet you feel compelled to read her books and finish them, mostly to find out what happens. I just wish she would work on the dialogue.

While I enjoyed the initial series, the internal strivings of the Seated Blending is getting overdone and distracting. I've gotten so I skip over the infantile tantrums and high school relationships.

If you read this book, focus on the nobles who were sent West to help recover the wasted lands. Those people are interesting; they develop and grow. Pay attention, as well, to the middles and their instructors learning how to develop their own skills and the troubles that arise there. These two areas are much more complicated and enjoyable to read.

The Blending has become redundant and, frankly, annoying. If one more of them sleeps with another person, I think I may give up all together. I can only hope the next book will finally settle the relationship issues so the Blending can move on with problems outside of themselves.

I've read most of Sharon Green's books, including all of her "Blending" and "Blendings Enthroned" series. I loved the first five books even though it seems like she's dragging the books into a five volume series. In order to make the five book mark for each series, she sometimes wastes her precious and interesting words. This is one of those books. The characters in Deceptions whine all day. Furthermore, our favorite enthroned blending becomes more and more high-handed as the book goes on. What happened to their own sweet selves and character development? Not much happens in this book. It's definatly one of the inferior books of the series. Unless you're a devotee of the Blendings Enthroned series, skip this one. If you're new to Sharon Green's books or wanted to start on the "Blendings" series, don't read this one first, please! I fear that you'll get too bored and never read any of Sharon's wonderful work!

Could we just get a book about the Middles now? I'm more interested in how they deal with the sudden availability of training and recognition for their talents than the continual triumphs and superiority of the Seated Six. Is there anyone they meet who isn't arrogant, superior and in their face? Who doesn't need to be taken down a peg or six? Who doesn't then gasp in Awe at their Unshielded Might?

I'm much more interested in the situation in the City, as well as the enslaved nobles who are now becoming useful members of humanity. Suffering through yet ANOTHER rift between Tamrissa and Vallant is just plain cruel. Their childish approach to relationships was old by the end of the first series and I'd hoped never, ever, to listen to their whining again.

The ending felt like the author simply wanted to create Hopeless Circumstances so dumped on every catastrophe that came to mind. Never mind that the events in the City made no sense. Some of the next steps seem obvious; however, if she takes the storyline where hinted, I wonder how she'll make it believable. I guess I'll keep reading to find out...I've gone this far, after all.

I've read most of Sharon Green's books, including all of her "Blending" and "Blendings Enthroned" series. I loved the first five books even though it seems like she's dragging the books into a five volume series. In order to make the five book mark for each series, she sometimes wastes her precious and interesting words. This is one of those books. The characters in Deceptions whine all day. Furthermore, our favorite enthroned blending becomes more and more high-handed as the book goes on. What happened to their own sweet selves and character development? Not much happens in this book. It's definatly one of the inferior books of the series. Unless you're a devotee of the Blendings Enthroned series, skip this one. If you're new to Sharon Green's books or wanted to start on the "Blendings" series, don't read this one first, please! I fear that you'll get too bored and never read any of Sharon's wonderful work!

If ever a book was in need of an editor, this one was it. I enjoyed the first five books, "The Blending" although they progressively were more stilted and difficult to follow. There is a great story and series in here fighting to get out! Even simple things like chapter headings that listed the location of the scene and a map of the "world" would have helped. I start to wonder if the pressure on the authors of these types of series to get the next one out fast is overwhelming and doesn't give them time to re-read their own work before they send it off. I was fantasizing about grabbing a pen and editing it myself and then sending it back to the publisher! What a disappointment.

I can't quite recall why I started reading the Blending series, but I did, and I am still at it. While this sort of work isn't for everyone, I think that those of us who have entered into the world of the Blendings will continue to enjoy the ongoing developments. I think that the Blendings Enthroned books (the two so far)were a bit more coherent to read, but I think that is true only if you read the first series of five. Also, I have a general policy of NOT reading books that are part of a planned series until ALL of the books are out, because I hate to wait for the next one, but this is the third time I've violated that rule.