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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Continued World Building for an Interesting Series, May 29, 2009
This review is from: The Fox (Inda, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)
After the high standards of Inda, the prequel to Sherwood Smith's The Fox, it was next to impossible to be better this time. But, still, Smith delivers a quality second book in the series. After the drama of the first book, Inda was left at sea after being forced from his homeland. Smith had really run Inda through a ragged race of events while growing him slowly into the man he would become. That process continues in The Fox. Inda remains, as always, the leader without an ego. He follows the impossible standard of leading from the front. As a weapon against pirates, that had been effective. At home, the politics of selfishness and hunger for power continue to spiral towards an inevitable conclusion. Inda's family continues to cope with the second and third order after-effects of unconscionable acts by members of the ruling family. This is not an instant process -- rather the villains continue to grow more and more isolated from reality as their actions lead further and further from the honor and loyalty that is expected. The many supporting characters remain very interesting. Flaws, strengths, and change are all part of each character's story and Smith really keeps them moving. It's like a well choreographed ballet with many different dancers moving at the same time. However, I felt at times that the story seemed to drag. As a reader I would come to a point where the inevitable next step was obviously coming and I didn't want to slog through another 100 pages to get to it. The "filler" sections were not really boring, but they didn't seem as vital to the story as they did in most of the first book. That doesn't mean that The Fox was slow -- merely that Smith had a lot of story to tell and sometimes it felt like it took a long time to get where she wants to take us. Again, Smith's ability to treat different moral perspectives as windows into a character's personality instead of a judgment made several divisive themes entirely appropriate. She effectively creates character faults and shows us how things taken too far can turn from bad to good. On the whole, The Fox was a good book. Not as good as Inda, but still worth the effort to get through almost 800 pages of text. I look forward to further journeys in the world Sherwood Smith has created.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
This series is so not worth the effort reading., June 21, 2010
This review is from: The Fox (Inda, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)
Like the previous book in this series, there is way too much action going on; it was as if the author was putting in everything just to up her word-count. I feel as though there were too many story lines going on in this book and way too much attention paid to characters who are not very important, which was the same thought I had when I read the previous book in the series. I got the impression when reading not only the title of the first book but the book summary as well that this book and this series was about Inda, not about everyone else as well. I feel that there was a better way of letting the reader know what was happening in Inda's home country without having to spend so much time there. I also felt that the author spent too little time in other parts of the story that I felt had more value to the story itself. First, Inda is after the Brotherhood, but it felt as if she hastened through that just to focus on the next big thing: Inda dealing with the Venn. Both these story lines would have been great if the author had picked one and then made that the focus of the book. Then adding the subplot of there being troubles in Inda's home country. To sum up, I felt as though the author was just upping her word count by focusing so heavily on everything. I felt as though the events outside of the parts about Inda were as important if not more important than Inda. I really wanted this series to be about Inda, and I just feel that it's not.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
pirates!, February 2, 2011
This review is from: The Fox (Inda, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)
I realize this is a fantasy novel (in fact, the second book in a series), but I can't help but feel that anyone who loves pirate stories is missing out if they're missing it because of that assignation. Tell all your pirate fans to read the INDA series. If it makes them even half as happy is it makes me, they'll be pretty darn happy. Others have summarized well, so I'll just add that I am immensely satisfied by this continuation of the series, and can't wait to read books 3 and 4. (I am a little sad, though, that I'm now already halfway through the whole.)
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