1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cost me a good nights sleep, January 27, 2005
While this book is being marketed to young adults, it is an excellent book for all levels. The intensity grabs you from the beginning and keeps the pages turning well into the night. The characters and plot line could be developed a little more, but there is enough for you to get a feeling for the characters in the story.
The excellence of this book is the it leaves you wanting more. I would recommend for every fantasy fan except that need complicated plots and characters. However, this is an excellent bridge book for teens, especially those that enjoy the Harry Potter series. This one is different, but will receive the same reaction from students.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Less Action, More Head Trips, May 7, 2011
This review is from: Freewalker (The Longlight Legacy) (Paperback)
About halfway through this, I was getting some serious Yellow Submarine vibes. The summary in the beginning of the book managed to clear up some of my confusions about elements in the first book, and that's really not the best way to clarify something (or summarize, but I can leave that alone.)
We get to find out what happened to Stowe, Roan's little sister, but she's far less likable than Roan. She's not an out-and-out brat, because there's a pity factor that stops you from hating her completely, but she becomes a manipulative bitch and takes far too much pleasure in supposedly "being miserable". Roan, in comparison, starts to show signs of Designated Hero status, because what Stowe has to put up with makes Roan's Dirt Walker journey look like a cakewalk.
Muddy plotting caused quite a bit of confusion for me, because one minute Roan is determined to rescue the kids caught in the Dreamworld At All Costs, and then kind of, sort of decides he's going to maybe try rescuing his sister? More than half the book is spent watching his roundabout way of thinking how to do it, and he's neither decisive or determined. He really doesn't even angst about it, which one would think a natural course of action, however irritating. Damn it, why can't I hate these books!?
I liked the character of Kamyar and hated Mabatan. Kamyar played devil's advocate in Dirt Walkers, and was rebuffed by Roan's goody-two-shoes assurance that the Dirt Eaters weren't bad guys. Then, when it turns out they are, Kamyar embodies a necessary evil Trickster archetype that goes where Roan fears to tread and breaks laws Roan fears to break. (Like any good Trickster archetype should, but when it starts overshadowing the hero's pro-activeness, it starts to raise an eyebrow.)
Mabatan, on the other hand, is a Mary Sue. She is never wrong, she is never distressed, she's always sure in her movements and right in her predictions. Simply by sheer virtue of being a Wayza, someone who can access the Dreamworld without Dirt. No one ever asks her how she knows all these things, or how she can possibly be right, or even suggests that maybe her "serene", condescending wisdom is getting on their nerves.
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