Customer Reviews

The Ill-Made Mute (The Bitterbynde, Book 1)

5 star:		(85)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

Sometimes when a book gets a lot of very good reviews, your expectations get so high that you are disappointed when you finally get to read it. This was not the case when I read The Ill-Made Mute. It exceeded my expectations.

I have read a lot of fantasy and never have I come across a writer who can create a whole nother world with so much detail, as well as a complicated plot, believeable characters and a style that blew me away.

It's kind of hard to review a book when it's the first of three, and you know the story is far from complete. I get the feeling there are a lot of questions raised in this book which the author has deliberately left unanswered until the next two, so I don't want to make any assumptions about the plot. I can only say, I'm hanging out for the sequels. I've had a long thirst for a real Tolkien-style story and this book slaked it.

It is so refreshing to read a story that does not hammer along at a fast Gameboy-style pace on the premise that the reader's attention span is too short to be otherwise held. This story moves along in a manner suited to the historical feel of the setting. I also enjoyed the use of words outside the usual vocabulary we get on TV and in popular literature. At last, a fantasy author who treats readers like intelligent people!

The inclusion of British folklore is another refreshing change. Instead of the usual (now boring) weapons, slayings, etc. we are shown a myriad other, more subtle ways to deal with supernatural forces.

Never does the author fall for the trap of many fantasy authors, which is to make mention of Fate or Prophecy as the reason why events occur. I felt confident that there were good reasons behind every character's behaviour. Whether those reasons are made clear in this book or in the follow-up Book 2, remains to be seen.

I liked the ending because it did not tell us whether the heroine's face was beautiful or not. It hinted at beauty, but while reading this book I learned that the author often has a "twist" up her sleeve, so readers should not necessarily take hints as facts.

I recommend this book to anyone who would like to read something that is far removed from the usual "modern action adventure in medieval costume" style. The language is beautiful, the imagery is extraordinary, the characters are real, and (thank the gods) the story is not the same old Good versus Evil. It is original, amazing and totally addictive.

I work at a bookstore, so I get the chance to discover authors and books that I normally wouldn't notice. I have never been more thankful for this than when I found this book. The beautiful writing appealed to the poet in me, at the same time completely engrossing me in a new and intriguing world. I highly recommend this book and am impatiently waiting for the sequal!

Candidly speaking, I wish that I had taken the time to read more Amazon reviews before blithely recommending this novel to my friend as a book that we would both enjoy, because it was a waste of time and effort for her to even bother buying it. I consider myself to be a tolerant reader, and normally would never be in such a rush to abuse a book's reputation like this, but I was so utterly frustrated by The Ill-Made Mute that I feel I have the right to vent my irritations.

In the first place, I will freely state that Cecilia Dart-Thornton obviously does have a great deal of creativity, and occasionally her originality shines out in beautiful and unique little passages. The operative word being "occasionally." I love the imagery of the shang unstorms and the concept of the gravity-defying metal sildron, but for the most part, any virtue of Dart-Thornton's work is completely obscured by her blatant thesaurus abuse. What begin as lyrical, delicate passages descend into ridiculous and overwrought descriptions of- what? Stable equipment, mercantile goods, the endless variety of an inn's drinking vessels... The ability flip to random pages in encyclopedias and thesauri and combine the two does NOT make one an author. Candles don't just drip in The Ill-Made Mute; they drip in "turgid formations." Insects aren't just crushed; they're reduced to "a random design of smashed cephalothoraxes and carapaces...like pressed orchids." Gauntlets, best of all, are compared to "waiting armadillos." (Armadillos? In the middle of faux-Celticana? That also goes for the randomly mentioned platypuses and lorikeets.)

As for the storyline, I would venture to say that had about 1/5th of the accompanying clutter been stripped away, it would have made a passable novel. As it is, the intruding descriptions of wedding gowns and random meals make the narrative exceedingly difficult to follow, and simply impossible to be interested in. In addition, I was not at all impressed by the characterization, or lack thereof. Imrhien is the flattest and most passive protagonist whom I have ever encountered; Thorn is a cardboard cut-out of infuriatingly perfect manhood whose only flaw, not being able to tolerate cripples, mysteriously and conveniently excludes Imrhien; Sianadh, despite his constantly professed knowledge of wights, manages to trip into every faerie trick in the book, apparently for not-very-comic relief. Sianadh also seems to be a veritable fount of useless historical knowledge, at one point spewing several pages of historical background which, I can safely report, I was able to skip without losing any understanding of the rest of the novel.

I also have to admit that I'm confused by all the reviews professing admiration of Dart-Thornton's use of Celtic-inspired mythology, because they led me to expect fresh and original interpretations. Instead, I encountered the same hackneyed pseudo-Irish mythos that has been appearing more and more frequently in fantasy, backed with a glossary of Gaelicisms whose only purpose seemed to be to further inflate the author's sense of her own scholarly prowess, rather than lending any actual depth or meaning to the stories that she inserted at random throughout the narrative. Celtic tales have been handled by countless other authors with far more grace and ingenuity; try Juliet Marillier's Daughter of the Forest, for one. For that matter, Daughter of the Forest also handles a mute, disfigured, vegetarian heroine with much more skill. Go figure.

THE ILL-MADE MUTE is worthy of something long and eloquent, but I fear I'll have to leave you with only a few modest observations. Firstly, the author's world is deftly wrought. It's atmosphere is so powerful that it permeates every page of her book, and I think that is why so many people are comparing it with Tolkien's work. Her characters are truly of their world, and just as skillfully constructed. Dart-Thornton sidesteps the over-used conventions and cliches of fantasy to bring something refreshingly new to the genre-- while tipping her cap to the myths, legends, and folklore that inspired her. Don't pass this one by!

To start off, I know people are going to disagree with my review. It's my opinion, and I hope readers like me will find it useful. That said, this is not a terrible book, but from my point of view, it is one with many flaws.

Cecilia Dart-Thornton has created a nonstandard fantasy novel in every sense of the word. The plot doesn't follow any easily determinable path, meandering its way around the countryside at the pace of a snail and picking up a tapestry of details from its surroundings. It's an amazing tapestry, to be sure, with a unique and engrossing mythology and bestiary, but it's also a fairly uninteresting tapestry, with very little going on. Most of the actual events in the book are glossed over; characters and plot take a second seat to the realm's lore and legends.

From that, you can probably understand why I don't like this book. While I despise fantasy of a purely formulaic nature, I do politely request that there be some elements of formula in a book's construction, and here there were practically none, especially in terms of plot. The author could have just written a reference book on this land's lore and skipped the story element and I would barely have known the difference.

Of course, the lack of strong plot is only part of my unenthusiastic response. The other part is the book's prose. Yes, poetic language is all good and fine, but when it starts to sidetrack other elements, I get annoyed. Here that distraction took the form of lists of descriptive words. List after list after list... It got to the point where I was banging my head on the table, trying to figure out why the author couldn't phrase things more concisely. At times she seemed to be groping through a thesaurus, unable to find that one word to fit the situation and putting five other words down instead. These lists derailed action sequences and dialogue and left me with a vague feeling, especially when I was able to skip whole paragraphs and not feel like I was missing something.

Many people out there seem to have enjoyed this book a great deal, which is fine. This book will appeal to many readers with its richness and depth. It just really wasn't the right book for me. My suggestion: read a few chapters before you buy it. Notice how very little seems to happen in the first chapters, and understand that it doesn't change the further on you read. If you enjoy that style of writing, by all means, continue! I think vision of this kind deserves some reward. If you don't enjoy it, move on and find another book. You won't be missing much.

Like many other reviewers, I found Cecilia Dart-Thornton's endless, pretentious descriptions extremely dull and that they severely detracted from the overall story. Not only that, but the same actions (aeronauts laboring on an airship, for instance) and feelings (the main character's heart pounding in the midst of her love interest) were described over and over again. She used so much complex terminology that the average reader who doesn't horseback ride, boat, study flora, or many other things won't have any idea what's going on.

And this is nitpicky of me, but it alarms me as someone who does horseback ride. In the very beginning of the novel, Imrhein stops a terrified stallion by snatching at its bridle--while all of the more experienced stable hands leap out of the way in terror, I might add--and trying to haul it to a stop. Being someone who knows horses, I know that this is something you should never do with a terrified, running horse. After all, if you're fleeing in terror, how would you feel if some other animal grabbed at your face and tried to drag you into the ground? I figure, if Cecilia Dart-Thornton is going to spend so much time in her thesauri and finding out the names of horse tack and things of that nature, she could at least spare a little time to find out how horses are handled. Somehow I just thought that the actions might be more important than the words...

Anyway, Dart-Thornton does have a few good lines despite her thesaurus addiction. She has, however, convinced me, if I was not convinced before, that the word "crimson" needs to be removed from the English language. Her good lines are too few and far between to save the actual writing of The Ill-Made Mute.

The characters and the plot suffer from her writing, however. I was trying desperately to get a feel for the personality of the main character, but I was distracted time and again by endless descriptions and long-winded stories that were never referenced again and that even the main character slept through. I think that was some of the most sympathy I had for her during the entire novel.

The plot grinds to a halt periodically and then jerks forward a step or two before grinding to a halt again when Dart-Thornton decides she wants to go on a tangent about the outfits of miniscule side characters that will never be seen again and things of that nature. I ended up skimming the last 200 pages or so and had no difficulty following the plot if I skipped one or two or five pages at a time.

The plot itself is a typical vain fairy tale full of fan fiction-esque cliches. Imrhein has no memories, no voice, and a face like the Elephant Man so, naturally, she goes out to look for them. Along the way, only three people are kind to her--one of which is barely mentioned, the second of which abruptly disappears out of the story, and the last is the love interest (who hates all other ugly things except for Imrhein, naturally)--everyone else takes an instant dislike to her and she spends the entire novel in a state of self-pity about how no one could ever like her for her ugly face. Who makes friends with a good personality, anyway?

As Imrhein goes on her adventure, regaining her memories and voice, which I foolishly assumed would be much more important, take an almost instant back seat to her search for a pretty face. I felt a flutter of hope when she said that she was being punished for her vanity at one point in the novel, but directly after the incident was forgotten and it was back to vanity.

Imrhein's story is essentially a quest to attain Mary Sue-dom. The impossibly perfect-in-every-way Renaissance man, Thorn, falls in love with her despite the fact that he supposedly hates cripples and ugly people, but this is never really believed because he remains a cardboard cut-out of a character throughout. And if it comes as a shocking spoiler to you that Imrhein ends up being flawlessly beautiful (face and body, nonetheless), then I would certainly be shocked.

The journey itself is interesting, but its outcomes are so painfully predictable. The characters don't grow, and as soon as you think that they are growing, they revert back to their old behavior--and this only happens to Imrhein. Sianadh, as another reviewer pointed out, is nothing that he's supposed to be. He's supposed to be learned, but he really does fall into every foolish trap. Maybe that's supposed to be funny, like a lot of the tales told throughout the novel, but while the characters themselves may be laughing uproariously, it's just not funny to me.

Which brings me to another point. Dart-Thornton builds her world throughout the novel, even when it's already been built. She reiterates everything she's said before throughout the novel (indeed, repetition seems to be something she enjoys). She also has the characters go on long descriptions about how to survive in the wilderness of her fantasy world when I, personally, couldn't care less. A page-long explanation about how to make bread in the woods is too much for me. Everything Dart-Thornton does it long-winded and all spoken in metaphors that are pretentious and just plain bad more often than not (I still can't get over the "crimson snakes" for a bloody nose). I ached for her to just say somebody had a bloody nose or Imrhein's heart pounded in her chest in some nice straightforward way, but she never did. She could spend pages describing exactly how Imrhein's heart pounds in her chest without actually coming out and saying it, and then she'd repeat that a few pages later in a slightly different way.

I had high hopes for this novel and wanted desperately to like it, but ultimately, it just wasn't very good. Mind you, I enjoy The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan which, I mistakenly thought, was as wordy and longwinded as it gets, but The Ill-Made Mute just made me want to go back to reading picture books.

A few days ago I bought this book, thinking it would be a way for me to unwind at night before I went to bed. I decided to read the first few pages soon after I left the store, and I wasnt able to put this book down after. It is a wonderful book, although the ending is a bit annoying, but that is the one of the few faults I have found with this book. The author decribes everything very well, somtimes alittle to much, but its worth it somtimes, you almost feel as if your really there. The author also works in some wonderful folklore which I think really adds to this book. If you like fantasy books, then you should buy this, its worth it.

Well, at last! Finally someone has written something truly original and, absolutely astounding. The majority of the time when I try to buy fantasy, I give up after reading the blurb- there are too many 'fantasy by numbers' LotR ripp-offs out there that really have nothing original to say. The Ill-Made Mute, was like a long draught of a refreshing drink on a hot day. THis book will, disappoint no one, spark or rekindle a love of fantasy, truly amaze, astound and enthrall everyone. This is world-building at its *most* original, fantastical and amazing. I think it will become a classic. Be ahead of the crowd, and *read* *this* *book*

The first 39 pages of this book are utterly dire. I simply do not understand all the glowing reviews. The level of the writing is about what you'd expect from extremely pretentious internet fan fiction written by a dungeons and dragons player who wished to show off her vocabulary. Totally unnecessary metaphors and descriptions detracted from any interest or merit the story might have. Whether it improved after the first 39 pages I can't say as I just couldn't force myself to continue with it. I only regret that I didn't give up after the first page.