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4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Middle Novel, June 4, 2010
This review is from: Lightborn (Darkborn Trilogy) (Paperback)
Lightborn is a solid sequel to Darkborn, picking up immediately after the first book ended. It continues the series with Sinclair's excellent wordcraft and dazzling world building undiminished. The story is well paced, appreciably convoluted and unexpected, and is highly recommended. In contradiction to the editorial review I didn't find the book a particularly difficult read, just one targetted at a mature reader rather than the burgeoning young adult genre (which I personally appreciate); no need to understand whatever "stiff regency prose" is to understand the book. As with the first novel, Sinclair uses multiple points of view to tell the story: Telmaine continues to be the central figure, joined by the previously mentioned Floria White Hand and two new lightborn characters, the Prince and a mage. The new characters shift the focus to court politics and intrigue and the book centers around unravelling the assassination of the previous Prince and searching for the elusive Shadowborn. The most notable concern is the lack of a clearly defined plot arc. Lightborn suffers from the classic dilemma of a middle novel; it expends its energy continuing the plotlines of the first book while struggling to introduce its own, and never really provides a resolution to any of them. Sinclair is a solid writer with good pacing and storycrafting, so I'm confident these will be tied up well in Shadowborn (the final book of the trilogy) but the sudden, unsatisfying ending - signalled, it feels, only by a page count - is something a reader should be prepared for. Similarly, Telmaine's love interests - her husband Balthasar and the tempting Ishmael - are regretably absent; their presence is limited to a single brief conversation and vague references of action elsewhere (presumably to be narrated in the next book). This unfortunately removes any hint of romance - and the resultant tension and plot - from Lightborn. I felt Telmaine's struggle between her good-but-dull husband and exciting-but-scandalous new friend really helped define the evolution of her character in the first book, and the lack seems to leave her a bit diminished in this one. Finally, Floria - while an interesting character due to her actions and role - feels distressingly flat. Her motivations and history are glossed over, shocking in the face of her almost fanatic loyalty. This is really more of a personal gripe, but I love her position as a contrast to Telmaine - a rival for affection that could never be a mistress, a warrior rather than a lady, and so forth - and it was really disappointing not to learn much about her personality. Overall, the absence of personal dramas, and shifted focus on court intrigues, makes Lightborn a much more epic novel than the first, with characters caught up in the action more than instigating it. Despite my grumbles it really is a good book in a great series, and as with the last I think the setting is enough to make the novel worth reading to any fan of fantasy - it details the unique role of the mages and the lightborn court in as complete and logical a way as seen in Darkborn.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Some spoilers for Darkborn within, October 16, 2011
Lightborn is the second of the Darkborn books written by author Alison Sinclair. I still adore this world. We have mages: those on the Lightborn side of sunrise are major powers in a society ruled my intrigue and tests of strength; those on the Darkborn side of sunrise are ostracized from civilized society, generally weaker than their daylight counterparts. On the one side of sunrise we have a closely watched lineage of power and strength that rivals the `earthborn' princes and houses; on the other we've got over-reaching dukes and archdukes who won't listen to those in the know, and on both sides we've got people wanting to take down the mages, because magic is scary. After all, weren't the Sundered people created at the hands of a mage, a millenium ago? Isn't that what the Curse is all about, that allows light to incinerate and darkness to dissolve, respectively? In Lightborn we meet some of the Lightborn, including Balthasar Hearne's good friend Floria, Vigiliant to the Prince of the Lightborn. Because of the set up of the two peoples, it's a bit disconcerting -- we spend the first book getting to understand the working of the government and society, and in the second book we do it all over again! The story is advanced, however -- we know Ishmael and Balthasar have been sent to reconnoiter about the Shadowlands, the area where monsters hail from, where Darkborn disappear regularly, victims of the Call, and where, for the last year, it has been inexplicably quiet. That, on top of the hints of Shadowborn collusion makes the archduke of the Darkborn very nervous . . . and it doesn't help matters at all that the Lightborn dismiss the Shadowborn as myth. As of this book, my love for the series continued to grow. I really, really adore Alison's handling of the light/dark dichotemy, a lot. I love that the Darkborn have sonar. I love seeing the Darkborn world through the eyes of the Lightborn. What I disliked in this book was there were simply too many character povs now. On top of the Darkborn povs the first book introduced us to, we know get to see life through the eyes of a Lightborn ruler, his agent (and Balthasar's friend), and a Lightborn mage. It's necessary, but it begins to be unwieldy. I'd've liked for as thorough a treatment of the Lightborn world in Lightborn as we were treated to in the Darkborn's world in Darkborn, and because of the additional point of views, we don't really get as intimate an understanding of their world as we did for the Darkborn.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Well done!, August 24, 2011
This review is from: Lightborn (Darkborn Trilogy) (Paperback)
My favorite of the trilogy. Fast moving plot, original ideas, enjoyable 'forbidden' romance. Unfortunately, the other two were not as good as this one.
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