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34 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Waste of my reading time, December 19, 2001
I read about 80-90 science fiction and fantasy novels a years and usually love multi-volume epic stories. When reading a book, I usually "stick it out until the end"; I regret having done so here. Plain and simple, this book is terrible. Here's a run-down of some of its most obvious flaws: 1. Non-existent plot. I can't understand how an editor allowed this book to go to print. The author didn't seem to understand that a series of unrelated episodes do not make a plot. Most of the episodes don't enhance your understanding of a character, nor do they advance the plot. 2. Absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt, stupid (and I mean stupid) characters. The main characters are not in any way introspective. They never question what is happening around them. They are not interested in the people around them. They don't seem to really have any motivation for anything they do. A couple of examples:
Garric learns that his sister is really the scion of a royal house and that their parents had been deceiving them since their childhood. Is Garric surprised? Is he hurt? Does he care that his sister is leaving the sleepy village perhaps forever? Does he question his parents about this? Does he wonder about his own parentage? The answer is a resounding "no".
A second example: Another character is repeatedly told that he has "power". He is able to do magical things from time to time. He is the only one who can see certain magical creatures. But he never seems to put these things together that he is a wizard. I know that he is supposed to be slow thinker, but he's not supposed to be dim-witted. 3. Finally, if I have to read the words "Barca's Hamlet" one more time, I think I'll scream. I understand that the four main characters came from the aforementioned sleepy village and that life in the village is the only thing they can compare things to, but Drake takes it to the extreme. If I had to make a guess, something is compared to Barca's Hamlet at least once every two to three pages. (Now Drake has ME doing it... that's twice in this paragraph). Anyway, pick up another epic series instead such as Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series or even Jordan's "Wheel of Time" neverending saga. Believe me, the world of the "Wheel of Time" has a straightforward and interesting plot when compared to that of Barca's Hamlet (aaack, I've said it again!!!).
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A refresher, May 31, 2005
Well I've been in one of my reading slumps where for some reason I can't find the will to turn a page without great effort. This book got me out of that! I really liked this book for a few reasons even though it did have its faults. I've always wandered what it would be like to read a good fantasy book with characters that don't balk at every little thing that happens to them. Where they don't have to fight any inner demons and they can just accept their responsibilities. Well this is one of those books. At the same time, the only reason I would wander at a book like that is because I was sure they weren't written. After all, how can your characters be real when they take every thing in stride including deaths of friends and so on. So, you can look at that in two ways. I wouldn't want it in every book I read, but for this one I rather enjoyed it.
Another thing I liked about Drake's book was that it wasn't too hard to defeat the bad guy(s). Once again you can look at this in two ways ... the same as those above. And for the same reason I chose to enjoy it in this book. I mean I did think it a bit odd that foes who were seen as powerful and evil were destroyed so easily. However it was a change from the books where half your favorite characters die in the effort. Good for this book but of course I wouldn't want it in too many books.
Once again this goes both ways. The characters all usually get split up in one way or another and have their little adventures then return to each other with nothing more than knowledge and experience gained. What a change from the norm! I'll gladly except this though because (as I've been saying...)I've always wanted to read at least one book on the easy side where good things happen to good people and all that. Now if you're someone who can't just take this as good thing that's fine. Things really shouldn't come so easily because reality is just not that way. Then again this is fantasy, is it not?
Well, if you are looking for a suspenseful, angsty, action packed book (or what you normally get), perhaps this isn't for you. If you wouldn't mind something a bit different from what you're used to then give it a try! I love this book and the others in the series I have read.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good ideas dragged down, November 6, 2002
I read this book when I was bored at work. While it served to fill the time, a bunch of good ideas somehow just don't gel together well in the final story. The magic system is really interesting, it has a good setting (being on a bunch of islands), and a good backstory setup. Then why do I rate it just average? Well, the main drawback for me was the characters. There's two classes of characterization here: slim and none. All of them seem one dimentional at best, and some of the characters that get the most page time fall into the 'none' catigory. Hundreds of pages were devoted to these characters, and not once did the author ever show what was going on inside their heads. Also, this book has by far the highest body count of any fantasy book I've read. It seems that characters are introduced, and then offed a few chapters later. One of the characters starts the story taking off on a sea voyage with about 400 sailors and various others, and she's the only one alive by the end of the book. And almost every single bit character introduced outside the main ones are really, well, vile. Loathsome and disgusting people, really. I'll agree with others who have said that there's a lot of unconnected adventures in it. While adventures aren't bad in and of themselves, it seems like in this case they were stuck in merely to lengthen the book with no purpose or character development going on. Still, most of the adventures are exciting. It's not horribly bad, nor is it famously good. It's just... average.
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