5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Completely disappointed, July 13, 2008
This review is from: Mystic Empire (Bronze Canticles, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)
Mystic Empire by Tracy and Laura Hickman is the third book in the Bronze Canticle trilogy. The first book is
Mystic Warrior (The Bronze Canticles, Book 1) and the second book is
Mystic Quest: Book Two of The Bronze Canticles. I believe this trilogy is the first collaboration between Mr. and Mrs. Hickman and I must say, after finishing the trilogy, I am overwhelmingly unimpressed. The magic that Mr. Hickman has captured in other novels and series is almost completely absent in this series.
I would like to say that the plot of this book, which is the third in the series, follows right where the previous two books left off - but that is not the case. In fact, this book launches the story line one hundred in the future effectively losing most of the cohesion from the previous book. The worlds that the new plot is placed in are a mere shadow of the worlds from the second book; this causes the reader to have to relearn the worlds that the second book established somewhat. There are hints about what occurred in the one hundred year gap, but very little is actually revealed. The plot, much like the time gap, jumps all over and is rather difficult to grab onto and care about. It left me with the feeling that the authors did not a) have a good grasp of what they wanted to accomplish and improvised as they wrote it or b) simply wanted to get a book done and rushed through the process hoping their name power would be enough. I was mildly interested after book one, less interested after book two, and now disappointed I wasted my time on this book. It was a slow progression of futility that culminated in this novel.
The characters in this book are not the same characters that were in the second book. For instance in book two, the character of Galen is simply gone from the novel because of the time jump. All the effort the authors spent in developing his character was wasted because he is simply not around in this book. The Faery world characters are equally missing in action because this world is explored very little in this novel. It was very hard to connect with any of the characters because they are mostly all new and uninteresting. In fact, the characters felt as though they were merely along for the ride of the plot and not creating anything new. Rarely have I been this uninterested in every character in a book.
Normally at this point in my reviews I list my criticisms and positives of the novel. However, I will not be doing that with this review. Instead, I will just offer a few final words on this novel.
Tracy Hickman has helped write some of my favorite books, the Dragonlance Chronicles, The Deathgate Cycle, and the Sovereign Stone Trilogy. On that alone I felt reasonably certain I would like these novels. Nothing could be further from the truth. This novel felt rushed, disjointed, and largely contrived. Nothing like his past works. The one hundred year time jump seemed so out of place it completely took me out of the story. Where a third book In a trilogy should be conclusion to the entire story this book was nothing like that. In fact, it seemed like a completely different series.
Rarely have I been this disappointed after reading a book, particularly from an author I have grown to really enjoy. I can not in good conscience recommend this book to anyone. If you have read the first two books in this series, you may want to read this one just to see how bad things get. If you have not started this series, then please really think about it before you embark on reading it. There are so many other good fantasy novels out there right now. This is just a disappointing book, I can't say it any other way.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Miserable, May 16, 2006
I read the first three books before writing a review.
All three books make use of dream sequences. This one abuses dream sequences.
It left with many questions:
1) If the mystics were this powerful, then why didn't turn the Pir and the Dragons into grease spots long ago?
2) Why should I care about any of these characters?
3) Where are we going?
This book jumps another 100 years and drops you into worlds that are vaguely familiar to the ones in the previous novels.
I found the narrative disjointed (kind of like driving off a cliff).
I didn't know any of these characters and it appeared none of the characters knew much of the characters in the previous books.
There is an utter lack of continuity between these books. Internally, I didn't think this book held up at all.
I'm sorry I wasted $16.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Best of the Trilogy, January 25, 2008
This book is the Best of the trilogy. There is less setup to the beginning of the book, and still has that cliffhanger ending leaving room for the possibility of revisiting these three worlds.
Unfortunately it takes place several decades after the second book and has all new characters, but it still is the Best of the trilogy.
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