Customer Reviews

Resenting the Hero

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dunleavy Mallorough has prepared for years to be a Shield, and it's finally the big day, when she will be Chosen (hopefully) by the Source she will be paired with for life. Together Source and Shield are a bonded Pair, who work together to keep their world safe from the natural disasters that beset it.

To Dunleavy's chagrin, she is Chosen by the Source she finds unbearable: the fabled Shintaro Karish, who is not only handsome and noble-born, but popular, self-assured and heroic. Lee wants to do her job and stay out of the way but she is stuck with someone who will always be in the spotlight. To make things worse, the Pair are assigned to High Scape, a city so bedeviled by natural disasters that seven Pairs are assigned there.

That's where things really get interesting, when a disaster kills off all the other Pairs, leaving Kintaro and his reluctant partner the only ones standing between the city and complete destruction....

This is a fun set-up for a fantasy series. I liked the concept of the bonded Pairs (this isn't a romantic situation, although it has potential--but Pairs aren't supposed to get involved with each other) and the way they work together to diffuse energy of storms, earthquakes and other natural disasters. The hidden politics of the system of service were also intriguing, though mostly just alluded to in this book, the first in a series. I definitely hope to see the shadowy background emerge in more detail as the books go on.

What was a little less enthralling, unfortunately, was the main character the reader is supposed to identify with, Dunleavy (Lee to her friends). There is no really good reason for her antipathy to Karish and he never seems to show any of the traits she supposedly despises in him. In fact, he does everything he can to be friendly and work well with her. He in fact seemed to be something of a blandly pleasant non-entity most of the time, and it was hard to see either what was so charming and heroic about him or what was so irritating to Dunleavy.

However, the plot that these characters were enmeshed in definitely held my attention: what (or who) is causing the increasingly powerful and seemingly targetted disasters in High Scape? Is it something about the cities, or the Pairs themselves that is drawing the events, events that almost seem like attacks? Although I found myself impatient with Lee and wondering what the big deal was about Karish, I was drawn in and found myself turning the pages quickly.

I look forward to more from this first-time author and hope to see more development of these two characters as well as the interesting supporting cast, and the rather fascinating world they live in, in future installments.

I know others have mentioned this. And the viewer can see the cover themselves. With that title and that cover it sounds like a romance novel of opposites within a rather bland fantasy setting. Even the description on the back cover doesn't quite clear this up. And the title is of no help at all. This is not a romance, it is not quite a traditional fantasy tale, and it is not a comic fantasy of the Craig Shaw Gardiner variety. In this case, don't judge the book by its cover or title.

What this book is, is a fairly brisk paced story in a medieval-style setting. That it happens to be on a planet where long ago starships came and settled is the only real SF link to the story. The rest can fall comfortably into the fantasy realm, though there's none of the typical swords and sorcery here. There are some form of paranormal powers however that can affect natural events, and even stop catastrophic events like earthquakes from happening. This is the job of Pairs, two people bonded together with complementary gifts. Dunleavy Mallorough is a newly minted Sheild hoping for a worthy bond with a responsible Source. What she gets is Lord Shintaro Karish and some very interesting times indeed. This reluctant Pair soon find themselves the only ones who can stop the sinister plotting that could mean the death of thousands of people, and they'll have to work together to do it.

For a debut novel from this author, it's not bad. The writing is steady and compelling, the world building is decent and the author's created an intriguing premise with her Pairs of Sheilds and Sources. Even the fairly cut and dried plot isn't a bad one. I was impressed that the author was able to expand upon the talents of the Source and Sheild to make them interesting and engaging. That peice of original design kept the story from becoming too run of the mill or familiar. One of the authors best bits of writing is whenever her main character encounters music. The descriptions are rich and vivid and provide some key character building to the story. Other than the fact that I started off thinking this was a comic fantasy and finding out otherwise, my chief complaint is character. This is a big issue for me, since I read for character first and foremost in a story. Dunleavy's dislike of Taro based on mere rumor is very over the top, and it was very hard to be charitable towards her at all, especially when the rumors did not match his behavior. Taro, on the other hand, is painfully bland--he's friendly, handsome, generous and just seems like a decent fellow with good-looks and a few extra talents. I would have liked to see more friction between them because of actual personality clashes rather that Dunleavy's own personal prejudice against him. Neither character has a true depth of personality or a sense of the profound about them. Perhaps its the fact that Dunleavy is essentially narrating the story, so the story is filtered through her character. If so, I still feel like more could have been done to fill out the characters and make them more three dimensional.

Still, overall this was a good romp, and a decent recreational read for fantasy lovers. Those who like this and would enjoy other fantasy reads might want to check out the sequel, The Hero Strikes Back (the cover is still pretty bad) and also might want to look for The Prince of Ill-Luck by Susan Dexter or Bronwyn's Bane by Elizabeth Scarborough.

Happy Reading ^_^ Shanshad

This first novel was refreshingly tongue-in-cheek. The cover sums up the heroine's feelings well enough. The synopsis above describes the plot well enough that I won't waste time repeating it. This book sucked me in from the get-go. It was delightfully funny and heartwrenching in turns. The heroine gets paired with a man who is the antithesis of everything she wanted in a partner and is severely disappointed. She wasted no time in subtly letting him know that. In fact there was no subtlty to it. She was just short of rude. The hero, on the otherhand, seemed to be quite open and accepting of his new partner and maybe even a little attracted to her in the beginning. But as time and exposure always does, they begin to learn that the person underneath may not be as advertised. They have to learn to trust each other with their lives. The resentment slowly fades under a growing admiration and comraderie. In the end, their fledgling trust is put to the ultimate test.
The book was smart, funny and endearing. I have already recommended it to everyone I know! I am highly anticipating the sequel and the author has a third planned! Yeah! I love following a set of characters that I have watched mature and grow. BTW: this book was not a romance- their relationship is completely platonic- which made it strangely enough, more interesting.

Like many of the reviewers on this book, I agree this world has a great deal of potential. I enjoyed Karish's character and look forward to reading more about him and this world. Hopefully, though, we'll leave Dunleavy's character behind--her grudge against Karish exists merely because of her believing rumors of his behavior--ironic, given Dunleavy would consider another person doing this in a similar situation an absolute travesty. I couldn't quite get through to the end because while I wanted Karish to win the day, I really wanted Dunleavy left behind. Let us hear more of their world, and perhaps Dunleavy won't be such a stick in the mud in future endeavors.

Resenting the Hero is an entertaining read, although I had reservations with the characters and storytelling. I still read it in one day (amazing, considering I haven't finished a book in a few months).

Synopsis: In a world beset by chaotic weather patterns, only the Sources and Shields stand between the people and disaster. Dunleavy Mallorough is a Shield, matched to Shintaro Karish, a Source with a reputation for living wildly and sleeping with half the population. They're assigned to High Scape, a city so surrounded with extreme weather that it takes 7 Pairs to protect the city. When a strange force begins killing off the Pairs, it's up to Dunleavy and Karish to discover the reasons.

Review: I enjoyed the world Moore has created - and look forward to more from this series. There's a lot of possibilities the author can explore in this world, and the added mystery of why the Academies control their Sources and Shields so much will definitely play into future books. Perhaps my favorite character was Karish, as told through Dunleavy's point of view. He has a sense of responsibility and honor that becomes very obvious.

Which is why I didn't understand Dunleavy's continued resentment and dislike of Karish. Throughout most of the book, although there is a lot of evidence that Karish is a good, responsible Source despite his partying ways, she continually sees him as irresponsible and overbearing. Dunleavy herself came across as a stuffy stick-in-the-mud. Maybe the author meant for her to be that way (after all, the essence of good fantasy is watching your characters grow and mature). Despite having cause to be a bit naive in the ways of the world, Dunleavy just doesn't seem to be a good judge of character at all. Her self-righteous attitude also started getting on my nerves. I simply couldn't connect with this character.

By the time we get to the climax of the book, I had to pause because when the entire villianous plot was revealed, I had a moment of "buh?" This is it? The villains themselves didn't seem very intelligent or planned out. but then again, complete and total madness doesn't make for much logic. In general, many of the characters' actions and reactions didn't seem based on any reasoning. I decided to place this with maybe the author's storytelling methods. There is a scarcity of clues to why secondary characters act the way they do, and maybe this is because we're seeing the action through Dunleavy's limited point-of-view.

All the same, the book worked for me and I'll look forward to the sequel. The author managed to pull all these pieces together and have a good story to tell. It's not quite a romance, though there is some hint that maybe there'll be one (I'm not holding my breath, however). There are lovely moments of affection between Karish and Dunleavy in the end.

I picked up this book by chance at the bookstore the other day, because I was intrigued by the title. The book did not disappoint: it's got an interesting, believable setting, engaging characters, and a satisfying mystery. I had a hard time putting it down, and finished it just this morning; now I can't wait for the next in the series, <em>The Hero Strikes Back</em>!

Dunleavy Mallorough is a shield, a psychic who shields a more powerful psychic while he or she manipulates magical energy usually to prevent natural disasters. When it comes to be Dunleavy's time to be chosen (a process similar to lifebonding), she is shocked and horrified when she is bonded to Karish, a young man whom she assumes is irresponsible and vain. When Karish is abducted Dunleavy decides to rescue him with unexpected results.

I enjoyed this book. Moore's voice is entertaining and while not especially original, is a new take on the lifebonding issue I have not seen before. There is a certain 'herald of Valdemar' feel to the story. Bisexuality is quite common amongst characters and gayness is dealt with frank candor.

My big issue with the story was Dunleavy herself. I felt she was rather unlikable especially where Karesh is concerned. Dunleavy treats Karesh at best with indifference and worse as though he is a child incapable of telling right from wrong. Though in part this is the result of her training, she seemed an observant intelligent individual so I found it rather grating that she kept making so many assumptions about him.

I also felt the cover of this book is entirely inappropriate. It makes Karesh look like an idiot and the heroine look like she was a slave. At no point did she ever clean Karesh's boots, nor do I think she would if she could.

Overall, this was an entertaining novel, that could've been better if I warmed up to Dunleavy. I prefered Karesh to her hands down. 4 stars.

I picked this title up on a whim and found myself engaged and entertained the whole way through. Once you get past the ridiculously inappropriate cover you find a fascinating story that leaves you wanting more. The author has done a good job of mixing lighthearted banter and mystery all set in a world that is strange enough to be interesting but not so foreign that you can't understand what is going. I can't wait to find out what our protagonists are going to do next.

Found this book by chance and finished it in two reasonable reading sessions. I enjoyed the premise of the Shields and Sources, the story of the disasters, but the books lacks some necessary character development to make it a five star effort. In fact, it feels like a short story that was lengthened to short novel. It could have been twice as long, it was that intriguing, but the author stayed with the tale. I just don't know why the big issue of resentment, nor why Taro the Source had such a reputation for being a partying cad. Don't know how or why Aidan fell in love with Lee the main charater, but frankly I enjoyed the ride as it was. The story line was interesting and well developed, and the writing was really well done, very natural first person tone, and viewpoint-- I think this bodes well for this author as she writes more. I'm really looking forward to the next effort in the story, which will likely flesh out some of the backstories, and build more depth in this new world.

RESENTING THE HERO is the start to an excellent series, much better than you'd guess looking at the title or cover art. I decided to trust other reviews pointing this out, and now I'm repeating it in mine because it's true.

The origin story for this fantasy series sets up the odd world where Lee and Taro, our hero and heroine, have their adventures: nearly six hundred years before the start of the story, spaceships descended from the sky. The passengers intended to settle, but when their sophisticated machinery didn't operate properly and the beautiful landscape was constantly beset by terrible natural disasters, most of them packed up and left. The result? The state of technology is relatively primitive, but morals are relatively modern. Example: characters travel on land via carriages but enjoy near total gender equality. Since I really like a good medieval-style sword and sorcery novel and also really enjoy modern sensibilities, I was pretty tickled by how cleverly this world was designed.

The zeitgeist is familiar, rational and scientific, with the notable exception of the Sources and Shields - who are able, through their combined efforts, to "channel" the energy of natural disasters into a harmless form. Sources channel the energy, and Shields stop them from dying in the process. While any Shield and Source can work together, almost all of them bond to a particular partner, forming a Pair. The connection is instant and life-long, and if one member of the Pair dies, the other does too.

The narrator, Dunleavy Mallorough (Lee), is a Shield, and a very gifted one. Shields are unemotional, sensible people who are numbed to physical sensations like pain but profoundly, intensely affected by music. Lee is intensely practical, intensely cerebral, with a wicked dry wit. She's very funny, though sometimes it's just because she finds regular people - people with emotions - completely mystifying.

Much has been made of Lee's dislike for the Source she's matched up with - handsome, aristocratic, charming, and wildly talented Shintaro Karish (Taro). After all, what's to dislike about being professionally attached at the hip to a bona-fide hero? Well, as Lee points out, "I would die with this man. He'd catch some sexual disease, or some enraged spouse would kill him, and the bond would drag me down with him. He was that sort, the sort that shone too bright and burned out fast." Can I just say that I love her narrative voice? Lee is straightforward, always cutting right to the stinging heart of the matter. And Taro shines brightly indeed. It would be noble of Lee to want her destiny tied to his - but it's sensible to hope for something less dramatic.

RESENTING THE HERO seems to wander a bit as Lee and Taro meet up, travel to their assigned city of High Scape, and settle in. But the wandering is an illusion - everything adds up at the end, as the Pair unravel a plot to destroy the city. I've read all four books currently available in the series, and I really like the way that the series is going. Not only do Lee and Taro develop as characters, but the world they live in does too. Big changes are afoot, and Lee and Taro are at the center of them. But the real centerpiece of this series, it's spine and chief delight, is the relationship between Lee and Taro - opposites in almost every way, they are excellent partners to one another.