Customer Reviews

Shaper's Legacy

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

 

 

This trilogy is quite engrossing from the first to the last book. The human response to breakthroughs in scientific knowledge is placed in a future society. Finch is neither a mindless optimist nor a morose pessimist. I think that is why I enjoy her books. She also writes very well. I highly recommend this series.

I found this book much less satisfying than the first in the series. There is a muddiness about the relevance of prophecy, for example. On one hand we are told that the prophecy is all made up by the Venn, but the whole plot of the second book seems to be steering us towards some kind of messianic future. What exactly is Mirandil doing and for what earthly purpose? Why is the princess such a royal (pardon the pun) idiot? Why does the royal sibling plotline so closely mirror that of the first book?

Which is not to say the book isn't entertaining. I really enjoyed Book I and it was nice to visit this universe again. But I would have liked to see some characters I could stand.

"Shaper Exile" is the second book of a three-part trilogy involving a group of scientist (geneticists) called the "Venn" who are exiled from Earth. The Venn eventually make their home on another planet and start three races. The first race, the Ganu are ordinary human stock. The second race is called the Lianis who are shape shifters. The last race is warlike and have the ability to tell when someone is truthful or not. The Venn set themselves up as Gods. They have taken a syrum and are immortal, but now hundreds of years later there are only four left. Many have died or killed themselves and the remaining four have forgotten who and what they really are. Meanwhile the races they created are finding out the truth. I highly recommend this book, and the other two are also excellent, although the first book, "Garden of the Shaped" is my favorite. I wish the entire series could be reprinted because other readers should get to enjoy it as much as I did. Sheila Finch is truly an artist at telling a story that keeps the reader interested. If you have a way of getting used books, I would suggest you find these since they are definitely good reading! The first book is "The Garden of the Shaped" and the third and final book is "Shaping the Dawn".