Customer Reviews

The Uncrowned King (The Sun Sword, Book 2)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved the first book in this series, and got this book to read more about the main character, Diora, and her mysterious, wonderful, terrifying world.
Instead I got your basic sword-and-sorcery in a totally different world. Yeah, it's the same planet but the difference is as extreme as Afghanistan and Los Angeles.
If you read this book without expectations of the first, it's not a bad book at all. The character of Jewel is fun. Valedan is not explored as deeply or as well as he should be, and I wish there had been more and simpler background on the Kings.
A great deal is left to supposition and imagination. It reads like volume 2, but not of this series. Events and backgrounds are hinted at and it really seems like there MUST have been a book or a chapter missing. That's pretty annoying.

First and foremost, if you haven't read the first book in this series, go read it before you touch this. Though the author tries valiantly to make it friendly to someone coming into the series with this book, it's almost impossible to fully understand this one without having read its prequel.

I must say that I was a little disappointed with the scope of this installment; where the first one shifted between the two countries, this focuses almost entirely on the northern Empire, specifically Averalaan.

The action in this book moves significantly faster than that of the first, and not at the cost of character development, either. Many characters who were mentioned in the first book come back in force and help flesh out the story wonderfully.

My only real gripe is that I wish the author had included a pronounciation guide with her little glossary as Janny Wurts has done. Many of the names seem Spanish in origin, but there are a few which simply stump me.

Well I of course picked this book up because I read the first one and just had to read the second one. This one seemed a bit slow to me but I always got caught up by Jewel-she has to be my most favorite character. I would like to know a little more about Avandar though. And it seems from reading all the other reviews that I will have to read the Hunter books. Anybody know how many more their are going to be?? I know at least one more...

In volume two of a series of unannounced length, Michelle West follows the characters in Averalaan Amarelas through a few weeks of action. She leaves the reader in ignorance of developments in the Dominion but details the forced growth of Jewel (the street child seer turned House Terafin power), Kiriel (half-mortal daughter of Hell god Allasakar turned against his Court) and Valedan (slave born heir to the throne of the Dominion raised in the foreign Empire) as plotters from the Dominion attempt to assasinate or discredit Valedan while he tries to garner Southern support by competing in the King's Challenge. Kallandras, Evayne, and Meralonne APhaniel and others familiar from earlier books play a part as the stage is set for larger scale action in books to come. I hope they come soon. While this book is solid and probably necessary to the evolution of the plot and characters, the scale is too large for the small scope covered and Ms. West sometimes resorts to summaries or descriptions of her characters' growth in lieu of demonstrating it by their speech, thoughts, emotions or action. She also makes suggestive comments throughout which render the reader eager to find out more about APhaniel and others and presumably foreshadow the developments to come. Very readable and enjoyable, but not as exciting as Volume One.

I consider myself a person who is usually up to the challenge of a difficult read. But difficult just for the sake of being difficult...
Maybe it's the authors writing style, but this book is bogged down with details and an extremely slow narrative. All the action is killed my the passive voice. What makes me not like this series so far (I've read up to book 2) is the way the author takes very simple things and somehoe finds a way to present them in a twisted convuluted fashion. I mean, I understand if a situation is complex...it should be written so. But two characters having a mundane conversation should not sound like a passage from the bible.
Exmple:
"She opened the door, feinting as she stepped out"
Turns into

"She heard him say something, brushed his words away with the heavy wave of a hand, took a step toward the doors and teetered there, on the edge of night.
And fell in"
- Michelle West, The Uncrowned King

You don't really figure out that the character feinted until a few paragraphs later in the story. I'm not saying the author should have wrote in the way I wrote it above, but you get the idea. Almost everything is written like this, especially in Book 2! It is so annoying!
I personally do not want to read poetry when I am supposed to be reading prose.

*note, Book 2 is a little more interesting and I really want to find out what happens in the story, becuase it is a good plot, but the writing is killing me.

These books are involved, complicated and engrossing. There are lots of characters and stories within stories, the hallmarks of a good epic fantasy series.

This book broadens the scope of characters and plots involved within the North / South struggle. Focusing primarily on characters in the north it is interesting enough to offset impatience about leaving the characters in Book One temporarily behind. If you have read any of the House Wars series, specifically involving Jewel and her Den, you will find this volume interesting as it continues their journey and struggle. I was not disappointed .

This is volume 2 of the Sun Sword series. While any of her books can technically be read alone; I've always found them to be stronger in sequence; as many of the nuances of comment are more filled with meaning if the rest of the story is fresh in your mind.

Michelle Sagara West writes character driven books in worlds that feel like echoes of our own. The things that make me extremely fond of this series (and all of her other writing) is likely to drive others away. If you like books where the people are truly 3 dimensional, the plot is complex and you have to infer between people's lines as to what they really think, this book (and everything else by her) is for you.

If you prefer plot driven stories that are clear and unambiguous where everything gets tied up neatly at the end; this book will probably drive you crazy. Every character in these books carries their own believes, values, relationships and needs with them; and they behave, sometimes extremely unexpectedly, according to their realities. For me, this is a fascinating method of story telling, which feels reminiscent of real life, where you never really know what anyone else thinks or why they make the decisions you do; and trying to understand their world view and internal logic is half the fun!

Mmmm... Valedan. At least, those were my thoughts when I first began reading this novel. I read the first 90 pages the same night after I finished "The Uncrowned King", so the characters were heavy in my mind. I was by now accustomed to the ways of the South and the new cast, and being a long-term Devon ATerafin fanatic from the Sacred Hunt series *and* a Valedan fan, I found this book quite enjoyable. As always, West had to put a spin on things. New trials, new triumphs. The focus on this book is Valedan proving himself capable of taking the position of Tyr'agar by competing in the most difficult and challenging games in the Northern Empire. As always, I enjoyed West's new characters. They added a new shade, a new perspective onto the story, as to dive deeper into the history and tragedies of the Dominion as well as the triumphs and tragedies of the North. Mysterious characters, such as Kiriel, go into further development and change as well as the story progresses.

Now, a warning to all readers- the characters from the Southern Dominion are, for the most part, forgotten throughout this story, as it occurs within the confines of the Northen Empire. But fear not, they will get their turn in the spotlight as well.

As typical with Michelle West, you have to wait until the last few hundred page sof the novel for the most delicious moments, but it's well worth the read, especially if you're a Valedan or Jewel fan!

this book, while a bit slow at times, grabs you and hauls you into a world of complex schemes, hidden pasts and involuted social graces