Resenting the Hero by Moira J. Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I liked the world and most of the characters, but the main character was self-centered and had a serious inferiority complex. Luckily, she seemed to have developed and matured. Can’t wait to start the next book.
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The first half of this book, which introduced the protagonist, Gen, and supporting characters, was incredibly dull. I didn’t particularly like Gen throughout most of this book. He was selfish, arrogant, whiney, and didn’t seem pleasant to be around at all. Because of him, I wasn’t sure if I was going to finish the book at all.
When I got to the temple part was when I was hooked. The temple reminded me of some brain teasing puzzles in video games. After the temple, everything started getting much more exciting and when the twist (which I had a hint of but didn’t really expect after-all) I finally had an inkling of respect for Gen.
The Thief could almost be classified as historical fiction for young adults except for the whole deux ex machina part of the plot. I’m usually annoyed by stories where the main character gets divine intervention at just the right time to avoid some dilemma, but it kind of worked in here. Kind of. I did like the stories of the creation of the world according to their old religion even if it seemed very Mother-Earthish, but the more direct ways the gods interfered was a splinter in my side.
Reviews say that the next books in this series are much better, but I can’t see the old gods and their meddling going away anytime soon in the story, so I’m probably going to skip them unless I run out of things to read.
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
4 of 5 stars
What a wonderful, self-contained fantasy book. The world of Graceling focusses on individuals with particular talents, called Graces, such as incredible speed, mind-reading, foresight into the weather, etc. But to un-graced people, they’re strange and to be avoided.
The overall plot was easy to spot a mile away and there were few surprises (save one), but it didn’t make this book any easier to put down. I read the entire 400+ book in two sittings. The prose flows fluidly and quickly while still keeping its rich nature.
The only thing that keeps Graceling from being a five-star book though, and this is a minor quibble, is that it feels particularly like a young adult book. I would have preferred more character development, especially between a certain pair of characters and their sweetly blossoming relationship.
It maybe a strange thing to write in a review, but I appreciate the fact that this book didn’t finish with a cliff ending. The sense of closure was nice.