Andrew Ashling
Autor(a) de The Invisible Chains - Part 1: Bonds of Hate
Séries
Obras por Andrew Ashling
The Invisible Chains - Part 2: Bonds of Fear (Dark Tales of Randamor the Recluse, #2) (2011) 8 exemplares
The Invisible Chains - Part 3: Bonds of Blood (Dark Tales of Randamor the Recluse, #3) (2011) 7 exemplares
Beginnings 2 exemplares
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
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Membros
Críticas
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 11
- Membros
- 113
- Popularidade
- #173,161
- Avaliação
- 3.8
- Críticas
- 8
- ISBN
- 1
The plot was interesting and that's why I give this 3 stars: A king has four sons and plans to test their mettle to find out what they are made of. He keeps the eldest two close to him to teach them how to rule as future kings and the youngest, Anaxantis (16) and Ehandar(17) he makes governors to the Northern Marches. Anaxantis nurtures some far-from-brotherly feelings for his half brother Ehandar, whereas Ehandar hates his guts and wants to get rid of him to be the sole ruler of the Northern Marches. Things happen, somehow Anaxantis is chained by Ehandar in their shared apartment for 3 months that culminate with Ehandar arriving drunk one night to beat and rape his brother. That's the moment that turns sweet, loving Anaxantis into a ruthless, revenge plotting serpent. He slowly wraps Ehandar around his finger, makes him fall in love with him, then pays him with the same coin.
The incest, rape and out-of-the-blue golden shower didn't bother me, the book was a dark fantasy after all.
But the writing...
The writing, although not atrocious, was not good. There were pages upon pages of info dumps. Instead of action, we found out about the course of action via dialogue. And my least favorite: there were pages upon pages of inner monologue. This would have been nice and well if the author stuck to 2 or 3 main characters/voices/POVs, but at one point there were so many I not only lost track of them, but their voices started being similar. Apart from Ehandar and Anaxantis and maybe the king in the beginning, the rest of the characters' inner monologues were just chips from the same ice block. If their names were not indicated I wouldn't have been able to identify them solely by the voice of their inner monologue.
Also the dialogue was split between complex phrases you find in "fantasy dialogue"and contemporary phrases like "Ok, you guys" or "Yeah." It felt I was moving from Ximerion to a highschool courtyard.
Ehandar and Anaxantis as characters were okay, but I wished they were better constructed so I would have cared more about them. Sometimes their actions or reactions didn't seem believable to me.
If you are a fan of fantasy, and can turn a blind eye to the writing style, you might appreciate this book far better than I did.… (mais)