Jennifer Fallon

DNF at 95%. Reading this was a painful drag. Part of the reason for that is that this is grimdark fantasy a.k.a high fantasy dystopia. This means that the happiest these characters will ever be is in the beginning, and they didn't even start out very happy. It is a real downer. Put simply as someone who reads romances for the happy endings this genre just isn't my cup of tea. Like there is nothing that can make me enjoy Game of Thrones. Also trigger warning for rape. I hate it when rape is used as a narrative device but more on that later. The other part is just poor pacing. I don't think that Jennifer Fallon is a bad writer. There is good characterization and dialogue, but plot is her weakness. Whenever she needs the plot to move she uses literal deus ex machina having the gods appear as characters to make the plot do things. Like, she just has the god of love make the two mains fall in love, something which could have happened organically. This book is over three-hundred pages there is time for a romantic subplot. I think this is an interesting concept. It is probably the one of the few books I have read where a matriarchal society is not viewed in a positive light. Women in power make the same mistakes men do, and are just a susceptible to corrupting power. The author clearly views taking power through unscrupulous means as a bad thing because characters are punished for doing this, most notably R'shiel who gets raped after inciting a rebellion that she doesn't really believe in. This is just a really long drawn out political drama. The government of Medalon are atheists, but because they are a much smaller country they are pressured by monotheists into persecuting the polytheists. The fact that they are atheists makes them look really silly especially since the gods are demonstrably real. The polytheists also look really silly for putting their faith in the gods because the gods aren't really interested in helping people, but in helping themselves. The Harshini are pacifists, but that means that they are really useless in the face of conflict, and have to use other people to do their dirty work for them. Being heroic and honorable in this world like Tarja is viewed as abjectly silly because it is easier to follow the system than to rebel against it when you think it is wrong, and everyone is in it for themselves. The people in power will do whatever they must to keep it, even at the expense of destroying the things they are supposed to protect. I feel like the fun of fiction for me is to imagine that the world can be better than what it is currently, which is why grimdark fiction just really gets me down.… (mais)

DNF at 95%. Reading this was a painful drag. Part of the reason for that is that this is grimdark fantasy a.k.a high fantasy dystopia. This means that the happiest these characters will ever be is in the beginning, and they didn't even start out very happy. It is a real downer. Put simply as someone who reads romances for the happy endings this genre just isn't my cup of tea. Like there is nothing that can make me enjoy Game of Thrones. Also trigger warning for rape. I hate it when rape is used as a narrative device but more on that later. The other part is just poor pacing. I don't think that Jennifer Fallon is a bad writer. There is good characterization and dialogue, but plot is her weakness. Whenever she needs the plot to move she uses literal deus ex machina having the gods appear as characters to make the plot do things. Like, she just has the god of love make the two mains fall in love, something which could have happened organically. This book is over three-hundred pages there is time for a romantic subplot. I think this is an interesting concept. It is probably the one of the few books I have read where a matriarchal society is not viewed in a positive light. Women in power make the same mistakes men do, and are just a susceptible to corrupting power. The author clearly views taking power through unscrupulous means as a bad thing because characters are punished for doing this, most notably R'shiel who gets raped after inciting a rebellion that she doesn't really believe in. This is just a really long drawn out political drama. The government of Medalon are atheists, but because they are a much smaller country they are pressured by monotheists into persecuting the polytheists. The fact that they are atheists makes them look really silly especially since the gods are demonstrably real. The polytheists also look really silly for putting their faith in the gods because the gods aren't really interested in helping people, but in helping themselves. The Harshini are pacifists, but that means that they are really useless in the face of conflict, and have to use other people to do their dirty work for them. Being heroic and honorable in this world like Tarja is viewed as abjectly silly because it is easier to follow the system than to rebel against it when you think it is wrong, and everyone is in it for themselves. The people in power will do whatever they must to keep it, even at the expense of destroying the things they are supposed to protect. I feel like the fun of fiction for me is to imagine that the world can be better than what it is currently, which is why grimdark fiction just really gets me down.… (mais)

Ik vind het een intrigerende wereld en een mooi voorbeeld van fantasy zonder dat de magie de overhand heeft. Er zit wel magie in, maar het is voor de bewoners van de wereld zo gewoon dat het leest als dagelijkse kost en dus niet opvalt. Dat vind ik wel heel knap gedaan. Bovendien is de magie meer op de achtergrond, want daar zitten de problemen niet. De problemen zitten hem in de politieke verhoudingen en het gekonkel wat daarop volgt. Als de magie de problemen veroorzaakt, dan zie je het ook veel meer terug in een boek.

Karakters:
Elezaar vind ik erg leuk. Hij worstelt om te overleven en weet dat zijn grootste kansen bij Marla liggen, dus doet hij er alles aan om voor haar onmisbaar te worden. De manier waarop hij dat doet, vind ik geniaal. Hij is degene die haar haar eigen kracht laat ontdekken.

De groei die Marla doormaakt vind ik erg interessant en daarom is zij toch een van mijn meest favoriete karakters. Hoewel ik Laran geweldig vind, is hij als karakter eigenlijk niet zo interessant. Hij is té goed, er zit eigenlijk geen deukje in en dat is jammer. Het egoïstische en zeker in het begin het bijna misdadig naïeve van Marla is veel interessanter.

Alija vond ik eigenlijk ook een erg interessant karakter. Zo vals als wat, maar wel op een zeer geloofwaardige manier. Hoe ze haar man bespeelt is meesterlijk. Wat een ei.

Wrayan is voor mij het meest interessante karakter en ik had hem graag nog wat meer gezien. De verwikkelingen rondom hem zijn ook de meest magische uit het boek, misschien dat dat ook een beetje meespeelt. Ik ben tenslotte niet voor niets fantasyfan. Brakandaran hoort daar natuurlijk ook bij. Hoe hij Alija op haar nummer zet vind ik geweldig!

De schrijfstijl is vlot: ik vloog door dit boek heen.
… (mais)