arr reviewed Child of a Dead God by Barb Hendee (Noble Dead (6))
Review of 'Child of a Dead God' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
In my review of the fourth book of this series, I already outlined my basic summation of the entire series' strengths and weaknesses. The strengths being its ability to avoid the majority of pitfalls of the TWO overdone genres from which it hails and the subtle depiction of the major relationships. The weaknesses being the general mediocrity of both prose and subject matter.
In this book, these things don't really change, but a new weakness rears up. Namely, pacing. I can be wildly forgiving about pacing as a general problem in narratives. Indeed, on the list of sins it's not exactly absent for me, but it's the least severe. It's also the one that I can most easily overlook. However, that can't really happen when it a story builds and builds but never reaches a climax.
The issue with this book is not that it didn't follow the storylines set …
In my review of the fourth book of this series, I already outlined my basic summation of the entire series' strengths and weaknesses. The strengths being its ability to avoid the majority of pitfalls of the TWO overdone genres from which it hails and the subtle depiction of the major relationships. The weaknesses being the general mediocrity of both prose and subject matter.
In this book, these things don't really change, but a new weakness rears up. Namely, pacing. I can be wildly forgiving about pacing as a general problem in narratives. Indeed, on the list of sins it's not exactly absent for me, but it's the least severe. It's also the one that I can most easily overlook. However, that can't really happen when it a story builds and builds but never reaches a climax.
The issue with this book is not that it didn't follow the storylines set out and not that I even disliked the ending. I didn't. It had a certain amount of emotional payoff, at least. But it wasn't really an ending. Essentially, it made it feel as though these six books had just been a prelude, and the promised great war in which Magiere and Leesil are destined to play major roles never comes. In fact, the book nearly ends on a cliffhanger as Magiere and Leesil more or less head off on yet another journey with no end in sight. Except given that this is the last book in this series, you're left hanging regarding what will become of them.
As far as I can tell the follow-up series, beginning with [b:In Shade and Shadow|3487348|In Shade and Shadow (Noble Dead, Series 2, Book 1)|Barb Hendee|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51qlFljg6qL.SL75.jpg|3528770], is about the third main character from this series, the sage, Wynn. Unfortunately, the problem inherent in that is that over the course of [b:Rebel Fay|51429|Rebel Fay (Noble Dead, Series 1, Book 5)|Barb Hendee|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170379431s/51429.jpg|50193] and [b:Child of a Dead God|1145177|Child of a Dead God (Noble Dead, Series 1, Book 6)|Barb Hendee|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1216403622s/1145177.jpg|1132624], Wynn became increasingly irritating with her penchant for endlessly disappearing into trouble as soon as anyone took their eyes off of her. This was after already having been the least interesting character.
In addition, though it wasn't something I necessarily felt in earlier books, the authors' depiction of Wynn eventually began to lean towards a little too precious. There was a little too much of "Oh, she is so tiny and fragile and everyone wants to protect her." and not enough of the brief attempts to toughen her up or hold her accountable for her actions that had been present before. Too often she would do things against which she had been counseled and then everyone would have to rush off to save her. It was clear that this became an easy plot-mover for the Hendees given that she would often stumble right into whatever they were looking for, but it doesn't endear Wynn to the reader.
I didn't necessarily see the "dumbifying" of Magiere and Leesil to further push Wynn's sage intellect and knowledge that some other readers saw, but I did see that she usually got heaped with the majority of exposition, which made them recede and take the role of questioners in some moments where it seemed like they should be more actively involved in the reasoning. Another thing making them recede was that in the last two books they were often confronted with people whose language only Wynn spoke and understood. In addition, some of the efforts to give Wynn sass made her come off as snappish with Leesil and Magiere, which again, did not endear her given that whatever she was irritated about always seemed to pale in comparison to her CONSTANTLY RUNNING OFF AND NEEDING TO BE RESCUED, with the final effect being somewhat like the other characters were babysitting a precocious and petulant child.
Ultimately, I found myself hunkering down every time it switched to her POV as I waited to get back to Magiere or Leesil (slightly less so Chap given that he was usually bound at the hip to Wynn). So, all that said, I'm just not sure how interested I am in her starring in the next series. Particularly since Magiere, Leesil, and Chap's adventure is clearly only just beginning, and given the choice whether to follow them or Wynn, I would choose the former every time.
BUT, getting back to this book, it has no ending, really. Just a lead-off into something interesting that we won't get to see any time soon.