Erin reviewed Weavers of War by David B. Coe
Review of 'Weavers of War' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I wanted this last book to win me over more, but I ended up feeling pretty let down.
A good bit of battling and drama happens here. We get some character deaths, some more dramatic than others. There's a lot about this conclusion plot-wise that worked for me, and some things that didn't. But ultimately, I love a story with strong characters, and this isn't it.
There is a range with Coe's characters. There's a group of them that feel more fleshed out, who I cared about, who I felt like I knew to some degree (Keziah, Tavis, Grinsa, Aindreas, Evanthya & Fetnalla are examples). And then there were characters who were part of a generic flat blob (Hagan, Javan, Tebeo, Brall, Pronjed, Yaella, even Kearney). There were Good Soldiers and Proud Lords galore. You do have to have minor, less fleshed out characters in a story, I understand that. …
I wanted this last book to win me over more, but I ended up feeling pretty let down.
A good bit of battling and drama happens here. We get some character deaths, some more dramatic than others. There's a lot about this conclusion plot-wise that worked for me, and some things that didn't. But ultimately, I love a story with strong characters, and this isn't it.
There is a range with Coe's characters. There's a group of them that feel more fleshed out, who I cared about, who I felt like I knew to some degree (Keziah, Tavis, Grinsa, Aindreas, Evanthya & Fetnalla are examples). And then there were characters who were part of a generic flat blob (Hagan, Javan, Tebeo, Brall, Pronjed, Yaella, even Kearney). There were Good Soldiers and Proud Lords galore. You do have to have minor, less fleshed out characters in a story, I understand that. But many characters who are given significant page time throughout this series never felt as fleshed out as they should have given all that page time. I think Coe both focused on way too many characters /and/ didn't spend enough time characterizing them.
The romance is especially poor in this volume. I was never fully sold on Grinsa and Cresenne, but I was going along with it. This volume creates very sudden romances with characters that I absolutely did not buy. Book 3 had me hopeful for a Gershon/Keziah relationship, but after book 4 it was clear that wouldn't happen. What Coe does in book 5 had me like, oh no... why would you do this when Gershon was right there?
Fetnalla and Evanthya were a couple of my favorite characters, and I'm pretty satisfied with where that ended. It felt a bit amped for drama, but whatever, that's what epic fantasy is for.
There's also a lot about Tavis's arc that I enjoyed, but by this point Coe had neglected him so much in favor of the many, many other characters that it was hard to care. When a character doesn't show up in the book for hundreds of pages, my connection to them fades.
I finished this book sort of out of obligation to finish the series. The first book was really excellent, but it increasingly lost its way for me after that. While a lot of reviewers found the glacial pace frustrating, that wasn't really my problem. I didn't mind the slow progression of plot - I just wish I had more characters I really loved or hated. I don't think I'll read more by Coe since this is his style!