Graham Downs reviewed The Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn
Review of 'The Iron Butterfly' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This was a decent enough story, and the ending was a bit surprising. But, something was off.
The book is supposed to be set in a fantasy world, but the language simply didn't support it. Words and idioms were used that quite simply would never have been used in those days (like someone being "thrown under the bus"), and concepts, such as electric current, are mentioned, without any explanation as to how the technology would be available, much less commonplace.
Furthermore, Thalia (our heroin), is an impetuous, vindictive, and melodramatic child, who takes every little slight as the end of the world. Yes, she's only seventeen years old, but I can barely imagine a seventeen year old, today, behaving as immaturely as she does. In the typical medieval fantasy world, there's just no way she would possibly survive as long as she has by the time we meet her.
As …
This was a decent enough story, and the ending was a bit surprising. But, something was off.
The book is supposed to be set in a fantasy world, but the language simply didn't support it. Words and idioms were used that quite simply would never have been used in those days (like someone being "thrown under the bus"), and concepts, such as electric current, are mentioned, without any explanation as to how the technology would be available, much less commonplace.
Furthermore, Thalia (our heroin), is an impetuous, vindictive, and melodramatic child, who takes every little slight as the end of the world. Yes, she's only seventeen years old, but I can barely imagine a seventeen year old, today, behaving as immaturely as she does. In the typical medieval fantasy world, there's just no way she would possibly survive as long as she has by the time we meet her.
As yes, a medieval level of technology, like it or not, has become the default assumption for a fantasy story, unless the book explains otherwise. It doesn't.
Much of the story is supposed to be against the backdrop of a distinguished college for those with inborn magical abilities, but other than the occasional mention of someone performing magic, the language and other descriptions used makes it difficult for me to believe that it's not any other typical American college campus (and yes, the word "campus" is used more than once).
One thing that I can say is that I do respect that the author is a Christian, and therefore there is only one God in the world, and people pray to Him. That is refreshing, but I think that because of that fact, Hahn could have gone to a little bit more trouble of introducing the religion of the world, and how it all fits in with Christianity... or leave religion out entirely: there are plenty of really good fantasy tales where religion doesn't play any part at all.
All in all, it was a somewhat entertaining story, although as other reviews have pointed out, there isn't any real closure, and the book is just a set-up for the next instalment in the series. The problem is, I didn't enjoy it enough to want to read the next instalment.
