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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some good, some bad, 10 Mar 2005
In a sense this is a review of the series as a whole. I'm not going to talk about what happens, but more about the writing style in general.Recently I read the whole series, and I really enjoyed it. However, there were a few things that I felt were rather disappointing. The pace is excellent, you never have time to get bored (from what I remember of the previous series, the View from the Mirror quartet, it was a little slow moving in places). That said, I think that the story would benefit from slowing down a little in places. Some of the twists in the plot come from out of nowhere, and given the originality of the world that the action takes place in, some more description would be appreciated. Several times the characters seem to get over serious problems or inter-personal enmity rather unconvincingly quickly. As some of the other reviewers have noted, Mr Irvine keeps producing books quite quickly, which is a relief to anyone who has followed Robert Jordan or the Dark Tower series! That said, from reading this series, it didn't feel finished. I know that there is the intention to write two more series based in the same world, but unlike the View From the Mirror quartet there is practically no sense of closure to this story. It seems the next series will begin relatively soon after the events of this one. Some of the central mysteries of the story were never revealed, which I didn't like. There were also one or two textual errors which the proofreaders apparently missed, which is a shame; it suggests that the publishers didn't take a great deal of care over producing the book. One of the best things about Mr Irvine's writing is the sympathy he shows to his characters, and particularly his portrayal of both sides' point of view in a conflict. In general, this was excellent as usual. One or two of the characters sadly failed to receive this treatment here though, and as a result come across as somewhat two-dimensional without any convincing motivation for their actions. Negative comments aside, overall I enjoyed the series, and will probably read the next one. I just feel that the ending didn't match up to the promise of the start, or the quality of the previous series.
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by Ian Irvine
by Ian Irvine
by Ian Irvine
by Ian Irvine
by Ian Irvine
