Review - The Fall of the Kings
Apr. 29th, 2009 01:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wilderthanThe Fall of the Kings is set in the same world as Swordspoint and The Privilege of the Sword. However, it's a very different kind of story. The really personal focus, the sense that this story matters most to the people involved in it, is gone, and now there's a more far-reaching plot about scholarship, politics, monarchy, magic and restoration. This time there's a co-author: Ellen Kushner's wife, Delia Sherman.
Having read Swordspoint and The Privilege of the Sword, I didn't know exactly how I felt about them. They were fun, but... And then reading this, I decided that I liked those a lot, and didn't like this so much. It's hard to pinpoint why. I like the way things grew out of the original two books -- the madness of the kings, the madness that ran in Alec's family, is interesting. The fate of Alec's child is also interesting. The fact that such a lot of background to the world is also filled in is good in its way. I like worldbuilding.
This, though, felt too wordy. It dragged and I stalled on reading it several times. It didn't flow as well, and it felt as if there were several infodumps. It's also less exciting and flowing a story, since it's written about a scholar and not a swordsman (or swordswoman). The mystical scenes and dreams seemed slightly... overblown, I guess. But I generally find mysticism overblown, so that's probably a rather personal judgement. I didn't find the characters all that absorbing -- which is an argument I've felt about all of these books, gaining my affection for the characters only after reading. I felt it particularly in this book, in that I didn't just find the characters difficult to like, I wanted to slap most of them outright. I liked Jessica, though, because she was lively and straight-forward and different.
The plot itself is intriguing, the characters could be, it's just the execution that makes it difficult for me. I did love the end, actually. I was wondering how things could possibly come out okay, and then they just... didn't.
If you're expecting a second Swordspoint, you'll be disappointed.
Having read Swordspoint and The Privilege of the Sword, I didn't know exactly how I felt about them. They were fun, but... And then reading this, I decided that I liked those a lot, and didn't like this so much. It's hard to pinpoint why. I like the way things grew out of the original two books -- the madness of the kings, the madness that ran in Alec's family, is interesting. The fate of Alec's child is also interesting. The fact that such a lot of background to the world is also filled in is good in its way. I like worldbuilding.
This, though, felt too wordy. It dragged and I stalled on reading it several times. It didn't flow as well, and it felt as if there were several infodumps. It's also less exciting and flowing a story, since it's written about a scholar and not a swordsman (or swordswoman). The mystical scenes and dreams seemed slightly... overblown, I guess. But I generally find mysticism overblown, so that's probably a rather personal judgement. I didn't find the characters all that absorbing -- which is an argument I've felt about all of these books, gaining my affection for the characters only after reading. I felt it particularly in this book, in that I didn't just find the characters difficult to like, I wanted to slap most of them outright. I liked Jessica, though, because she was lively and straight-forward and different.
The plot itself is intriguing, the characters could be, it's just the execution that makes it difficult for me. I did love the end, actually. I was wondering how things could possibly come out okay, and then they just... didn't.
If you're expecting a second Swordspoint, you'll be disappointed.
