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kilroyPrint date: 2010 (20s: 1, 50s: 2, 60s: 4, 70s: 9, 80s: 8, 90s: 7, 00s: 21, 10s: 2)
Verdict: Worth reading once, will recycle. (35/88)
As I've done more of these reviews, I've found myself starting to write them in my head before I'm actually through reading the book. The worse the book, the sooner I start writing the review. In this case I was making little mental notes to myself by about chapter 3-- which puts it almost exactly at "just good enough to bother reading" on the scale.
What a thoroughly mediocre book. It's one of those cases where the back cover copy sounds sufficiently interesting ("A shy girl adopted by griffins must struggle to retain her humanity while trying to stop a war...") but the execution is utterly lacking. Good ideas, absolutely no style. The author likes telling instead of showing and has a bad tendency to repeat herself: if I had a nickel for every time she said something about how griffins were not human/not quite like humans/something humans cannot understand I could pay for the book. Or how kings have a palpable aura of kingliness. Or fire fire fiery fire fire.
Here's what I liked about the book. The idea of griffins as creatures of living fire is neat. Bertaud's character arc is well-drawn and contains an important and well-done surprise. The very ending was not what I expected. And... that's about it. As a world-builder I want to tear my hair out-- there are three cultures in the book, each of which is defined by One Big Thing and are otherwise identical. There are only two elements, fire and earth. Most of the characters are defined by one entry in the Big Book of Cliches. The plot feels inorganic, as if it's following an externally imposed narrative rail as opposed to being defined by character choices. This book really needed a good editor; there are a lot of basic tactical writing errors that could have been prevented with a few words to the author at the right time.
I can't recommend reading the book, but here's what I would recommend. Find a plot synopsis of this book online. Then find a small child, preferably at bedtime. And tell them this story. Make up the embellishments yourself and let them play along, and the experience will probably become special in a way that reading the text just isn't.
Page count: 400 (18718 total)
Completed: 54 (25 female authors, 26 male authors, 3 anthology)
Rejected: 34 (20 male authors, 14 female authors)
Next book due: Sunday, July 10th.
Verdict: Worth reading once, will recycle. (35/88)
As I've done more of these reviews, I've found myself starting to write them in my head before I'm actually through reading the book. The worse the book, the sooner I start writing the review. In this case I was making little mental notes to myself by about chapter 3-- which puts it almost exactly at "just good enough to bother reading" on the scale.
What a thoroughly mediocre book. It's one of those cases where the back cover copy sounds sufficiently interesting ("A shy girl adopted by griffins must struggle to retain her humanity while trying to stop a war...") but the execution is utterly lacking. Good ideas, absolutely no style. The author likes telling instead of showing and has a bad tendency to repeat herself: if I had a nickel for every time she said something about how griffins were not human/not quite like humans/something humans cannot understand I could pay for the book. Or how kings have a palpable aura of kingliness. Or fire fire fiery fire fire.
Here's what I liked about the book. The idea of griffins as creatures of living fire is neat. Bertaud's character arc is well-drawn and contains an important and well-done surprise. The very ending was not what I expected. And... that's about it. As a world-builder I want to tear my hair out-- there are three cultures in the book, each of which is defined by One Big Thing and are otherwise identical. There are only two elements, fire and earth. Most of the characters are defined by one entry in the Big Book of Cliches. The plot feels inorganic, as if it's following an externally imposed narrative rail as opposed to being defined by character choices. This book really needed a good editor; there are a lot of basic tactical writing errors that could have been prevented with a few words to the author at the right time.
I can't recommend reading the book, but here's what I would recommend. Find a plot synopsis of this book online. Then find a small child, preferably at bedtime. And tell them this story. Make up the embellishments yourself and let them play along, and the experience will probably become special in a way that reading the text just isn't.
Page count: 400 (18718 total)
Completed: 54 (25 female authors, 26 male authors, 3 anthology)
Rejected: 34 (20 male authors, 14 female authors)
Next book due: Sunday, July 10th.