I really wanted to like this book, but it was a major disappointment. Let me tell you why.
The setting is the same as the previous books, mostly taking place in the capital city. The difference is that in this case the main character isn’t a mortal, but actually one of the godlings, Sieh. He is the oldest and the first. I was actually excited to read from his point of view, because I liked him a lot in the first book.
It’s hard to talk about this book without spoiling the major plot point, but I’ll try. He meets two children by chance, a brother and sister, both Arameri. He meets them several times, at a few points in their lives, until an incident happens that changes his life forever. Now, you may think this is a start of a great adventure of self-discovery. Herein lies my problem with the story.
Things do happen. Here and there. In between those sporadic events though are lots and lots and lots and … did I mention … a lot of thinking. And talking. Then more thinking and talking. Then an event, and then some more thinking and talking. It’s mostly philosophical contemplation on gods, eternity, and probably a whole lot of things I don’t remember, because I was so bored I couldn’t pay attention to it. I’m not a big fan of philosophy, frankly. I took two classes at university, and I almost failed both of them because I completely misunderstood most of the material.
The first book had a good amount of action, and some thinking. The next book had more thinking, less action, and while I found it hard to get through sometimes, I managed. This, I couldn’t. I was at 60%, and I just couldn’t go on. I turned to the ending, read it, and I’m finally done with it. They did mention some interesting events that I didn’t read about, but frankly, I don’t feel like digging through all that thinking just to get to the more interesting bits.
There lies the problem, well, at least, for people like me. The world is interesting, but it feels like the author fell in love with it too much. They contemplated all these things while writing the book, and just had to put all of their thoughts on it into it. Some of the ideas are interesting, sort of, to a point. However, often the same subject is mulled over ad nauseam. I didn’t set out to read a philosophy book, and frankly, I felt cheated. What I wanted to read was an exciting adventure with colourful characters that were modern and with a wide range of personalities, sexualities and backgrounds. Also, some contemplation. Similar to the previous books. That’s not what this is. Seriously, if 1/3 of the book was taken out, it would be much easier to read.
I usually tell you about the characters in my review. In the 60% I read it was mostly about Sieh. While he was colourful and interesting before, in this book he was mostly annoying. Moaning about his lot in life, things he couldn't do, ... Not his usually bright self.
Overall, if you are the kind of person who reads non-fiction books mostly on philosophy, you’ll like the book. If you’re not, then you’ll probably have a hard time getting through this one, and frankly, the ending wasn’t that cathartic. It was an okay ending, but didn’t give me a thrill. It’s sad, because I really enjoyed the first book, and I wanted it to be one of the best trilogies ever. It just made me feel disappointed.
I also know that this review is not up to my usual standard, but I don't have much to say about the actual content of this book. I could never remember much of things that didn't interest me, and most of this book falls under that category.
No comments:
Post a Comment