I loved this book just as I expected when I read the synopsis and discovered that the book involved linguistics and dragons. (My interest definitely lie in the full-blown nerd category.) This book uses alternate history complete with an alternative Bletchley Park and a rigid class system enforced through society-wide brainwashing and subtle threats. I look forward to the sequel.
This companion sequel followed many of the same tropes that worked in The Spellshop. Unfortunately, this one fell just short of its predecessor. I liked the protagonist but never really gelled with her love interest. Since this book takes place on an isolated island, the male and female main characters make up the only human characters for the majority of the narrative. Without other personalities to bounce off of, the character development fell flat. I’m still interested in reading more from this author.
This book dealt with some incredibly tragic and heavy issues yet the narrative had no weight. The narrative opens with the tragic death of the main character’s best friend on her birthday yet the character only mentions aspects of her grief in ways that evoke telling without showing. I wish that the author had given this character more depth as well as the rest of the story.
I have no idea why I continued reading this book save for the fact that I was sick and did not feel like expending any more mental energy on another book. I wish that this one had chosen a direction – and narrator – and stuck with it. I also wish that the author would have chosen a lane of either magical realism or fantasy or even historical fiction. This narrative existed in no man’s land between them. At least I finally got this book off my audio tbr.
I continue to thoroughly enjoy this series as well as experience the frustration that comes from the difficulty of crafting a review of a fourth book in a series. De Castell has done masterful work with the character development of Kellen, clearly evident in this story. The only bad thing now is the fact that I forgot to include book five on my overloaded September TBR so I will have to wait to reenter this world.
I really looked forward to this book after the unexpected hit – for me – of Poranek’s debut Where the Dark Stands Still. I found this tory compelling and engaged with the main character but something kept me at arms length from full engagement with the narrative and I’m not sure why. Thankfully, I enjoyed the book enough – according to my own criteria – to keep the beautiful special edition in my library.
