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dragoninwinterfell's Reviews (147)
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
With Stronghold, Melanie Rawn takes the characters she beautifully established in the first three novels and has them face off with a brutal new threat that fits with the established universe while also feeling fresh and new.
Though many of the enemies and threats that hindered Rohan, Sioned, Pol, and their family and friends have been dealt with, not everything is perfect on the Continent. There are still other rivalries, personal difficulties, and the natural complications of ruling for the characters to juggle. Those complications are exasperated by the invasion of the Vellant'im who are pursuing vengeance for wrongs done generations before. There are many payoffs to dynamics, both good and bad, set up in the last trilogy as some characters side with the invaders for their own ends while many have reason to remain loyal to Rohan, Sioned, and Pol due to decades of earned loyalty. In addition to that, even allies have different views from each other on how the invasion should be handled, deepening the conflict even further. The way Rawn blends together the established and new conflicts makes the story feel so real.
While the previous three novels put the main characters through heavy struggles and featured major character deaths, Stronghold felt even heavier. I can't tell if the tone is darker or if it's because I've read through decades of these characters' lives at this point, so everything that happens hits harder.
I wouldn't recommend starting the series from here even though Stronghold is technically the first novel in the Dragon Star trilogy, which is the sequel series of Dragon Prince. Each book builds off of the events and character arcs of the other. But the books leading up to this one are nearly as good.
Though many of the enemies and threats that hindered Rohan, Sioned, Pol, and their family and friends have been dealt with, not everything is perfect on the Continent. There are still other rivalries, personal difficulties, and the natural complications of ruling for the characters to juggle. Those complications are exasperated by the invasion of the Vellant'im who are pursuing vengeance for wrongs done generations before. There are many payoffs to dynamics, both good and bad, set up in the last trilogy as some characters side with the invaders for their own ends while many have reason to remain loyal to Rohan, Sioned, and Pol due to decades of earned loyalty. In addition to that, even allies have different views from each other on how the invasion should be handled, deepening the conflict even further. The way Rawn blends together the established and new conflicts makes the story feel so real.
While the previous three novels put the main characters through heavy struggles and featured major character deaths, Stronghold felt even heavier. I can't tell if the tone is darker or if it's because I've read through decades of these characters' lives at this point, so everything that happens hits harder.
I wouldn't recommend starting the series from here even though Stronghold is technically the first novel in the Dragon Star trilogy, which is the sequel series of Dragon Prince. Each book builds off of the events and character arcs of the other. But the books leading up to this one are nearly as good.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The premise of this book is incredibly promising. In this urban fantasy, magical families co-exist under an uneasy truce as they each shore up their spheres of power and influence. The protagonist, Emiko Soong has a dark troubled past. She once served as the Blade of the Soong Clan but that came to a bloody end as she became the Butcher of Beijing. The story picks up with her living a somewhat ordinary life in San Francisco. Despite trying to keep her head down and luve an average life, the political intrigues and magical threats contine to intrude on her life.
This should be fascinating. I particularly lived the world building and the way magic is woven into the modern world. The problem is with the execution. It felt like most of the book was exposition. Instead of living in this magical modern world, we're given dry instruction on it. Instead of getting to know the characters as they navigate through the story, we get info dumps on them. This really harmed the pacing, especially in moments that should have been high tension since those moments would be inflated with dumps of information that removed all urgency. It was difficult to care about the characters or their plight when the narrative treated even the most dangerous situations as though they were casual interruptions to the info dumping.
Again, I loved the premise and the world building. I might look into the sequel if only for that.
Thank you to Tor, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This should be fascinating. I particularly lived the world building and the way magic is woven into the modern world. The problem is with the execution. It felt like most of the book was exposition. Instead of living in this magical modern world, we're given dry instruction on it. Instead of getting to know the characters as they navigate through the story, we get info dumps on them. This really harmed the pacing, especially in moments that should have been high tension since those moments would be inflated with dumps of information that removed all urgency. It was difficult to care about the characters or their plight when the narrative treated even the most dangerous situations as though they were casual interruptions to the info dumping.
Again, I loved the premise and the world building. I might look into the sequel if only for that.
Thank you to Tor, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book is a run romp and a surprisingly in depth character study rare in fantasy works. The story centers on John, a man from a futuristic Earth who wakes up with amnesia in an alternate version of Medieval England. The mystery of who John was drives the story in very interesting ways as he keeps coming to the wrong conclusions, but pushing himself to grow beyond the man he was before the events of the novel.
I wanted to like this book so badly, but the characters had no personalities and no arcs where they developed in any meaningful way. A series of events simply occurred with beautiful descriptions and interesting world building thrown in. The best part of the story was the author's note where she described her influences and research as well as her intentions for the story. Basically, she fell in love with African mythology, culture, and history, so she threw as much of that in as possible. That decision could have been an excellent one had the characters not been neglected in the process. I would also argue that the ton of world building incorporated into the book wasn't fully developed either. It was just a series of very interesting concepts that didn't get fully explored. That might change in the sequel, but I'm not invested in the characters enough to find out.
The most important parts of any book for me are the characters. This trilogy features a large cast of very unique characters who are brimming with personality, flaws, virtues, vices, pridefulness, insecurities, and humanity. The character work in this is second only to George R. R. Martin in its depth and authentic feel. MR really makes a world full of dragons and fire wielding makes them feel believable and rich as the characters are going through struggles, forming friendships, experiencing losses and hard truths, and striving toward triumph. Through each twist in the narrative, the characters are guiding the way rather than just being pushed forward with the plot. Every action has consequences and things that happen in the first novel were still strongly impacting the last.
My only complaint with the trilogy as a whole is the handling of rape. In the first novel, a character is raped, but afterward that rape is framed as though he was the rapist rather than the victim. I'm wondering if MR knew a rape had occurred but couldn't fathom the idea that a man could be raped by a woman. So she referred to it as him raping the woman who kidnapped, drugged, and forced sex on him. Since this was written decades ago, I wonder if the author's views have changed on this subject.
Changing views from different eras aside, this series has been excellent. I'm surprised I don't see it discussed more often.
My only complaint with the trilogy as a whole is the handling of rape. In the first novel, a character is raped, but afterward that rape is framed as though he was the rapist rather than the victim. I'm wondering if MR knew a rape had occurred but couldn't fathom the idea that a man could be raped by a woman. So she referred to it as him raping the woman who kidnapped, drugged, and forced sex on him. Since this was written decades ago, I wonder if the author's views have changed on this subject.
Changing views from different eras aside, this series has been excellent. I'm surprised I don't see it discussed more often.
Morgan Is My Name is far from the first Arthurian novel I've read and even far from the first novel with a heavy focus on Morgan. But somehow, Sophie Keetch managed to make the well-known details of this legendary figure feel fresh and new. The way she delved into the culture the character lived -- showing how she was formed and restrained -- gave added depth to the character that had me forgetting that she wasn't entirely the author's own creation.
I particularly loved how Morgan's development and struggle centered on the realities of life for women in her time period. While her social status gave her access to education and resources to further her interests, her ability to pursue her goals and ambitions was controlled by the men around her whether it was her stepfather or husband. This, of course, is a well-tread topic in fiction. What sets this novel's depiction of women's struggles above many others is the way the female characters were able to persevere and continue to find joy in ways that still felt realistic to the culture and universe they lived in. For example, when Morgan is sent away from home by her stepfather as a punishment, her mother -- who can't stop him -- arranges for her to be sent to a nunnery that she has a long history of providing charity to as well as a good relationship with the nuns. In this way, though she is powerless to stop her husband from doing many things, she is able to work around him in helping her daughter find a happy home that also provides her with a quality education in the subjects she's interested in. As an echo of this, Morgan must also find workarounds to pursue her interests that are within her power when she is limited by her husband. These types of situations where women had to find ways to support each other and themselves while being forced to navigate within restrictions they had no control over were very common. In showing the character dealing with struggles in this way, Morgan's story felt very real even with the magical elements.
And it goes without saying that Vanessa Kirby's narration of this was flawless. She brought a very atmospheric tone to the novel that felt otherworldly. As the series continues, I hope Kirby remains the narrator throughout.
I particularly loved how Morgan's development and struggle centered on the realities of life for women in her time period. While her social status gave her access to education and resources to further her interests, her ability to pursue her goals and ambitions was controlled by the men around her whether it was her stepfather or husband. This, of course, is a well-tread topic in fiction. What sets this novel's depiction of women's struggles above many others is the way the female characters were able to persevere and continue to find joy in ways that still felt realistic to the culture and universe they lived in. For example, when Morgan is sent away from home by her stepfather as a punishment, her mother -- who can't stop him -- arranges for her to be sent to a nunnery that she has a long history of providing charity to as well as a good relationship with the nuns. In this way, though she is powerless to stop her husband from doing many things, she is able to work around him in helping her daughter find a happy home that also provides her with a quality education in the subjects she's interested in. As an echo of this, Morgan must also find workarounds to pursue her interests that are within her power when she is limited by her husband. These types of situations where women had to find ways to support each other and themselves while being forced to navigate within restrictions they had no control over were very common. In showing the character dealing with struggles in this way, Morgan's story felt very real even with the magical elements.
And it goes without saying that Vanessa Kirby's narration of this was flawless. She brought a very atmospheric tone to the novel that felt otherworldly. As the series continues, I hope Kirby remains the narrator throughout.
I DNFed this one. It wasn't even a rage quit. I just gradually stopped going back to it until I realized that I wasn't reading it anymore when I noticed that it was still listed on my Goodreads profile.
The characters were very shallow and one-note. Nothing that happened felt like it held any weight since it was impossible for me to get attached to any of the characters. This is a real shame for me because I was excited to start this one because the cover is gorgeous and the summary sounded interesting.
The characters were very shallow and one-note. Nothing that happened felt like it held any weight since it was impossible for me to get attached to any of the characters. This is a real shame for me because I was excited to start this one because the cover is gorgeous and the summary sounded interesting.