This is just needlessly long, now… 

I don’t like the word ‘boring’ to describe anything as it usually says more about the person claiming boredom than the thing itself, but <i>goodness!</i> this third installation in the plodding adventure is just reams of explanation and continued additions to an already complex world build and character list. Mother-Infodumping city, this was exhausting. And the characters remain as 2-dimensional as they always have been since the start of this confustibility.

By about 30% in, trails of separate plot threads begin to draw themselves together in one solitary-but-complicated plot… and it has its moments with flashes of brilliance from a few of these numpty characters.

Methinks the issue was in the editing. Like, the author had far too many ideas drawn together in the one book series (does he have anything left for another series?), and while ‘complex’ is nice, these complexities just didn’t always work together so well and became complications more than adding to the larger finesse of the story. In my estimation, the editor needed to go at this with a hacksaw before reaching for the fine-tooth comb and styling brush…

There were a boatload of creative ideas throughout, though, and for those, and some of the twisted interesting things based on religions, I have to give Rollins kudos.

But by the time I finally reached the end, I loath to say it, but yes, this was, for the vast majority of the time, to give it a paradoxical description: a boring adventure. 

An unexpected love story (though not quite a romance) from what we, in the largely English-speaking Allied world might think of as ‘the other side’. We all do know, I hope, that there really aren’t ‘sides’—not really, not in humanity. Yet, sides are the illusion that propel this looming war in Vietnam—and the larger one raging everywhere else—drawing these beautifully tangible characters into spaces torn asunder, when their very essence should be unity, harmony, and love.

The translation is at times lyrical, and often graphic, reflecting the landscape and gathered conglomeration of humanity present in Vietnam during the WWII era.

Baldwin doesn’t so much tell a story as reach in and grab hold of your very soul and thrust you into the deepest fears and desires, transport you to places and slap you with the smells and aches and ecstasies of his characters, of bold fear-filled mothers, of self-righteous blinkered passers, of young idealist lovers, of conflicted heartbroken fathers, of young men looked (down) upon and never seen, in a nation set against every smallest peaceful pursuit of the minutest pleasures of a battered and marginalised population.

This story is as relevant now as it was when Baldwin first penned it.

A few tumultuously emotional raging and sorrowful hours of reading that if ever taken seriously might waken and transform the skewed system of the world’s so-called ‘free’ nation.

I’m straddling stars 3 and 4 with this one. I think my final assessment is a 3.8 due to the creativity of the system of magic. It’s fairly simple, but no less a highlight; anyone in possession of a card from one special deck can use the card’s magic—which sets the premise for the overarching plot: gather the cards and you possess all the power. There is a deadly catch though: a disease is killing people off throughout the kingdom, and those who survive are considered a threat for the ‘card-less’ magic that remains coursing through their veins. 

 

The creativity of this plot sets the stage for potential intrigue, action, deception, politics, and more, but the characters sabotaged this well-devised plan. Several lacked the conviction necessary to convince me they believed in themselves, while others were ghastly transparent and predictable, and a handful of paper bag wimps were altogether far too easily swayed. In essence, the characters carrying this brilliant plot along didn’t do it the justice it deserved. 

 

As for the setting, it promised castles and gloom and bridges over deep ravines between towering peaks lined by dense forest, and yet used very little of this fantasy world setting to its full advantage. Additionally subtracting from its multiple comical divisive elements, it called itself ‘Blunder’ and I don’t think that did the thing any great favour. 

 

The expected unexpected romance was all we’ve come to predict from this genre, falling back on easy to create tropes, but the execution was juvenile. If not for the voice in the darkness, this would have smacked of all the things we’ve read before (and even the internal voice wasn’t entirely new), but among its peers, it was entertaining enough—straight down the even middle of not-too-shabby and sacrificed-a-night-of-sleep-for-this (which I did not). 

 

Secondary characters (especially Ione-post-transformation and Renelm-the-jester) have a handful of classic one-liners, delightful shining moments of biting sarcasm and clear-minded wittiness. However, an increase in persiflage between the two sets of faux lovers would have been delightful. Awaiting more vituperation between Hauth and Ione in the finale… 

 

 

The audiobook narration was slightly over the top, which added to the entertainment value, though derived from its effort to be a serious contender among young adult fantasy novels, portraying the protagonists and their pancake flat evil counterparts in bright cartoon colours, not quite the eerie fog we’re associating with the cover, synopsis and plot. An internal voice living in the main character often sounded sinister, but then it came off a bit comical at times, so that in the parts where I should have been biting my fingernails to the quick, I was instead stifling a giggle. I don’t think that was the fault of the writing… 

 

The only advantage of listening to the audiobook would have been avoiding the tongue-tying and eyesore induced by the spelling of these arboretum-themed names with more y’s to phonetically interpret than a Welsh dictionary. 

Cute. 
Reads like watching anime.
Take that as you like.

Gosh, if we didn’t have these raucous, outrageous beastly ingenious whoppers of unbelievable improbable and yet highly relatable stories by the Greeks and Romans, what would the English-speaking world of fantasy writers have had to plagiarise from in the last two millennia?? 

Twisty. Just as you expect from Feeney. And it was a feminist answer to the world’s wars and political unrest, of course, she’s not necessarily saying it’s the answer, but it’s a crazy wee option. But anyways, that’s the underlying current of the thing—the story is a twisted wild ride told in the voice of two very unreliable narrators whom you simultaneously sympathise with and vehemently abhor.

From the first word, I was reeled into the drama, and by the end, as all the pieces fell into place, I was rethinking and backtracking to let hindsight settle.

The setting was both parts gorgeous and eerie, and the characters were a flipping mess, but it all worked together to make me bite off a fingernail and lose a night of sleep.

Another well-crafted ripper from Feeney.

This was … different. A bit weird, but not in a bad way. The plot was all over the place and had many wild threads blowing in the wind, but it managed to bring itself back in line by the last third.

There were some character elements and relationships that didn’t quite work for me, though I could see what the author was trying to do here. 

Definitely different. A non-stop weird fantasy adventure.

While the mystery was reasonably complex and the unravelling of all the bits was plenty entertaining, the character development has dropped off considerably. The author is falling back on development established in earlier novels, which is fine if we’ve exhausted their life-stories and backgrounds and have explored every angle of their complex individual humanity—but we haven’t yet. I feel there is way more to offer the reader, and it is skimmed over, and relationships and character depth are sacrificed for plot in this one.

Still a decent read, but not quite up to par.

My major gripe is that all these main characters and supporting cast are all so ... nice. Some of these people must have a negative thought or a selfish motive every now and again… they’re all too perfect if you ask me, and their ‘dirty little secrets’ are nothing to get up in a fuss over. I’m not asking for a grand scandal, but maybe a wee veritable secret or a past action that comes up to bite someone in the bum—or anything remotely intriguing to keep our sustained interest if this series is going to continue.