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trintrin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
The most paradoxical book ever. So very interesting, yet so very boring. The writing is good, and simultaneously bad. Decent plot, unimpressive characters. Intriguing world building, bland romance. Binge it for several hours, forget about it for months on end.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been reading it for a long, long time. Maybe it’s the excessive praise people have for the series, creating an unrealistically high expectation. Maybe it’s got to do with the author’s fascination in describing Sabriel’s breasts and nakedness at every opportunity. But I can’t really see what makes people rave about this series to this extent.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been reading it for a long, long time. Maybe it’s the excessive praise people have for the series, creating an unrealistically high expectation. Maybe it’s got to do with the author’s fascination in describing Sabriel’s breasts and nakedness at every opportunity. But I can’t really see what makes people rave about this series to this extent.
I wanted to love the book, I really did, but it failed to click with me. There are plenty of fantasy novels out there with better characters, writing, world-building, and romance. The characters were one-dimensional and their motives were unclear. The protagonist keeps swaying from knowing nothing about anything and having zero experience, to beating every hurdle in the path and every force of evil ever. Because destiny. The writing felt like it was trying too hard to be intimidating that it came off as condescending at times. The world building was such a near-miss. Why create something as intriguing as necromancy and Charter magic and the thing with the bells, only to thrust the reader into it instead of explaining it properly? The “romance” that came out of nowhere can barely be called a friendship. Acquaintances at best.
I can acknowledge it’s probably because this book was written in the 90’s where there weren’t too many fantasy books with a female main character and romance, but is that a valid excuse? Shouldn’t a good book stand the test of time, regardless of when it was written?
Audiobook is great, though. For that, and for the fact that I have a cautious hope that it will get better with the next book, I’ll nudge the rating up a star.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content, Slavery, Vomit, and Sexual harassment
darwin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual harassment