Reviews tagging 'Death'

Winter Moon by Mercedes Lackey

1 review

pokecol's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Strangely enjoyable. There are 3 different stories within so its hard to categorically rate them as a singular entity.
I won't say that I like any over the other because I didn't really, they were all had strengths and weaknesses. I will say that I did not expect myself to enjoy the last tale as much as I did, considering I have no love for weird modern fantasy - especially when not done well (which is all of them).
The first story I really liked for the detail of its political sociology in such a tight-knit space.
I enjoyed the second story for a really good introspection of character through Clirando.
And the last of the three was just really easy to read and flowed great from one chapter into another.
Any excessive downside was normally breezed past with the myriad of scene content the book covered making it not too difficult to ignore.
I think the first two tales speak of a more middle ground when it comes to balance, Mercedes Lackey and Tanith Lee both have an evidenced seasoning to their talents as authors, and while C.E. Murphy is not as profoundly written I felt the story had some good highs to balance out the lows making it on the same playing-field, just much more fluid.
That all as it is I definitely have the most criticisms of the 3rd tale. The strange semi-modern lingo, the weird characters which are all middle-aged police agents with cishet white man names which was hard to distinguish, the crappy "forgive family" message it goes for. The way the magic works is also pretty silly. Oh also, there was a strange and VERY regular making of characters layghing and giggling in fully strange and psychotic fashions that left many scenes feeling unnatural.
Tanith Lee's story felt extremely engaging in its start and finish and my main criticism was that the thematics of its narrative crux was 'revenge for revenge' which is a trope-bust-trope I REALLY hate, thankfully they do address that in the story's last couple chapters. Also making a need for a love interest is unnecessary but it wasn't too difficult to overlook.
Mercedes Lackey's story felt the most prepared and grounded in concept and the slow pacing was made up for by the really well done thoughtfulness of the protagonist, but the majority of the story taking place in somewhat indistinct stone-halls for the entirety of the book made it feel more mundane than it actually was.

I think they all standalone well as stories, and though I came in expecting to be only middlingly entertained, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
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