talesoftheraven's review against another edition
5.0
As always, Melanie Rawn impresses me with the depth of her characters. This book is set up like her collaborative effort "The Golden Key", and is just as wonderful.
metaphorosis's review against another edition
3.0
I encountered Melanie Rawn via her debut novel, [b:Dragon Prince|185289|Dragon Prince (Dragon Prince, #1)|Melanie Rawn|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309210730s/185289.jpg|1298638], and was thrilled to find her bringing fantasy romance to life as few but [a:Mary Stewart|15590|Mary Stewart|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1210367214p2/15590.jpg] and [a:M.K. Wren|2845294|M.K. Wren|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1328962435p2/2845294.jpg] have managed to do. I devoured that thick book, the rest of that trilogy, and the successor [b:Dragon Star|257321|Stronghold (Dragon Star, #1)|Melanie Rawn|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348253077s/257321.jpg|249398] trilogy. I picked up the first two books of the [b:Exiles|185292|The Ruins of Ambrai (Exiles, #1)|Melanie Rawn|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327903388s/185292.jpg|1298639] trilogy as soon as they came out, and have been waiting in frustration for [b:The Captal's Tower|8564208|The Captal's Tower (Exiles, #3)|Melanie Rawn|/assets/nocover/60x80.png|328260] ever since (over 15 years now, in case you think I'm impatient).
I picked up her collaboration [b:The Golden Key|257333|The Golden Key|Melanie Rawn|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1321263780s/257333.jpg|16050] (with [a:Kate Elliott|8660|Kate Elliott|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1234969697p2/8660.jpg] and [a:Jennifer Roberson|8659|Jennifer Roberson|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1223871478p2/8659.jpg]), but didn't think much of it. Still, when I saw this book in a discount store, I picked it up, thinking "Hey, she hasn't written the book I'm waiting for, but she's still writing. Let's see what there is."
The Diviner is a solo-author prequel to The Golden Key. It's placed in a faux Middle-Eastern setting that's alternately nicely and awkwardly handled. The story purports to describe cultures with powerful females, but sees them through the eyes of three generations of men, who also seem to do pretty well for themselves.
Rawn remains a good stylist, and the three viewpoint characters are nicely distinct. At the same time, the book is choppy and in some places cursory. Dramatic actions come and go, and while I give Rawn credit for focusing more on people than events, these are the people leading or causing the events, and it sometimes feels like they're not paying attention. The book would also have benefited greatly from a map. There are so many tribes, names, and places mentioned that it's hard to keep track of, especially since I, at least, couldn't line them up with real places. A genealogical chart would have helped too - I also had trouble remembering who was related to whom, and eventually gave up.
Finally, near the every end of the book, we get to the set up for The Golden Key. This part was genuinely interesting, but it felt like the other 300 pages were a vastly overextended lead in. I give Ms. Rawn credit for trying to make the story stand on its own, and be more than just a prequel. For me, it didn't really work. The other material just wasn't interesting enough. The very end of the story provides a decent wrapup that strengthens this as a standalone novel, but it's not sufficient. I strongly recommend reading The Golden Key in advance if you want to get full value from The Diviner.
Overall, nicely written, but not tremendously engaging. If you loved The Golden Key, you'll want to read this. Otherwise, this is interesting but not really recommended.
I picked up her collaboration [b:The Golden Key|257333|The Golden Key|Melanie Rawn|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1321263780s/257333.jpg|16050] (with [a:Kate Elliott|8660|Kate Elliott|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1234969697p2/8660.jpg] and [a:Jennifer Roberson|8659|Jennifer Roberson|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1223871478p2/8659.jpg]), but didn't think much of it. Still, when I saw this book in a discount store, I picked it up, thinking "Hey, she hasn't written the book I'm waiting for, but she's still writing. Let's see what there is."
The Diviner is a solo-author prequel to The Golden Key. It's placed in a faux Middle-Eastern setting that's alternately nicely and awkwardly handled. The story purports to describe cultures with powerful females, but sees them through the eyes of three generations of men, who also seem to do pretty well for themselves.
Rawn remains a good stylist, and the three viewpoint characters are nicely distinct. At the same time, the book is choppy and in some places cursory. Dramatic actions come and go, and while I give Rawn credit for focusing more on people than events, these are the people leading or causing the events, and it sometimes feels like they're not paying attention. The book would also have benefited greatly from a map. There are so many tribes, names, and places mentioned that it's hard to keep track of, especially since I, at least, couldn't line them up with real places. A genealogical chart would have helped too - I also had trouble remembering who was related to whom, and eventually gave up.
Finally, near the every end of the book, we get to the set up for The Golden Key. This part was genuinely interesting, but it felt like the other 300 pages were a vastly overextended lead in. I give Ms. Rawn credit for trying to make the story stand on its own, and be more than just a prequel. For me, it didn't really work. The other material just wasn't interesting enough. The very end of the story provides a decent wrapup that strengthens this as a standalone novel, but it's not sufficient. I strongly recommend reading The Golden Key in advance if you want to get full value from The Diviner.
Overall, nicely written, but not tremendously engaging. If you loved The Golden Key, you'll want to read this. Otherwise, this is interesting but not really recommended.
csarakas's review against another edition
2.0
For me, The Diviner fell short, in part, because of the love I have for the Sunrunner books. I know that Melanie Rawn can write huge, cast-of-thousands, heartwrenching, gutpunching, soul-soaring books... and this fell lamentably short of the heights she has achieved before.
The writing here is solid; the world-building is excellent. The trouble is that the characters are just ... words on a page. They never come to life for me. It reads as an interesting history, and I enjoyed the cultural creation and setting very much (I am so done with the pseudo-European settings for high fantasy), but as a whole, it just never grabbed me. This is unfortunate as I very much enjoyed the first part of the book.
Possibly spoiler alert (no names mentioned, but details)... There are a couple of character deaths, and instead of feeling those deaths were shocking or sad, I just felt annoyance because she was changing horses mid-stream and not continuing on with the story I was interested and invested in. Honestly, I think she could have written this story in greater detail, possibly even over two books, and done so much better. She would have had time to give us the emotional layers and nuances that she has done so well at in other stories.
The writing here is solid; the world-building is excellent. The trouble is that the characters are just ... words on a page. They never come to life for me. It reads as an interesting history, and I enjoyed the cultural creation and setting very much (I am so done with the pseudo-European settings for high fantasy), but as a whole, it just never grabbed me. This is unfortunate as I very much enjoyed the first part of the book.
Possibly spoiler alert (no names mentioned, but details)... There are a couple of character deaths, and instead of feeling those deaths were shocking or sad, I just felt annoyance because she was changing horses mid-stream and not continuing on with the story I was interested and invested in. Honestly, I think she could have written this story in greater detail, possibly even over two books, and done so much better. She would have had time to give us the emotional layers and nuances that she has done so well at in other stories.
lanikei's review
3.0
From any other author this would probably have gotten another star. But Melanie Rawn has set my sights so high for her work that when it falters, I hold her much more accountable. That said, this is leaps and bounds better than the last couple of books she's written and I hope she's learned that she needs to stick to the high fantasy stuff and drop her recent attempts at paranormal romance.
I had no idea this book had come out, and didn't even bother reading a summary when I saw it on the Kindle. So imagine my surprise when I started recognizing little elements of a favorite book of mine, [b:The Golden Key|257333|The Golden Key|Melanie Rawn|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1321263780s/257333.jpg|16050]. At first I thought that Rawn was just lazy and was annoyed by her cribbing elements from another story until it slowly became more apparent that this is actually a prequel! This is what I get for giving up on Rawn ever following up with any of her previous works (now where's The Captal's Tower?).
Rawn's real strength is in building a world, and she does a great job with this one. The "Bedouin" shtick is a nice change from the pseudo-European setting of most similar fantasy. And as she's done in some of her more recent books, Rawn plays with gender roles in the society she creates.
Unfortunately, as other reviewers have pointed out, the characters are not necessarily very likable. The book is spread across a dynasty of a few generations, and while the original patriarch develops into an interesting character you can respect, his son just seems to get more deplorable over time. The author at a certain point seems to get tripped up in the political web she's weaving and the alliance/marriage/baby list gets a little long and over-bearing.
I'm excited to see Rawn returning to stories I might conceivably care about, and I'm willing to grant her this one as a "warm up" to bigger and better things.
I had no idea this book had come out, and didn't even bother reading a summary when I saw it on the Kindle. So imagine my surprise when I started recognizing little elements of a favorite book of mine, [b:The Golden Key|257333|The Golden Key|Melanie Rawn|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1321263780s/257333.jpg|16050]. At first I thought that Rawn was just lazy and was annoyed by her cribbing elements from another story until it slowly became more apparent that this is actually a prequel! This is what I get for giving up on Rawn ever following up with any of her previous works (now where's The Captal's Tower?).
Rawn's real strength is in building a world, and she does a great job with this one. The "Bedouin" shtick is a nice change from the pseudo-European setting of most similar fantasy. And as she's done in some of her more recent books, Rawn plays with gender roles in the society she creates.
Unfortunately, as other reviewers have pointed out, the characters are not necessarily very likable. The book is spread across a dynasty of a few generations, and while the original patriarch develops into an interesting character you can respect, his son just seems to get more deplorable over time. The author at a certain point seems to get tripped up in the political web she's weaving and the alliance/marriage/baby list gets a little long and over-bearing.
I'm excited to see Rawn returning to stories I might conceivably care about, and I'm willing to grant her this one as a "warm up" to bigger and better things.
mononoke's review
4.0
I enjoyed this but was left confused at times, having read the Golden Key it was good to get some more background though I still felt there was something missing.
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