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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Seems to drag on like the march to the homeland. Super vague on why anyone does anything. A lot of sudden magical mastery and conveniences and throwing out of character personality or motivation that culminates in wtf.
This is a bit of a return to form for Nicholson’s weird episodic plotting of almost little fables, and it’s actually quite disappointing after the tightness of book 2 and then doesn’t have quite the same whimsy as book 1.
He also doesn’t seem to have a clear idea of how old Pinto actually is, but it’s not seven (seven!!) and that’s particularly jarring. I don’t know what to even say about the Captain. My favourite part about this was always Rufy Blesh and that still kind of makes me want to bawl. That poem!! Some good highlights but overall kind of a a weird disjointed end to the series.
He also doesn’t seem to have a clear idea of how old Pinto actually is, but it’s not seven (seven!!) and that’s particularly jarring. I don’t know what to even say about the Captain. My favourite part about this was always Rufy Blesh and that still kind of makes me want to bawl. That poem!! Some good highlights but overall kind of a a weird disjointed end to the series.
I choose to believe that Mist’s name is German and not English
I remember really enjoying (and being slightly scared of) this trilogy when I read them as a child. Reading them again as an adult though I didn't feel the same way. While I generally enjoyed them, I found them to be quite confusing in places, while events were often not very believable or narratively impactful (some elements, like the kidnapping in book 3 just felt like side quests, while genuinely interesting and scary concepts like the old children never returned after book 1 so were never explained). This was probably partly because the worldbuilding was very soft, which I think was the intention, but I'm not a huge fan of that and it meant I couldn't get hugely connected to the world. That wasn't helped by the use of the omniscient narrative voice, which I'm also not a fan of as a general rule. I'm glad I re-read them, but unfortunately they're not quite as I remembered and I'll try to keep remembering my original view of them.
Final Rating: 3.5/5
First 3/4 of the book: 4/5
Last 1/4 of the book: 3/5
I listened to this book on Audible.
I was really excited about this book. The Slaves of the Mastery was excellent and easily a 5 star read, and I was looking forward to Bowman and Kestrel's stories being finished and tied up. Things had been set up in the previous book for a great end to the trilogy. And it was really good, at first.
Firesong starts with the Manth people on a pilgrimage through the wilderness to their homeland, they had issues such as food and water shortages and they get attacked by bandits. There is some great character development, with the teenagers realising they need to act like adults and the young children growing up into teenagers far too quickly. Their struggles are real and half way relatable (given it's a fantasy book), and I felt real fear for them at some point.
Throughout the series there was this build up to this great thing that Bowman was going to do, involving saving his people and becoming a Singer. I thought it was going to be epic and exciting and a great finale.
But it was a real let down. I had managed to follow the theory and the magic up until the last quarter of the book. Then it got confusing and strange and everything felt a bit rushed. There was danger again to the Manth people, but it didn't feel all that real. Suddenly the world was ending for some reason that felt tenuous at best. And how it was saved was confusing and convoluted and I found it hard to follow. The ending was disappointing, which is such a shame because the rest of the series was so good.
First 3/4 of the book: 4/5
Last 1/4 of the book: 3/5
I listened to this book on Audible.
I was really excited about this book. The Slaves of the Mastery was excellent and easily a 5 star read, and I was looking forward to Bowman and Kestrel's stories being finished and tied up. Things had been set up in the previous book for a great end to the trilogy. And it was really good, at first.
Firesong starts with the Manth people on a pilgrimage through the wilderness to their homeland, they had issues such as food and water shortages and they get attacked by bandits. There is some great character development, with the teenagers realising they need to act like adults and the young children growing up into teenagers far too quickly. Their struggles are real and half way relatable (given it's a fantasy book), and I felt real fear for them at some point.
Throughout the series there was this build up to this great thing that Bowman was going to do, involving saving his people and becoming a Singer. I thought it was going to be epic and exciting and a great finale.
But it was a real let down. I had managed to follow the theory and the magic up until the last quarter of the book. Then it got confusing and strange and everything felt a bit rushed. There was danger again to the Manth people, but it didn't feel all that real. Suddenly the world was ending for some reason that felt tenuous at best. And how it was saved was confusing and convoluted and I found it hard to follow. The ending was disappointing, which is such a shame because the rest of the series was so good.
I read these through 2007 and finished the third book in March 2008. These books are one of the few series of YA fantasy I can think of that are UNIQUE. I'd never read anything like them. Nicholson creates a really intriguing world, and keeps adding interesting new elements in each book. He also has great skill at choosing character names!
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
All in all, Wind on Fire is a good trilogy, and I enjoyed reading it. I think I liked the second book, the best out of all three books, but they were all good. In the third book, Firesong, we follow the Manth people on their journey to their homeland. It was not the easiest of the journey as things do naturally come up making the journey difficult.
The one thing that bothered me was the Mumpo and Pinto relationship. It's was just weird to me.
The one thing that bothered me was the Mumpo and Pinto relationship. It's was just weird to me.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The final outing from this rather lovely series that makes me feel totally nostalgic for my early teens! I really enjoy Nicholson's humour and emotion as he wraps up the story of the Hath family finally finding their homeland. I thought the ending was satisfying for all the characters, and the whole series is engaging and warm in an utterly lovely way.
As stated in my previous review, the Pinto/Mumpo pairing does somewhat bother me - seven is just too young to express romantic feelings towards a teenager, and certainly too young for said teenager to start feeling utter contentment and acceptance around her, or whatever was going on at the end to shoehorn them together. Even the timeskip was a little icky - she's still only fifteen to his twenty-three! It's minor enough that it doesn't ruin the story, but come on.