egswriter's review
4.0
The hardest part of, well, life is the fact that we have to reap the consequences of what we sow. The same holds true for fantasy novels as well, especially the farther into a series you get. And such is the case with Martin Owton’s Nandor, the second book in the Tales of Nandor series.
1. Thoughts on the plot
The last book left us with Aron being offered a choice to marry either Edith or Celaine, two daughters of the Earl of Nandor. He refused and then went off to go on other adventures. This book starts with those adventures taking hold of him, in the form of Celaine getting kidnapped and appearing to Aron in a truedream. He travels to Nandor, where he, Edith and Maldwyn, the new Earl, venture forth to find Celaine and get her back, no matter the cost.
The plot of this book was very interesting. A standard adventure novel requiring the rescue of a loved one, which is generally a story form I enjoy, especially when other shenanigans happen along the way. In this instance, there are shenanigans. I do think that there were a few plot points that happened a little too quickly and didn’t seem to have much of an influence on the larger plot except to get our hero into trouble, unlike in book one where the shenanigans were almost all plot-relevant. This is fine, just a little different than what I was expecting given book one.
2. Thoughts on the characters
I really liked seeing how the various characters, Edith especially, had changed because of Aron’s actions at the end of book one. I think this is one of the better examples I’ve seen of actions having real, definable consequences that show up in the characters as well as the plot. And the development was very good indeed. I really liked that aspect of this story.
3. Favourite part
Probably the change in the characters. It was still consistent with who they were in book one, but the changes were very visible, as they would be in anyone who had dealt with such things.
4. Critique
My only real critique is the bit I mentioned in section one, where a few of the incidents that our hero found himself involved in felt less relevant to the story than otherwise. This is a perfectly valid style, and can be used to great effect for character development, but it is a different style from book one and I was not expecting it. Still, once I figured it out, everything was fine.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this second book of the Tales of Nandor and I am curious to see what will happen next, because I have a feeling that there is going to be a next. A very good book.
1. Thoughts on the plot
The last book left us with Aron being offered a choice to marry either Edith or Celaine, two daughters of the Earl of Nandor. He refused and then went off to go on other adventures. This book starts with those adventures taking hold of him, in the form of Celaine getting kidnapped and appearing to Aron in a truedream. He travels to Nandor, where he, Edith and Maldwyn, the new Earl, venture forth to find Celaine and get her back, no matter the cost.
The plot of this book was very interesting. A standard adventure novel requiring the rescue of a loved one, which is generally a story form I enjoy, especially when other shenanigans happen along the way. In this instance, there are shenanigans. I do think that there were a few plot points that happened a little too quickly and didn’t seem to have much of an influence on the larger plot except to get our hero into trouble, unlike in book one where the shenanigans were almost all plot-relevant. This is fine, just a little different than what I was expecting given book one.
2. Thoughts on the characters
I really liked seeing how the various characters, Edith especially, had changed because of Aron’s actions at the end of book one. I think this is one of the better examples I’ve seen of actions having real, definable consequences that show up in the characters as well as the plot. And the development was very good indeed. I really liked that aspect of this story.
3. Favourite part
Probably the change in the characters. It was still consistent with who they were in book one, but the changes were very visible, as they would be in anyone who had dealt with such things.
4. Critique
My only real critique is the bit I mentioned in section one, where a few of the incidents that our hero found himself involved in felt less relevant to the story than otherwise. This is a perfectly valid style, and can be used to great effect for character development, but it is a different style from book one and I was not expecting it. Still, once I figured it out, everything was fine.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this second book of the Tales of Nandor and I am curious to see what will happen next, because I have a feeling that there is going to be a next. A very good book.
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