Reviews

Obra entretenida y con varios elementos curiosos pero que tiene varias pegas que me impidieron disfrutar del todo esta historia.
La novela nos traslada a un mundo fantástico en el que unos seres oscuros han diezmado prácticamente a toda la población del reino. Los supervivientes, ahora refugiados, deben huir por su supervivencia hasta alcanzar un punto seguro para ellos. Nuestros protagonistas no pertenecen a ese mundo sino al nuestro, y son arrastrados allí por Ingold, un poderoso mago.
Lo extraño de la novela es que hubiera resultado mucho más creíble si los personajes principales no fueran de nuestro mundo. Ninguno de los dos (ni la estudiante de Tesis ni el motorista) parece encajar en este mundo pero logran pertenecer a él y adaptarse a esa locura de sangre y muerte a una velocidad de vértigo. Ella se convierte en guerrera y él en aprendiz de mago sin ningún problema, y a pesar de pasar todo el viaje al borde de la muerte, resuelven al final de la historia que casi que están mejor allí que en nuestro mundo (¿?)
Es una pena porque si la autora nos hubiera mostrado mejor su evolución o los hubiera convertido en personajes más carismáticos creo que me hubiera gustado mucho el libro. Ingold, el mago, es EL TÍPICO MAGO, pero eso no importa porque es maravilloso. Y la ambientación oscura, muy al estilo ESDLA pero realmente terrorífica, me ha encantado.
En fin, una historia entretenida pero que podría haber dado para más. Forma parte de una trilogía y no creo que siga con ella (más que nada porque está descatalogada y a precio bastante alto). Quería probar la pluma de la autora y me ha gustado pero es probable que esta no sea de sus mejores obras...

waclements7's review against another edition

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DNF 25%—this has not aged well.

monstrousmind's review against another edition

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adventurous

2.5

crowmaster's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

kaziaroo's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

This was quite a dull read, unfortunately. The fantasy world felt quite generic and the enemy was too nebulous to be interesting. The two protagonists' background in the "real" world didn't really add anything once they left it behind; neither of them had any real ties to their old lives and they took to their new roles in Darwath far too easily to be believable, especially Gil.

She goes from scholar to soldier at the drop of a hat, and even gets enlisted into the elite corps with no actual experience – it was less a character arc and more that sure was just replaced. At least Rudy's arc was more natural.

Most of the book was taken up by descriptions of scenery and it felt like the author wanted to write a historical story but with some undeveloped fantasy threat and a carbon copy of Gandalf. The character building, fantasy and political setting just felt half-hearted. The whole thing wasn't well thought out; there is a scene where they see some mammoths and someone from Darwath describes them to a modern protagonist as "woolly elephants" – if he doesn't know what a mammoth is, why would they think he knows what an elephant is? How did they know what an elephant is, given they live mostly in the icy north? It was ridiculous. If it weren't for the length I would have DNF'd early on, but decided I might as well push on to the end of such a short book. Was it worth it? Not really.

riverlethe's review against another edition

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1.0

DNF at 23%. Incredibly dated and not in a nostalgic way. See highlighted passages.

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