A review by egelantier
The Daemon Prism by Carol Berg
3.0
i was 100% correct to be worried about this book. it's the weakest of all three, and not only because we're stuck with dante's pov for 89% of it. and, okay, it accounts for a lot of problem, because dante is an inefficient, self-pitying, wilfully ignorant jerk with anger management issues, and watching him isolate himself from everybody who could do him even a bit of good, chase every magical carrot thrust before his nose and make every. damn. mistake you just know he's going to make for two thirds of the book is excruciating, okay. like, i would admit that his behavior does make some sense for somebody with childhood and adolescense as screwed up as it is, but it doesn't necessarily makes for a character i'm interested in. and it's make worse by the fact that berg clearly considers him to be a noble woobie, and just, no. no. he improves some by the end, and gets a completely undeserved okay somehow deserved happy ending and hopefully will work on being less ridiculous human being, but i did not enjoy a ride in his whaaaaaaaaaambulance.
anne and ilario do appear closer to the end and kick some ass, which soothed me somehow. still angry about portier's fate, leave me to my tears.
this highly unbiased opinion aside, the general direction turned from intriguing courtly whodunnit to standard fare fantasy with ~dire prophecies and stuff, the world shrunk down a lot and weirdly... thinned, and the plot was, i feel, threadbare. oh, and last couple of chapters added a completely unnecessary pining to all the other prime example of PEOPLE NOT TALKING TO EACH OTHER WITH THEIR ACTUAL MOUTHS because it's not like we can behave like sentinel human beings.
out of all new characters, i've loved xanthe the evil(ish) desert priestess the most, because she was unabashedly horrible and yet weirdly adorable, knew exactly what she wanted, went after it with gusto, outlived everybody who fucked her over and hopefully ran away in the end to become an evil yet appealing desert queen. you go, xanthe.
(this is, hm, not to say that i've un-enjoyed the trilogy or would un-rec it; most of my vitriol comes from frustrated expectations, but even so, all three books were interesting, compelling, lively and well-written; i've not enjoyed high fantasy in quite some time).
anne and ilario do appear closer to the end and kick some ass, which soothed me somehow. still angry about portier's fate, leave me to my tears.
this highly unbiased opinion aside, the general direction turned from intriguing courtly whodunnit to standard fare fantasy with ~dire prophecies and stuff, the world shrunk down a lot and weirdly... thinned, and the plot was, i feel, threadbare. oh, and last couple of chapters added a completely unnecessary pining to all the other prime example of PEOPLE NOT TALKING TO EACH OTHER WITH THEIR ACTUAL MOUTHS because it's not like we can behave like sentinel human beings.
out of all new characters, i've loved xanthe the evil(ish) desert priestess the most, because she was unabashedly horrible and yet weirdly adorable, knew exactly what she wanted, went after it with gusto, outlived everybody who fucked her over and hopefully ran away in the end to become an evil yet appealing desert queen. you go, xanthe.
(this is, hm, not to say that i've un-enjoyed the trilogy or would un-rec it; most of my vitriol comes from frustrated expectations, but even so, all three books were interesting, compelling, lively and well-written; i've not enjoyed high fantasy in quite some time).