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A review by rustymiller
A Star-Reckoner's Lot by Darrell Drake
4.0
I was sent a digital copy of this book in return for a fair and honest review. This is my first book by this author (Darrell Drake). I try to avoid looking at too many reviews before reading most books as I don’t want to be biased going into it. Rather, I let the words *almost literally* speak for themselves. With that in mind, it seemed like this book (A Star-Reckoner’s Lot) has had mixed reviews, but its sequel (An Ill-Fated Sky) is apparently much better. Some comments I have heard are that readers are rewarded in the second book if they can push through the first. So, push through I did…
This book primarily focused on Ashtadukht, a young woman who has the ability to pull from the stars and planets to use a form of magic. However, it seems like her abilities need a great deal of refining as the results come out a little wonky (if at all). It almost felt like in Harry Potter where the spell would miss-fire if it wasn’t pronounced properly – like Diagon Alley vs. diagonally. But I digress.
Ashtadukht has two on-and off-again traveling companions: Tirdad - her cousin, protector, and maybe-love interest (it was apparently acceptable in 6th century Iran) - and Waray - half-div who is constantly battling her own impulses to kill, who has a particular taste for raw eggs, and who is (as my dad used to say) “not wrapped too tight”.
It is hard to really explain the plot because I was confused for most of the first half. It came across as a seemingly random quests with little continuity other than the 3 main characters. While I appreciated the creativity of the author to come up with unique and diverse creatures that were well written, and action sequences that came off with some skill, I couldn’t follow what the bigger mission was. It almost felt that the powers-that-be were just sending her off to 1) get her out of the way for a while, or 2) maybe she would get killed off (and then problem solved).
I love reading flawed characters and all 3 were certainly that. And I prefer well-defined characters where you see motives and background and context. Ideally, I want believable characters even if they could only ever exist in the world that the author creates. These characters were hinting at that and got most of the way there, but they each were somewhat annoying for my taste.
I am most torn with Waray, the half-div. We learn a fair amount of her background. We see a range of emotions, from almost giddy to catatonic barely controlled rage. For the most part that was OK with that, but it made it hard to know who the real Waray was. I also really struggled with the various ways her speech was written, especially when words were pushed together. It was just hard to get through her dialog. And, it felt like the whole egg-eating was all I ever heard …
The whole interaction between Ashtadukht and Tirdad was a struggle. They both seemed immature, held grudges, and wouldn’t acknowledge what they really thought or wanted. I understand that they both were dealing with painful memories, but it didn’t click here.
But there was enough to keep me going. Overall, I likes the prose and world building. The author did well with the handling of the non-humans, and fight scenes were pretty good. I definitely liked the last half better, in part because it felt like the story was finally going somewhere (even if Ashtadukht’s motives seemed extreme). At least I could follow where the story was going. I thought it was also interesting how the author blurred the lines a bit on who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. I also had the carrot of the second book dangling in front of me.
I feel like I “got through” this book more than anything else. I certainly didn’t love or hate it, and I had plenty of issues with it. With that in mind, I think there were glimpses of a gem hidden here. From what I hear, the author corrected a lot of the miss-steps in the second book; hopefully I will check that one out some day.
Thank you, Darrell, for sending this to me. Well done! 3.8 / 5 stars.
This book primarily focused on Ashtadukht, a young woman who has the ability to pull from the stars and planets to use a form of magic. However, it seems like her abilities need a great deal of refining as the results come out a little wonky (if at all). It almost felt like in Harry Potter where the spell would miss-fire if it wasn’t pronounced properly – like Diagon Alley vs. diagonally. But I digress.
Ashtadukht has two on-and off-again traveling companions: Tirdad - her cousin, protector, and maybe-love interest (it was apparently acceptable in 6th century Iran) - and Waray - half-div who is constantly battling her own impulses to kill, who has a particular taste for raw eggs, and who is (as my dad used to say) “not wrapped too tight”.
It is hard to really explain the plot because I was confused for most of the first half. It came across as a seemingly random quests with little continuity other than the 3 main characters. While I appreciated the creativity of the author to come up with unique and diverse creatures that were well written, and action sequences that came off with some skill, I couldn’t follow what the bigger mission was. It almost felt that the powers-that-be were just sending her off to 1) get her out of the way for a while, or 2) maybe she would get killed off (and then problem solved).
I love reading flawed characters and all 3 were certainly that. And I prefer well-defined characters where you see motives and background and context. Ideally, I want believable characters even if they could only ever exist in the world that the author creates. These characters were hinting at that and got most of the way there, but they each were somewhat annoying for my taste.
I am most torn with Waray, the half-div. We learn a fair amount of her background. We see a range of emotions, from almost giddy to catatonic barely controlled rage. For the most part that was OK with that, but it made it hard to know who the real Waray was. I also really struggled with the various ways her speech was written, especially when words were pushed together. It was just hard to get through her dialog. And, it felt like the whole egg-eating was all I ever heard …
The whole interaction between Ashtadukht and Tirdad was a struggle. They both seemed immature, held grudges, and wouldn’t acknowledge what they really thought or wanted. I understand that they both were dealing with painful memories, but it didn’t click here.
But there was enough to keep me going. Overall, I likes the prose and world building. The author did well with the handling of the non-humans, and fight scenes were pretty good. I definitely liked the last half better, in part because it felt like the story was finally going somewhere (even if Ashtadukht’s motives seemed extreme). At least I could follow where the story was going. I thought it was also interesting how the author blurred the lines a bit on who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. I also had the carrot of the second book dangling in front of me.
I feel like I “got through” this book more than anything else. I certainly didn’t love or hate it, and I had plenty of issues with it. With that in mind, I think there were glimpses of a gem hidden here. From what I hear, the author corrected a lot of the miss-steps in the second book; hopefully I will check that one out some day.
Thank you, Darrell, for sending this to me. Well done! 3.8 / 5 stars.