Scan barcode
A review by princessrobotiv
The Realms of the Gods by Tamora Pierce
2.0
Lowered to 2 stars after consideration.
Overall series rating: 3.25
--
Tragically, Realms of the Gods was my least favorite installment in the Immortals quartet.
I blame Cloud's absence. The plot seriously needed some horse sense.
It felt like both Emperor Mage and Realms of the Gods suffered where execution and characterization was concerned. While I still enjoyed a lot of the thematic elements of Emperor Mage (and especially Ozorne), I can't say the same for the vast majority of Realms of the Gods. With the exception of the last two chapters - which returned to the action-driven roots of the series - this book felt choppy and tonally inconsistent.
I also started picking up on a sort of . . . I don't know . . . Increased childishness? This was true in book three to some degree as well, as I commented in that review, but this one really suffered from it. Even given the child narrator who speaks to animals, books one and two possessed a high degree of self-awareness, with well-crafted prose and a tone/plot that bridged age groups incredibly well.
But book four's rambling quest through the Divine Realms - a plot contrivance employed very transparently to shove Daine and Numair together for romantic development - resulted in an almost cartoonish interlude in what should have been the most harrowing, battle-oriented novel of the series. We lost nearly all of the political scope of the plot in order to make room for some half-baked, left-field drama with the Goddess of Chaos (never before mentioned??) and the Great Gods. With so much else happening in the world, why was this necessary? It felt so lazy.
Every scene with Daine and her parents was practically cringe worthy. In every other novel, Daine experiences some trial that challenges her understanding of the universe and of her own power. This book should have found Daine reconciling the condition of her own birth; yet every scene we get with Weiryn falls utterly flat. Daine refers to him easily and naturally as "Da," with little to no introspection regarding his place in her life, her long-held status as bastard and orphan, or his utter lack of involvement in her life up till this point. The quaintly domestic scenes between the new goddess, Sarra, and her "mate" are pointless and exasperatingly heteronormative. Neither character was developed well enough to warrant significant page-time - which really bums me the hell out, because I was so looking forward to the Weiryn reveal and Daine's first significant interactions with her father.
Finally, the Daine/Numair romance - I didn't enjoy it at all, for the following reasons.
First, Daine is simply too young. It's something I just cannot get over, and something that could have been very easily avoided by just . . . Adding more time between installments? Starting Numair out as a few years younger/Daine a few years older? The choice to keep Daine young was a deliberate one, and one I ultimately can't forgive. Exacerbating this was the fact that - even though Daine is four years older in this book than the first - her speech patterns and behavior are still largely the same, giving the strong impression of an indisputable child.
Just . . . Gross, man.
Second, the romantic development was sparse and contrived. It simply didn't fit to have Daine and Numair traveling together outside of the main battle. In fact, the romance would have evolved more organically had they spent most of the book apart, fighting their mutual enemies in separate battles but fearing and longing for each other.
Relatedly, Daine experiences - once again - no internal conflict over the new romance with Numair, a man far older than her and who has acted for years as a mentor and teacher - both which necessitate a power imbalance that required significant discussion on the page. No such discussion occurs. What we get is a brief, matter-of-fact conversation about whether Numair just wants to sleep with her or not, after which Daine pretty much immediately comes around to the idea of a romantic relationship with him, something she has literally never actively considered before.
Overall, a great disappointment to a series I really enjoyed at the beginning.
Overall series rating: 3.25
--
Tragically, Realms of the Gods was my least favorite installment in the Immortals quartet.
I blame Cloud's absence. The plot seriously needed some horse sense.
It felt like both Emperor Mage and Realms of the Gods suffered where execution and characterization was concerned. While I still enjoyed a lot of the thematic elements of Emperor Mage (and especially Ozorne), I can't say the same for the vast majority of Realms of the Gods. With the exception of the last two chapters - which returned to the action-driven roots of the series - this book felt choppy and tonally inconsistent.
I also started picking up on a sort of . . . I don't know . . . Increased childishness? This was true in book three to some degree as well, as I commented in that review, but this one really suffered from it. Even given the child narrator who speaks to animals, books one and two possessed a high degree of self-awareness, with well-crafted prose and a tone/plot that bridged age groups incredibly well.
But book four's rambling quest through the Divine Realms - a plot contrivance employed very transparently to shove Daine and Numair together for romantic development - resulted in an almost cartoonish interlude in what should have been the most harrowing, battle-oriented novel of the series. We lost nearly all of the political scope of the plot in order to make room for some half-baked, left-field drama with the Goddess of Chaos (never before mentioned??) and the Great Gods. With so much else happening in the world, why was this necessary? It felt so lazy.
Every scene with Daine and her parents was practically cringe worthy. In every other novel, Daine experiences some trial that challenges her understanding of the universe and of her own power. This book should have found Daine reconciling the condition of her own birth; yet every scene we get with Weiryn falls utterly flat. Daine refers to him easily and naturally as "Da," with little to no introspection regarding his place in her life, her long-held status as bastard and orphan, or his utter lack of involvement in her life up till this point. The quaintly domestic scenes between the new goddess, Sarra, and her "mate" are pointless and exasperatingly heteronormative. Neither character was developed well enough to warrant significant page-time - which really bums me the hell out, because I was so looking forward to the Weiryn reveal and Daine's first significant interactions with her father.
Finally, the Daine/Numair romance - I didn't enjoy it at all, for the following reasons.
First, Daine is simply too young. It's something I just cannot get over, and something that could have been very easily avoided by just . . . Adding more time between installments? Starting Numair out as a few years younger/Daine a few years older? The choice to keep Daine young was a deliberate one, and one I ultimately can't forgive. Exacerbating this was the fact that - even though Daine is four years older in this book than the first - her speech patterns and behavior are still largely the same, giving the strong impression of an indisputable child.
Just . . . Gross, man.
Second, the romantic development was sparse and contrived. It simply didn't fit to have Daine and Numair traveling together outside of the main battle. In fact, the romance would have evolved more organically had they spent most of the book apart, fighting their mutual enemies in separate battles but fearing and longing for each other.
Relatedly, Daine experiences - once again - no internal conflict over the new romance with Numair, a man far older than her and who has acted for years as a mentor and teacher - both which necessitate a power imbalance that required significant discussion on the page. No such discussion occurs. What we get is a brief, matter-of-fact conversation about whether Numair just wants to sleep with her or not, after which Daine pretty much immediately comes around to the idea of a romantic relationship with him, something she has literally never actively considered before.
Overall, a great disappointment to a series I really enjoyed at the beginning.