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A review by winterscape
The Sight by David Clement-Davies
3.0
Wolves have been dear to me since childhood; the myriad wolf ornaments, blankets, and toys still decorate my room. It sometimes seems odd, as a pacifistic vegan, that a carnivorous animal would be my favourite, but I think stories like The Sight illustrate exactly their appeal. So many legends feature wolves that they seem nearly mythological themselves. A fantasy-minded child is sure to latch on to the beautiful worshippers of the moon, those who live wild among the ancient forests and pad along after druids and nurse the babes of gods.
With that in mind, The Sight should have been an instant favourite of mine. It has all the trappings of a perfect hit: magic, wolves as they are in legend, and a sweeping, tragic journey across forested medieval landscapes. The characters are sympathetic, and you're sure to care about the family trapped in this dark prophecy. Unfortunately, the first two-thirds of The Sight were just too slow paced to keep my attention. Often I was exasperated by a complete halt in the narrative to expand upon the religion of the wolves. If used more sparingly, I think this would have added to the legendary quality of the tale, but, as is, it served only to make every second chapter feel unbearably long and tedious.
The final third of The Sight finally reaches its potential. Well-paced and exciting, it brings all the threads together for a heartbreaking look at what it means to be free and the cost of that freedom when human beings forget that we too are animals of this earth. This book, from 2002, paints a sad picture of our planet's future that hurts even more in 2021. We didn't learn, Larka.
The philosophical ending and lack of cliffhanger (despite this being a duology) helped the book as a whole feel satisfying, even if perhaps the journey there was a bit too long.
With that in mind, The Sight should have been an instant favourite of mine. It has all the trappings of a perfect hit: magic, wolves as they are in legend, and a sweeping, tragic journey across forested medieval landscapes. The characters are sympathetic, and you're sure to care about the family trapped in this dark prophecy. Unfortunately, the first two-thirds of The Sight were just too slow paced to keep my attention. Often I was exasperated by a complete halt in the narrative to expand upon the religion of the wolves. If used more sparingly, I think this would have added to the legendary quality of the tale, but, as is, it served only to make every second chapter feel unbearably long and tedious.
The final third of The Sight finally reaches its potential. Well-paced and exciting, it brings all the threads together for a heartbreaking look at what it means to be free and the cost of that freedom when human beings forget that we too are animals of this earth. This book, from 2002, paints a sad picture of our planet's future that hurts even more in 2021. We didn't learn, Larka.
The philosophical ending and lack of cliffhanger (despite this being a duology) helped the book as a whole feel satisfying, even if perhaps the journey there was a bit too long.