A review by bookhaulin
Cold Steel by Kate Elliott
3.0
3.5
Is this the last book in the series? Because the ending felt very, very open-ended. All of the things that I really wanted to know (how the war's going to turn out, if the dragons and the newly unleashed Master of the Wild Hunt will impact the world in any way etc) remain unanswered. I'm predicting separate sequels set in the same world with different main characters.
Anyways, the first book of the series alas remains the best for me. I just felt like Elliot had, at this point, created too many characters and were trying to cram them all in. 400 pages does not a small book make, but it felt like the trilogy would have benefited from a longer length, so that I felt like I knew all the characters better. Also, the novel feels like it suffers from a lack of structure. There was build-up, and then a quiet little let-down, build-up, and then another small climax etc. The tension needed to be more tightly reined and the end more climatic. It was -there-, but nothing in the book really made me bite my nails in nervous anticipation.
I also wasn't too fond of how the relationship between Vai and Cat played out either, there was just a little too much bland affection (call each other love one more time) and too little of the actual spark and wit between them from earlier books.
I still think the series is great overall and highly recommend it for its incredible world building, lore, and diversity, but the entire series also felt like the expositional first novel in a fantasy series. Ah well.
Is this the last book in the series? Because the ending felt very, very open-ended. All of the things that I really wanted to know (how the war's going to turn out, if the dragons and the newly unleashed Master of the Wild Hunt will impact the world in any way etc) remain unanswered. I'm predicting separate sequels set in the same world with different main characters.
Anyways, the first book of the series alas remains the best for me. I just felt like Elliot had, at this point, created too many characters and were trying to cram them all in. 400 pages does not a small book make, but it felt like the trilogy would have benefited from a longer length, so that I felt like I knew all the characters better. Also, the novel feels like it suffers from a lack of structure. There was build-up, and then a quiet little let-down, build-up, and then another small climax etc. The tension needed to be more tightly reined and the end more climatic. It was -there-, but nothing in the book really made me bite my nails in nervous anticipation.
I also wasn't too fond of how the relationship between Vai and Cat played out either, there was just a little too much bland affection (call each other love one more time) and too little of the actual spark and wit between them from earlier books.
I still think the series is great overall and highly recommend it for its incredible world building, lore, and diversity, but the entire series also felt like the expositional first novel in a fantasy series. Ah well.