A review by buuboobaby
Emperor of the Eight Islands by Lian Hearn
3.0
C+
I have a few reservations about this book. The first being the publisher's decision to break the story into 4 overpriced chunks. This is a short novel, about 275 pages, and it's far from a complete story. The ending is abrupt and jarring; not really an ending at all. It's more like a commercial break, so you can scrape together to 12 bucks to purchase the next installment. Hopefully my local library will acquire a copy.
My other concern is all of the questionable consent, and one no freaking doubt about it, rape, conducted by one of the heroes. I had a real problem with most of these scenes, mainly because they did nothing to move the story along and seemed pointless for their inclusion.
I loved the setting, and the political wrangling was interesting, mainly to see who was going to suffer some disastrous setback due to the pride and ambitions of others. The writing felt a bit flat, though, and the author's stark writing style occasionally failed to hold my attention. Then some supernatural event would occur, and I would be immersed in the story again, but I can't say I was ever engrossed by the narrative.
I have a few reservations about this book. The first being the publisher's decision to break the story into 4 overpriced chunks. This is a short novel, about 275 pages, and it's far from a complete story. The ending is abrupt and jarring; not really an ending at all. It's more like a commercial break, so you can scrape together to 12 bucks to purchase the next installment. Hopefully my local library will acquire a copy.
My other concern is all of the questionable consent, and one no freaking doubt about it, rape, conducted by one of the heroes. I had a real problem with most of these scenes, mainly because they did nothing to move the story along and seemed pointless for their inclusion.
I loved the setting, and the political wrangling was interesting, mainly to see who was going to suffer some disastrous setback due to the pride and ambitions of others. The writing felt a bit flat, though, and the author's stark writing style occasionally failed to hold my attention. Then some supernatural event would occur, and I would be immersed in the story again, but I can't say I was ever engrossed by the narrative.