A review by marshmallowbooks
Guardian of the Gate by Michelle Zink
2.0
I enjoyed Prophecy of the Sisters and looked forward to this book, but I don't feel like it lived up to my expectations.
There were things that I felt like hadn't been explained, almost like I had missed an in-between book. Maybe it's just me, but I don't recall "Altus" being mentioned in the first book, and all of a suden it's on every page of this book. Did I miss something??? And I wish more time had been spent on the 8 months Lia and Sonia were in London. Besides the first couple of chapters with random introctions of random characters that aren't really part of the story, all we know is that they were in London, wearing breeches instead of dresses, working on bows and arrows and magic. Maybe that's all the explanation that was needed, but I felt like it was skipped over, although it seemed important and was referred to later on.
Also, what is it with the sudden deep, undeniable, unexplainable connection romances that overshadow the plot? This is the second book I have read recently that I expected to be about adventure and accomplishing a mission, but turned out to be about hooking up with strangers (basically) because there is an undeniable attraction. Most of the pages not spent describing their time together are not covering the mission like you might expect, but about them moping about not being together. I like Dimitri and all, but the romance-without-foundation between him and Lia was just plain frivolity that received too much focus, to the point that the plot became about them instead of about the prophecy and Lia's mission all that. Bleh. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a romance story or even a romantic subplot, but if you want to write a romance, write a romance: Don't pretend it's something else. And it's a subplot, make sure it remains a subplot.
There were things that I felt like hadn't been explained, almost like I had missed an in-between book. Maybe it's just me, but I don't recall "Altus" being mentioned in the first book, and all of a suden it's on every page of this book. Did I miss something??? And I wish more time had been spent on the 8 months Lia and Sonia were in London. Besides the first couple of chapters with random introctions of random characters that aren't really part of the story, all we know is that they were in London, wearing breeches instead of dresses, working on bows and arrows and magic. Maybe that's all the explanation that was needed, but I felt like it was skipped over, although it seemed important and was referred to later on.
Also, what is it with the sudden deep, undeniable, unexplainable connection romances that overshadow the plot? This is the second book I have read recently that I expected to be about adventure and accomplishing a mission, but turned out to be about hooking up with strangers (basically) because there is an undeniable attraction. Most of the pages not spent describing their time together are not covering the mission like you might expect, but about them moping about not being together. I like Dimitri and all, but the romance-without-foundation between him and Lia was just plain frivolity that received too much focus, to the point that the plot became about them instead of about the prophecy and Lia's mission all that. Bleh. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a romance story or even a romantic subplot, but if you want to write a romance, write a romance: Don't pretend it's something else. And it's a subplot, make sure it remains a subplot.