|
Swap the books you've read, for some you haven't!
|
The Sum of All Men (The Runelords, Book One:) by David Farland
|
|
| | |
|
The Sum of All Men (The Runelords, Book One:) by David Farland
Review: Well, I went into the Farland series with high hopes based on the reviews. And as is the norm, the reviews must have been paid for. The story concept, in and of itself, is a bit original, but the writing....... well, let's just say that it leaves much to be desired. You can tell that the author had not thought the story out all the way and that he has absolutely no concept of time, distance, or speed. In fact, in the 2nd book in the series, a young boy with a severe leg deformity apparantly crossed over 100 miles on his own by foot in less than 2 or 3 days ! Amazing ! The pioneers will have to go back and rethink the wagon at the pace they were setting.
This author reaches for the stars but misses sorely.
Oh, and as to the audience? Hard to say. Parts are written for an adult and others for people much younger. You can tell by the way people "fall in love" without actually really having any dialogue.....but ahhh, the love is so enduring (swoon)......
Review: If you're looking for a new fantasy series to get into, give this one a try.
After two pages, I hated it. After two more, I was hooked. The next night I found myself dreaming about the story. Inside, the fantasy nerd that lurks in my heart rejoiced madly! It's been years since I've enjoyed Jprdan or Goodkind's work, as those authors became long-winded and their plots went virtually nowhere in the 800 page books they were putting out.
Farland's Runelords series has characters to care about, magic that's creative, and writing that's insightful and exciting. I strongly recommend this to fans of the genre.
And if you like this, give Brandon Sanderson's 'Mistborn' a try as well.
Review: The main twist to this story is the idea that one person can give his/her magic endowments to another person. For example, a person can give wits to someone and that leaves him a drooling idiot. If a woman gives a beauty, she continues to live as an ugly hag. After they give away their wit/sight/strength/.. they become Dedicates who are cared for by Rune lords until they die. If a Dedicate dies, his endowment dies within his lord.
This idea is just unbelievable.
There is a scene where a woman gives her wit to a king and, as a part of a (very painful) ritual; she needs to **want** to give him her wits. They keep telling her "Look at your lord. He loves you. He is going to save you, to help you. You love your lord...".
That is where they lost me. Why would someone choose to become a witless idiot for the rest of their life, just so her lord can have the 7th or 8th wit and become "very clever"? Not that the king even showed that kind of wit in the book, but as always no character can be more intelligent than the writer himself and I bet this writer does not have any extra endowments.
Apart from this, hero Gaborn and villain Raj are stereotypical. Things just happen too easy to Gaborn and Raj is too omnipotent. There is love story between Gaborn and Iomme, with no charisma and depth.
Overall, this is a below average fantasy book.
Review: The writing is good, the characters interesting and well developed, the idea behind the book is good--all those alone serve to transport the reader throughout the series, of which, this is probably the best book. Ultimately, though, the series was a bit of a disappointment, as, like all really good fantasy books, there was a lot of potential for dialogue between the novel and our world, but those were left all but untouched. For instance, the idea of giving of attributes to our leaders is a clear metaphor for how power structures function in this reality, and it isn't pretty, just as it isn't in David Farland's world. But he barely touched upon the ethical ramifications, and it certainly wasn't a cornerstone for the books as it could have been. Other, simpler problems I had with the books includes the light treatment of Borenson's trauma from having to kill hundreds of innocent initiates. And then there's the whole Dylan Hammer thing. They talked about him a lot, they went on a quest to find him, but they never did. It's like the old rule, if you introduce a gun in the first act of a play, by the third act the gun will be used. Dylan Hammer's the gun that never got used, and thus, he served no purpose.
Review: I quite enjoyed the book. Theres quite a few new ideas, and he's created his own creatures rather have, elves, Dwarfs and what nots. A Good change. I like the Wit, Stamina, Metabolism, grace etc. I've just received book 2 of the series today.
| |
| | |
| |
|
|
|
| |