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iariaThe world building is amazing. It took a bit to get into but I enjoyed it. That said I had two big problems with the latter half that really affected my enjoyment of it.
Lemorel’s storyline went randomly off a cliff. Her obsession with Nikalan was inexplicable. There was a lot of potential in their first communication but after he lost it upon seeing the calculator there was no further interactions between them. So… wtf? She deserted everything to track him down, creating an army in the process and basically just completely lost it. It wasn’t set up at all and annoyed me.
Then there is John Glasken. His storyline was actually really interesting and excellently done. Whereas Lemorel’s was perplexing and unsupported Glasken had well done character development that we got to see. His bad/selfish behaviour caused him to be smacked down over and over, usually in increasingly worse ways, until he actually became a good and honourable person. Under other circumstance I’d love it unreservedly. He’s a great character and by the latter half of the series he’s become one of the main characters.
Unfortunately, instead I found myself feeling increasingly resentful. The worst of it was the Ravensworth sequence specifically Dolorian apologizing to him and then basically begging him to sleep with her. So, so aggravating. I almost stopped reading the book at the point. In fact a part of me wanted to throw the book I was so mad. We get her saying straight out she’s completely loyal to him. That just irritated me further.
I think it comes down to the story starting with Lemorel as one of the main characters, getting to know her and then she gets randomly thrown away. Meanwhile Glasken is an unlikable douche who then gets all the character development in the latter half of the book. Character development is great. Except he also gets everything good by the end - love, respect, devotion, loyalty, all the sex he wants, Lemorel's sister as a wife, money, to be a hero, his mother... basically everything. Meanwhile Lemorel is shot by an ex-friend who she taught to shoot, having dishonoured herself, without anyone to care. The comparison of the two, which I can't help because of their connection, more than anything is what pissed me off. It's too much. Glasken get's so over-lauded by the end that I'm actively feeling aggravated every time he's 'on screen'.
There are two more books in the series. I don't know if I'll read them or not.
A couple other points:
- Zarvora is awesome and remained so throughout.
- I also really liked Theresla and wished we'd gotten more of her communicating and bonding with the dolphins.
- Zarvora/Denkar/Theresla could have been really interesting as well. I was intrigued... except it never really got past that. The avoidance of homosexuality throughout the books was annoying and never more than in this triangle. Zarvora and Theresla set up the marriage, we get some interesting interactions between them and yet nothing romantic/sexual. It bugged me.
- The Dolorian/Lemorel duel was good but could have been great. I wish we could have gotten more of their friendship and Lemorel's mentorship of Dolorian in the beginning and I wish the duel itself had been less about Glasken and more about ideals or whatever.
- Also it would have been nice if they'd had an actual friend be Lemorel's inside mole/ally instead of making it a character I barely remember her interacting with. I realise that the author wanting it to be a surprise but hey, there were already two good friends, why not just make it a mystery as to who the traitor is?
- Honestly all the components of the plot were really interesting - figuring out the history with genetic engineering of sea creatures creating an enemy of them and the Call, leading to nuclear war, to space stations with EMPs, also global warming and an AI Mirrorsun to control it all leading to an ice age and the loss of much of civilization. The Librarians and how they worked was great. I loved it. I also loved the introduction of a whole new species - also a product of genetic manipulation this time of humans with birds to try and create humans that could resist the Call.
Lemorel’s storyline went randomly off a cliff. Her obsession with Nikalan was inexplicable. There was a lot of potential in their first communication but after he lost it upon seeing the calculator there was no further interactions between them. So… wtf? She deserted everything to track him down, creating an army in the process and basically just completely lost it. It wasn’t set up at all and annoyed me.
Then there is John Glasken. His storyline was actually really interesting and excellently done. Whereas Lemorel’s was perplexing and unsupported Glasken had well done character development that we got to see. His bad/selfish behaviour caused him to be smacked down over and over, usually in increasingly worse ways, until he actually became a good and honourable person. Under other circumstance I’d love it unreservedly. He’s a great character and by the latter half of the series he’s become one of the main characters.
Unfortunately, instead I found myself feeling increasingly resentful. The worst of it was the Ravensworth sequence specifically Dolorian apologizing to him and then basically begging him to sleep with her. So, so aggravating. I almost stopped reading the book at the point. In fact a part of me wanted to throw the book I was so mad. We get her saying straight out she’s completely loyal to him. That just irritated me further.
I think it comes down to the story starting with Lemorel as one of the main characters, getting to know her and then she gets randomly thrown away. Meanwhile Glasken is an unlikable douche who then gets all the character development in the latter half of the book. Character development is great. Except he also gets everything good by the end - love, respect, devotion, loyalty, all the sex he wants, Lemorel's sister as a wife, money, to be a hero, his mother... basically everything. Meanwhile Lemorel is shot by an ex-friend who she taught to shoot, having dishonoured herself, without anyone to care. The comparison of the two, which I can't help because of their connection, more than anything is what pissed me off. It's too much. Glasken get's so over-lauded by the end that I'm actively feeling aggravated every time he's 'on screen'.
There are two more books in the series. I don't know if I'll read them or not.
A couple other points:
- Zarvora is awesome and remained so throughout.
- I also really liked Theresla and wished we'd gotten more of her communicating and bonding with the dolphins.
- Zarvora/Denkar/Theresla could have been really interesting as well. I was intrigued... except it never really got past that. The avoidance of homosexuality throughout the books was annoying and never more than in this triangle. Zarvora and Theresla set up the marriage, we get some interesting interactions between them and yet nothing romantic/sexual. It bugged me.
- The Dolorian/Lemorel duel was good but could have been great. I wish we could have gotten more of their friendship and Lemorel's mentorship of Dolorian in the beginning and I wish the duel itself had been less about Glasken and more about ideals or whatever.
- Also it would have been nice if they'd had an actual friend be Lemorel's inside mole/ally instead of making it a character I barely remember her interacting with. I realise that the author wanting it to be a surprise but hey, there were already two good friends, why not just make it a mystery as to who the traitor is?
- Honestly all the components of the plot were really interesting - figuring out the history with genetic engineering of sea creatures creating an enemy of them and the Call, leading to nuclear war, to space stations with EMPs, also global warming and an AI Mirrorsun to control it all leading to an ice age and the loss of much of civilization. The Librarians and how they worked was great. I loved it. I also loved the introduction of a whole new species - also a product of genetic manipulation this time of humans with birds to try and create humans that could resist the Call.
