Final Thoughts: The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman
Well, it didn't take long for me to completely change my mind on the The Left Hand of God. You can read my initial, positive thoughts of the first 40 pages here. Later that day I read another 20 pages and decided to go ahead and pick up the Kindle edition for $12.99 (yeah, I got a free trade paper edition for review, but I read more on my e-reader). That turned out to be a bad decision. Once the 3 boys (main characters up to that point) made their escape and more characters were introduced, things went down hill fast. Amazingly fast. Ridiculously fast. You get the picture.
So what happened to change my mind so quickly? The horrible, horrible dialog. Horrible. Did I mention horrible? Good grief..I felt like I was reading the first draft of a first novel..sorry to be so harsh..but the way the characters talked was stilted and unnatural. Maybe that is how the author meant for them to talk, or there is some other explanation for it. Maybe it fits in with that kooky narrator's voice...I dunno. All I know is once many more characters were introduced and they started opening their mouths...I couldn't take it. Literally some of the worst dialogue I have read in a book by a major publisher. I bet half the self-published ebooks would fare better. And the new characters all seemed immature and felt a bit similar..where the only real difference in them was their names..otherwise they acted and talked the same.
I waited a couple of days to let my frustration cool and see if maybe I was just in a picky mood that night. Last night I read one more chapter. And nope, I'm done. If anything, the chapter I read was the worst one yet. So as I said, I'm done. Done. Done. Done. I know I can be picky at times, but normally when I don't like a book, I just put it down and start something else. This one literally made me mad (probably because 2 hours of reading after spending $12.99, I realized I wasted that money. If only I had waited for one more night of reading before deciding to buy the Kindle edition. Oh well.)
Thoughts On: The Gods of Amyrantha by Jennifer Fallon
I'm about 1/2 through reading The Gods of Amyrantha (TGoA) by Jennifer Fallon and think I am going to put it down for now (this is the 2nd of 4 books in The Tide Lords). Something with the writing/story just isn't connecting with me at the moment, so I am putting it aside and will resume it at some point in the future. Maybe the problem is I am reading it after reading several Malazan books, and almost 1/2 of A Game of Thrones. Whatever the reasons, I am finding that TGoA just feels too "soap opera-ish" to me. The whole relationship triangle between Arkady, Cayal, and Declan reads (to me) like some 3 way high school/tv drama. Arkady and Declan have feelings for each other, but can't/won't admit them to anyone. Arkday and Cayal (The Immortal Prince) had a relationship in book 1 that ended rather abruptly. Declan assumes something happened between those 2, but won't come out and ask..so he tries to hint around the topic by questioning those who know Arkady (hence my high school comment..it just feels juvenile). And some of the relationships between the Tide Lords (the Immortals) are very similar. So, on one hand the story seems interesting..wondering how the world will cope with the return of the Tide Lords. But on the other hand, the characters seem a but thin and prone to too much drama (for a weird analogy, almost as if the characters are in a play and 'over-acting'). Heck, even the Tide Lords themselves act like high schoolers (in ways other than the romance angle, I mean)....they seem more like spoiled brats than these very powerful and dangerous beings. I get that this is on purpose..their bickering and hunger for power are what make them dangerous..but I wish they came across "unbalanced adults" instead of "spoiled teenagers". And I guess that is my problem with the book overall..the characters. I can handle soap opera drama when the adults act like adults, and young folks act like young folks. But when all of the adults act like a bunch of teenagers, it doesn't work so well for me.
After reading that, you might wonder why I would even continue reading the series. I was a HUGE fan of the Second Sons Trilogy
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