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Aug. 7th, 2009 10:43 amIt's been several months since I read the first book in Michelle West's Sun Sword series and I was sort of worried I was going to have forgotten everything that happened by the time I finally got to the second one, but fortunately that does not seem to be the case!
It helps that Book 2, The Uncrowned King, focuses entirely on the North (though that means it is going to be even harder when we get back to the South and I CAN'T REMEMBER WHO ANYONE IS. Except Teresa and Diora. Because Teresa and Diora are awesome.) It also manages to be astoundingly action-packed for a book whose main plot is basically "our Hero has decided to Prove Himself . . . by entering the FANTASYLAND OLYMPICS! \o/" The fact that there's an attempt on somebody's life every other page, usually by means of a demon attack, does liven things up a bit.
I still can't quite decide whether I feel like West is telling me too much, or too little. The writing can be a bit frustrating in that pretty much character has an immensely complex backstory that she rarely explains in full, but the bits that she does explain, she references every time that character shows. I have to admit I got kind of sick of hearing about Famous Swordmaster's Tragic Dead Wife, YES, IT IS VERY SAD AND HE IS VERY SCARRED BY IT, I GET IT. On the other hand, the fallout between Devon and Jewel was given so much narrative importance that I kept feeling like there must have been some description of their backstory that I missed, but I an pretty sure that is not actually the case. There were also several unfortunate cases of "this character is awesome! SO every other character will talk about it at GREAT LENGTH," most fatally in the case of Jewel. I really like Jewel! And thus, I completely get that Jewel is a great person without everyone else taking lots of pages to stand around talking about it. (Valedan also suffers from a lot from this.) I also have absolutely no idea at this point what the hell is Evayne's deal and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to or not!
On the other hand, the fact that everyone has their own personal backstory and web of complicated relationships makes the world feel very complex and real and interesting, relationships between ladies keep on being extremely important to the narrative (although not as much, sadly, as in the first book - I'm excited to get back to that in the next!) and the finale was a kind of gloriouslyhilariously transcendent Guy Love-fest, and I am not ashamed to say that the final 100-page stretch was pretty un-put-downable.
Next book, I hope to see Valedan, Alina, Jewel, Kiriel and the Ospreys on a WACKY KINGDOM-CONQUERING ROAD TRIP. And more Serra Teresa!
It helps that Book 2, The Uncrowned King, focuses entirely on the North (though that means it is going to be even harder when we get back to the South and I CAN'T REMEMBER WHO ANYONE IS. Except Teresa and Diora. Because Teresa and Diora are awesome.) It also manages to be astoundingly action-packed for a book whose main plot is basically "our Hero has decided to Prove Himself . . . by entering the FANTASYLAND OLYMPICS! \o/" The fact that there's an attempt on somebody's life every other page, usually by means of a demon attack, does liven things up a bit.
I still can't quite decide whether I feel like West is telling me too much, or too little. The writing can be a bit frustrating in that pretty much character has an immensely complex backstory that she rarely explains in full, but the bits that she does explain, she references every time that character shows. I have to admit I got kind of sick of hearing about Famous Swordmaster's Tragic Dead Wife, YES, IT IS VERY SAD AND HE IS VERY SCARRED BY IT, I GET IT. On the other hand, the fallout between Devon and Jewel was given so much narrative importance that I kept feeling like there must have been some description of their backstory that I missed, but I an pretty sure that is not actually the case. There were also several unfortunate cases of "this character is awesome! SO every other character will talk about it at GREAT LENGTH," most fatally in the case of Jewel. I really like Jewel! And thus, I completely get that Jewel is a great person without everyone else taking lots of pages to stand around talking about it. (Valedan also suffers from a lot from this.) I also have absolutely no idea at this point what the hell is Evayne's deal and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to or not!
On the other hand, the fact that everyone has their own personal backstory and web of complicated relationships makes the world feel very complex and real and interesting, relationships between ladies keep on being extremely important to the narrative (although not as much, sadly, as in the first book - I'm excited to get back to that in the next!) and the finale was a kind of gloriously
Next book, I hope to see Valedan, Alina, Jewel, Kiriel and the Ospreys on a WACKY KINGDOM-CONQUERING ROAD TRIP. And more Serra Teresa!
