Disclaimer: This isnt as much a review of the book as it is a report on my enjoyment of the book, and its probably more useful as a way to check on my tastes and quirks than to decide whether to read the book[return][return]It's terribly hard to write a book and I am conscious I couldn't even write something half as good as an awful book. And this book is not awful at all! [return]But this is just to say I hate to criticise someone's hard work, but when I try to write a review books I often end up thinking about where the book could have been great if only... and then it sounds harsher than it should be.[return][return]--------------------------------------------[return][return]This is the third book in a series and you really need the first two to enjoy it. As all middle books it mostly moves things along, and follows 2 separate groups as they both try to resolve their common problem - get princess Inos back to her country and her throne. [return][return]The world is rather fascinating, plenty of cultures and races to go around -many very similar to our idea of old cultures on earth, so it is easy to pick up an "image" of them. The politics are believable. There are lot of "staples", but the overall story has enough departures from cliche to be entertaining (I am quite allergic to too much cliches)[return][return]The concept of magic is simple but quite rich, based on words of power that people can learn, accumulate (with near exponential effects), share (but that dilutes them). This carries a lot of the plot and creates a lot of interesting dilemnas and situations. I think this concept of magic is a great plot device and I hope he keeps exploring it.[return][return]Still I don't like this series as much as I like some other Duncan books I read. I had them on my wishlist for a long time, that might be why I am a bit harsh with them.[return][return]First it feels a bit disjuncted to me, like a bunch of scenes not a sweeping story. I find it hard to get a mental map of what's where, because people are moved around by magic, and the passing of time is not always very clear - in some cases I read 2 chapters before realising that months and months had passed somewhere 2 chapters ago... I dont think I could tell how many days have passed since the beginning of the story or where they have been and where the characters are in respect to where they were a year ago... It doesnt help that the 2 groups of characters are not in sync in time in the flow of the story, or at least it doesnt feel that way to me. Although it could also be a failure in this reader to pick up on things in the books[return][return]Its the characters I find hard to believe and care about - many of them are far denser than I could believe. How can they not know they have a crush, how can someone like Rap really so inconsiderate of his own life. The relationships between the characters, even the secondary ones, just dont make much sense to me, and the motivations of the secondary characters and adversaries dont always make sense. Some of it gives me the same puzzlement as catching an unknown soap opera does - too many bad decisions...[return][return]Of course this makes it a change from all these books where the protagonists are so clever, perceptive and talented, and it means I still enjoy these books, because it is a welcome change - but too much of one. Although the fact that Inos manages to annoy the hell out of me means that the author has done a good enough job to pull me in a bit, no matter what I say that I find them hard to believe. [return][return]The end rather precipitates events and things are a bit surprising and break nicely with the cliches built throughout the book - very crafty of the author.[return][return]All in all an enjoyable story, and I suspect the final volume will be full of surprises (because I cannot figure out how he will wrap it up!), and nice small books which makes it easy to read. And the end is a big change of tone and pace which does make me want to continue reading
I must go down to the seas again,to the lonely sea and the sky,And all I ask is a tall shipand a star to steer her by.tMasefield, Sea-Fever The stableboy and the princess, Rap and Inosolan, are still journeying towards each other in this third episode of the Man of His Word epic, with no signs yet of the finish line. I complained in the second book about this time spent in preparation, in building a strong political argument around two young heroes who didn't ask to live in 'interesting times', as the Chinese call these periods of upheaval that can topple empires. Perilous Seas was a much easier and much more interesting literary journey for me. I believe I caught the sea fever of Masefield's poems, so that I find it easier to hear the call of adventure, the magical attraction of discovering new countries and new people in Pandemia: The splendour falls on castle walls,And snowy summits old in story ...O sweet and far from cliff and scarThe horns of Elfland faintly blowing!tTennyson, The Princess Rap is forced back onto a ship, very much against his will, at the mercy of a ruthless jottnar with claims to the throne of Krasnegar. It is about time he levels up and takes charge of his fate, like one of my RPG heroes in gaming. I liked how Duncan handles the magic system of powerful words that give the recipients their special abilities, enhancing their native talents. With a second word of power, gained in a terrible conflict with a dragon, Rap is better equipped to play a larger role on the chessboard dominated by the four Pandemian warlocks who each controls four such words. I expect in the next volume, Rap will gain even more power. A mage, knowing but three words, can perform only magic, not full sorcery. Sorcery is permanent, magic only temporary. It varies - people are more easily influenced than inanimate objects. [...] Even warlocks are very careful around the Gods, friend Rap. Gods rarely manifest so close an interest in human affairs, but when They do, then sorcery is nothing! The power of the Gods is unlimited. This heavy use of magic in the plot construction is one of the strong elements of the series, together with the likable characters and the straightforward, often humorous prose style. A minor complaint is the still ambiguous role played by the Gods, who only put in a brief appearance in the first book, issuing an obscure 'gnomic utterance' (see Diana Wynne Jones' Tough Guide to FantasyLand) about trusting in the power of love. I was also expecting Inosolan to be less passive, and manifest some special abilities to match those of Rap, but I guess I have to wait for the final installment. Right now she is very decorative and more than a little grumpy at not getting her wishes fulfilled, coming back at the end of this first book to the desert palace she was sent to at the end of the first novel: She was as beautiful as a poet's dream of maidenhood. Her expression of suicidal sulks would have shamed a six-year-old being sent to bed without supper. All in all, an excellent continuation of the adventure of Rap and Inosolan, the two young lovers who don't even recognize they are crazy about each other yet, and who are still travelling towards a reunion that promises to be cataclysmic. In fact, this third novel ends in a huge cliffhanger that turned all my expectations on their head. (view spoiler)[ Inos gets married to the Sultan Azak and rejects Rap's rescuing attempts, sending him to be tortured to within an inch of his life in the sultan's dungeons. (hide spoiler)]
