satalasers (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
satalasers) wrote2020-06-21 11:01 am
satalasers) wrote2020-06-21 11:01 am
Entry tags:
David Hair - Mage's Blood
I know I've gone off A Song Of Ice And Fire, and I know that on the front cover of this book, it said if you like GOT, you'll like this, but despite everything, there really were parts of it that I did like, even though there was plenty that I didn't.
- It was super lazy with the naming conventions! Hebusalem? Rimoni? Shihad? Silicy? Like, on one hand, this made it easy to tell that one country was Fantasy India, but on the other hand, it was hard to be impressed because the author was like 'hmm, I'll just shuffle a couple of letters, so it's familiar but not too familiar!'
- Also, man, if you going to use Fantasy Romani, and change it to Rimoni, if you're going to use the slur, why not alter the lettering for that as well? Instead of 'oh okay, so the slur is same in both Urte as it is in Earth. :/// It's probably not a solution, but I'm still a bit :/ about it.
- Honestly, what got me curious about the book series was the blurb, where it spoke about a jaded merc, a failed magician, and a market girl, and I was sort of curious if it was going to be a love triangle? It wasn't, the mercenary is the magician's aunt, and the market girl doesn't have any idea who these two are, and none of the three interact at all.
- It was pretty easy to see Ramita as a Dany parallel, TBH? Um, I mean their situations are fairly different, and they are very different people, but she definitely reminded me most of GOT. But I liked Ramita, and how she grew into her role.
- Originally, I was kind of routing for Ramita/Kazim, but the more murderous Kazim became, the less I liked him. Whether he changes from that, IDK. But I think I'm tempted enough to find out, if they allegedly 'destined' they are to become? It seems like it's over from Ramita's point of view too, but who knows?
- Didn't care that much for Alaron, but his best friends were great. They knew he was a bit a twit, but they loved him anyway. I enjoyed the time they spent together.
- Elena was good! I liked her past and how now she's got morals and attached to people. I still kind of ship Gyle/Elena a bit, despite everything, even if both parties realized that actually, what they had wasn't love. But I still liked them.
- I probably shouldn't like Gyle? But I do.
- I got super annoyed at Cera, though. I get that she'd be manipulated by Gyle, because of her feelings for Elena, and because she's 18, and trying to be queen, but still. I hope she figures that she made a mistake, and feels remorse.
- I liked the magic system!
- There was too much sex in this book. I know I always say this, and I shouldn't be surprised, considering it's probably inspired a bit by the GRRM trend, but part of me still thinks, you could cut it. You could cut so much of it out and the book wouldn't lose a thing.
Hm. There's so many characters, that I know I'm going to have to do a reread to remember who is who, and I know it's better to buy the next seven books and get through them as quick as possible so I'm not forgetting things, but at the same time, I don't like that I can't read a book in one day. (Which, nitpicking, I know, is different to choosing to spread out a couple of nights to read a book.)
It's just. It's really a heavy book. :(
- It was super lazy with the naming conventions! Hebusalem? Rimoni? Shihad? Silicy? Like, on one hand, this made it easy to tell that one country was Fantasy India, but on the other hand, it was hard to be impressed because the author was like 'hmm, I'll just shuffle a couple of letters, so it's familiar but not too familiar!'
- Also, man, if you going to use Fantasy Romani, and change it to Rimoni, if you're going to use the slur, why not alter the lettering for that as well? Instead of 'oh okay, so the slur is same in both Urte as it is in Earth. :/// It's probably not a solution, but I'm still a bit :/ about it.
- Honestly, what got me curious about the book series was the blurb, where it spoke about a jaded merc, a failed magician, and a market girl, and I was sort of curious if it was going to be a love triangle? It wasn't, the mercenary is the magician's aunt, and the market girl doesn't have any idea who these two are, and none of the three interact at all.
- It was pretty easy to see Ramita as a Dany parallel, TBH? Um, I mean their situations are fairly different, and they are very different people, but she definitely reminded me most of GOT. But I liked Ramita, and how she grew into her role.
- Originally, I was kind of routing for Ramita/Kazim, but the more murderous Kazim became, the less I liked him. Whether he changes from that, IDK. But I think I'm tempted enough to find out, if they allegedly 'destined' they are to become? It seems like it's over from Ramita's point of view too, but who knows?
- Didn't care that much for Alaron, but his best friends were great. They knew he was a bit a twit, but they loved him anyway. I enjoyed the time they spent together.
- Elena was good! I liked her past and how now she's got morals and attached to people. I still kind of ship Gyle/Elena a bit, despite everything, even if both parties realized that actually, what they had wasn't love. But I still liked them.
- I probably shouldn't like Gyle? But I do.
- I got super annoyed at Cera, though. I get that she'd be manipulated by Gyle, because of her feelings for Elena, and because she's 18, and trying to be queen, but still. I hope she figures that she made a mistake, and feels remorse.
- I liked the magic system!
- There was too much sex in this book. I know I always say this, and I shouldn't be surprised, considering it's probably inspired a bit by the GRRM trend, but part of me still thinks, you could cut it. You could cut so much of it out and the book wouldn't lose a thing.
Hm. There's so many characters, that I know I'm going to have to do a reread to remember who is who, and I know it's better to buy the next seven books and get through them as quick as possible so I'm not forgetting things, but at the same time, I don't like that I can't read a book in one day. (Which, nitpicking, I know, is different to choosing to spread out a couple of nights to read a book.)
It's just. It's really a heavy book. :(