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Sunday, August 15, 2010

The Fall by Garth Nix

The Fall (The Seventh Tower, #1)The Fall by Garth Nix

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Since I have become a full-blown Garth Nix fan, I looked for his other titles, and found The Sevent Tower series. This first installment surprised me in a couple of ways. First, it is significantly shorter than the books (and series) I am used to reading. I guess that I am stepping down a reading level or two, since I would put this one within the reach of 3rd-6th graders. A bit young for my tastes. The other surprising thing is that even though it is short, and for a younger crowd, I still enjoy his characters and world. In about 20 minutes of reading he has set the stage for another fantastical world that makes sense, but is on the abstract side. I guess one of the reasons I like his stuff is because it is the type of stories I would like to come up with.

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Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan

Winter's Heart (Wheel of Time, #9)Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Ah, what more can I say. The series is consistant. There is too much time spent on politcal intrigue and character's plotting and planning, and too little time spent seeing those action come to life. The old writing rule of thumb of "show them the story, don't tell them the story" should have been applied within this story as well. While Jordan shows us his character's planning, he neglects to realize that we really want to see the story happen. It is like writing a story and explaining all of the planning and prewriting and editing that went into the process. It just isn't helpful.

So the bright spot is a particulary cool ending. Something actually happended in the last few chapters, and it affected the macro-story in a big way. There were a few chapters there where once again he had me on the edge of my seat, flipping through the pages as fast as I could. It hearkened back to his first few books that earned him the fan base and reputation he has now.

Another solid 3.259384593845 stars.

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