Jonathan Renshaw
Autor de Dawn of Wonder (The Wakening, #1)
Sobre El Autor
Series
Obras de Jonathan Renshaw
Etiquetado
Conocimiento común
Miembros
Reseñas
Usually, I subtract one star if a story isn't finished, and this absolutely needs a sequel, but it was such a great story that I deviate from my own rule.
It's a powerful story about all sorts of things, and although there is a war in the making, something else seems to be happening, too, as the title says.
We don't know what it is, but it could be something grand, not disastrous.
It's one of the rare fantasy novels where no magic is involved, and none is needed.
What is needed is training, perseverance, and skills.
I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in Aedan's education, his struggles, his weaknesses, and his strengths -- and at times I could have shaken him -- then again, his friends were there to help him do the right things.
Aedan is a strategic mastermind, but has to learn that theory and practice are very different.
I love the idea that the education doesn't just comprise weapon skills, but all other aspects, too, be they boring or not.
I like the idea of getting to know not only different languages, but cultures and traditions, too. This should be mandatory for every school, imo, maybe then there wouldn't be so much war and hatred in this world, most of which is based on ignorance.
Aedan has to overcome his hatred and prejudices in order to learn about his enemies, and I hope I won't have to wait for a whole year or longer to find out how he'll cope.
Tim Gerard Reynolds does another perfect job at narrating this story. When listening to him, I'm really deep into the story and out of this world.
He was the perfect choice for the book, and I hope he'll be commissioned to narrate any sequel.… (más)
It's a powerful story about all sorts of things, and although there is a war in the making, something else seems to be happening, too, as the title says.
We don't know what it is, but it could be something grand, not disastrous.
It's one of the rare fantasy novels where no magic is involved, and none is needed.
What is needed is training, perseverance, and skills.
I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in Aedan's education, his struggles, his weaknesses, and his strengths -- and at times I could have shaken him -- then again, his friends were there to help him do the right things.
Aedan is a strategic mastermind, but has to learn that theory and practice are very different.
I love the idea that the education doesn't just comprise weapon skills, but all other aspects, too, be they boring or not.
I like the idea of getting to know not only different languages, but cultures and traditions, too. This should be mandatory for every school, imo, maybe then there wouldn't be so much war and hatred in this world, most of which is based on ignorance.
Aedan has to overcome his hatred and prejudices in order to learn about his enemies, and I hope I won't have to wait for a whole year or longer to find out how he'll cope.
Tim Gerard Reynolds does another perfect job at narrating this story. When listening to him, I'm really deep into the story and out of this world.
He was the perfect choice for the book, and I hope he'll be commissioned to narrate any sequel.… (más)
This is a tough book to review. There were so many things going right, but the pacing and structure of the story made it drag for me. Did the book need to be this long? Probably not. I think the segmentation of plots into discrete parts was the ultimate downfall. Had some of these threads interwoven and worked together it would have seemed less episodic, and I would have felt like there was a cohesive story. As it was, I was bored by the end of the book and just waiting for it to wrap up.
occasionally engaging, but the characters and dialogue are so childish and cliched that I only made it a few chapters in.
Premios
También Puede Gustarte
Autores relacionados
Estadísticas
- Obras
- 4
- Miembros
- 334
- Popularidad
- #71,211
- Valoración
- 3.9
- Reseñas
- 11
- ISBNs
- 1
- Favorito
- 2
I rather liked the characters. Books of this kind often have main characters with many virtues and few flaws. In this case, Aedan has compelling virtues, like his curiosity and resourcefulness, his good tactical sense, his generosity and his bravery in certain situations, but those are balanced by strong flaws, like the trauma-induced cowardice that paralyzes him and makes him unreliable in some of the most high-stakes situations, his resentful prejudices and his occasional bully-like reactions. Besides, all of those traits are coherent and form a personality that makes sense, knowing as we do the events that have shaped him. Coming to terms with those flaws and overcoming or at least managing them is one of the themes of this first book.
This is a book that takes its time. If the characters travel, it is not dealt with quickly. Things happen on the way, and they are told in a non-perfunctory manner. If the characters are training, we also spend time with them, seeing how it is and what adventures occur to them. This makes for a 700 book. Often these fat epic fantasies seem padded to me, and I end up wishing that the author would just get on with the story, but in this case it worked perfectly for me. I cared about the characters and the story and I wanted to be there with them, experiencing all their adventures, even the more modest ones.
Things I did not like? Well, there were a couple of things that mildly annoyed me, although they did not really diminish my enjoyment of the book. One is anecdotal: a couple of times the author has characters who "kneel down" to talk to the main characters. One may kneel down to talk to toddlers, but not to thirteen year old children. Another thing is that a few times I felt the author was not dealing with some things that should be important for the situation at hand. For example,
The book is the first one in a series. It is a satisfying story on its own. A lot of things happen and the characters come a long way, but in the end they are getting ready for their biggest adventure yet. Obviously I want to read more, but I'll have to wait until the next book is published. In the meantime, I highly recommend this book. There are some very pleasant surprises among the independently-published books, and this is one of them . It deserves more attention.… (más)