don't need to look no further
So Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta. Tell me your thoughts about it! (But not Froi of the Exiles yet, as I have just started that and don't want to be spoiled! Do I need to read Ferragost, and if so, do you know how I can get hold of it?)
I liked it a lot. I thought the writing was fantastic and it was a serious examination of life in exile and what homecoming would be like for both those who fled and those who were forced to remain. I really liked Finnikin even when his stubbornness annoyed me, and I really liked Evanjalin even when she did things that were highly questionable. The book did enough things well, and a few things unexpectedly, enough so that when it did things I did expect, I wasn't annoyed. See Evanjalin's identity. I guess I didn't have a clear idea as to how old she was when the five days of the unspeakable happened, because early on, I was like, she is totally going to turn out to be Isaboe, but how come Finnikin doesn't recognize her? and then I kind of let it slide, because she was apparently really young the last time he saw her? So the reveal was not a surprise (I'm not sure it was supposed to be?).
My one issue is with Froi. Given that he tries to rape Evanjalin early on, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about him being the protagonist of the second book. *hands* We'll see, I suppose.
I thought the last section was a little exposition heavy, and I would have liked a map so I could figure out where everything was in relation to everything else (I like maps, okay?), but overall, I totally recommend it.
I also read Tessa Dare's A Lady By Midnight, the third Spindle Cove book, and I liked it - lots of stoical pining by Corporal Thorne - but it didn't match up to A Week to Be Wicked for me. I feel like I took Thorne's assessment of Drewe's threat level at face value, so I kept waiting for something really terrible to happen, which gave the book a different vibe (spoiler: nothing really terrible happens; it is the typical romance novel shenanigans). But I still liked it.
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This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/497719.html.
people have commented there.
I liked it a lot. I thought the writing was fantastic and it was a serious examination of life in exile and what homecoming would be like for both those who fled and those who were forced to remain. I really liked Finnikin even when his stubbornness annoyed me, and I really liked Evanjalin even when she did things that were highly questionable. The book did enough things well, and a few things unexpectedly, enough so that when it did things I did expect, I wasn't annoyed. See Evanjalin's identity. I guess I didn't have a clear idea as to how old she was when the five days of the unspeakable happened, because early on, I was like, she is totally going to turn out to be Isaboe, but how come Finnikin doesn't recognize her? and then I kind of let it slide, because she was apparently really young the last time he saw her? So the reveal was not a surprise (I'm not sure it was supposed to be?).
My one issue is with Froi. Given that he tries to rape Evanjalin early on, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about him being the protagonist of the second book. *hands* We'll see, I suppose.
I thought the last section was a little exposition heavy, and I would have liked a map so I could figure out where everything was in relation to everything else (I like maps, okay?), but overall, I totally recommend it.
I also read Tessa Dare's A Lady By Midnight, the third Spindle Cove book, and I liked it - lots of stoical pining by Corporal Thorne - but it didn't match up to A Week to Be Wicked for me. I feel like I took Thorne's assessment of Drewe's threat level at face value, so I kept waiting for something really terrible to happen, which gave the book a different vibe (spoiler: nothing really terrible happens; it is the typical romance novel shenanigans). But I still liked it.
*
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/497719.html.
people have commented there.