2012 fantasy. The war in Faerie is over. But not everyone will accept
the rule of the new Prince, and some of them are causing trouble back
on Earth.
Even the name of one protagonist is something of a spoiler, so
I'll avoid giving it; but we have humans with elements of Fae power
here, and heroic sacrifice, and cosmic implications…
So why did it come over as dull?
The viewpoints certainly don't help: not only are there quite a few of
them, but too many of the large cast have names like Falcondream or
Nighthawk or Shower of Stars that give me nothing to associate with
them (and their personalities don't vary much). I like the way that
there are multiple factions each working towards their own slightly
different idea of what's best for everyone, but there seems to be a
lot of round and round and proposal A, proposal B, I don't trust him,
you ought to trust him, we should tell them about it… then the bad
guys kill someone and the cycle starts again.
I kept wanting to like it, but there was just no emotional engagement
for me, even when people were threatened with injury or death. And
since Malan, quite properly, doesn't like wrapping up complicated
situations with a quick happily-ever-after, things are left relatively
open for another book… which hasn't been published.
It has its moments, and doesn't just poke the standard Urban Fantasy
buttons, but there's not much to grab the reader here. Particularly
after the first volume, this was something of a disappointment.
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