Title: Shaman's Crossing
Author: Robin Hobb
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 607
Quality Rating: 6
Content Rating: PG-13
The first book of the Soldier Son Trilogy was slow to start, and for a while I seriously considered putting it down (especially since Beth Revis' book had just come out when I started it). The story is told in first person, as if someone is telling their life story from the end of their life, and to me this made the story very detached. I didn't feel like I was growing up with Nevare Burvelle, I felt like I was sitting and listening to someone tell me about Nevare Burvelle growing up. However, halfway through the book, Nevare went off to the Academy to become an officer in the Calvary. Suddenly, a boring book about a boy growing up was a military academy story, and I love a good military academy story. (I blame this on too many Star Wars books). Suddenly the book was brisk and fast paced. I felt like I was with Nevare, no longer just listening. Suddenly it was a book worth reading. The book kept its brisk pace until the end and left me wondering what would become of this cadet.
This book gets a PG-13 rating for some ridiculously awful hazing, 1800s-esque violence (swords and guns), sexual situations, plague-like disease, and death.
Ugh...you lost me at "first person". I really really dislike stories in first person.
ReplyDeleteMichael, I don't dislike first person as a rule, but I think it is very hit or miss. This one was a definite miss for me. But the Dresden Files are all written in first person, and I love them. So I really think it depends.
ReplyDelete