Monday 16 March 2009

Book review #1 The Soprano Sorceress by L.E. Modesitt Jr

Admittedly, this is the book I've been struggling with. For this reason, I'm starting with the negative points.
668
I can't place my finger on exactly what I wasn't keen on in this book. In some ways the action was sporadic. I like action, and don't mind books where the pace is slower. There were a few 'oh no' moments, but not nearly enough in a book of this size (668 pages).

The cast: I think this could be why I struggled with it. There were a lot of characters (I'm not against that), and at first it was hard to follow who supported whom, who was 'good' or 'evil' etc. There were several POV's in the novel, again, something which I support. However. I wasn't keen on the switch from past to present tense for the POV's not held by the protagonist Anna. It made for a slower reading. The story behind this work is huge, which made it a little overwhelming for me to follow and keep track of it all. Yes I blame my poor memory in everything other than my own wips.

Having said all that, there were several positive parts.

By the end I'd grown attached to Anna. Initially I read this about 10 years ago. I don't think I was the right age to read it (didn't like it that Anna wasn't the same age as me). Now, with time, I've come to understand teh struggles which Anna has at leaving her grown-up children back on Earth, while she's on Erde. (Oh, sorry, if you wish a summary of this book - go look somewhere else. As you may notice on my previous posts, I am not good at short summarys :) )

Anna's power is phenomenal. When she sings, things happen. She kills a lot of people. Thousands and thousands. She makes mistakes. People look at her disfavourable. I enjoyed all the personal conflict she had, and how she dealt with mistakes. She's not perfect, and admits it. People in the story admire her for that. I admire her for that.

I'm unsure whether I'll read the rest of the series any time soon (if at all) but part of me is interested in what happens next to Anna.

So, I do recommend reading this book, but if it doesn't grab your interest then move on to the next. Life's too short to read every book in the world. Doesn't stop me from trying

No comments: