Book 1 of the Opal Cowan trilogy
About Storm Glass:
As a glassmaker and a magician-in-training, Opal Cowen understands trial by fire. Now it's time to test her mettle. Someone has sabotaged the Stormdancer clan's glass orbs, killing their most powerful magicians. The Stormdancers—particularly the mysterious and mercurial Kade—require Opal's unique talents to prevent it happening again. But when the mission goes awry, Opal must tap in to a new kind of magic as stunningly potent as it is frightening. And the further she delves into the intrigue behind the glass and magic, the more distorted things appear. With lives hanging in the balance—including her own—Opal must control powers she hadn't known she possessed…powers that might lead to disaster beyond anything she's ever known.Source: Info in the About Storm Glass was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6080889-storm-glass on 17/04/2011.
Review:
I've noticed this annoying tendency to make the character(s) act stupid before with previous Maria V. Snyder work, but because of the fantastic story telling quality, I ignored it and continued reading. But about three quarters into the book, I couldn't forgive it anymore, it's just too irritating! The author make her characters act stupid in a blatant effort to give the story more drama and so that the heroes could show off and save the world, is just too annoying to read, even with the very wonderful and compelling author's voice! I put it down to a weak plot. It is such a pity that this author has such a good voice but writes very weak plot. The only reason this book did not get a less than one rating is it's masterful story telling quality and it's superb world building. And.... I get to re-visit old favourite characters again and that is always a plus for me.
I don't think I would be buying any more work by this author. I really do not like protagonists who are too stupid to live and survived only through sheer dumb luck.
Emperical Evaluation:
Story Telling Quality = 5
Character Development = 3
World Building = 4.5
Pace = 2.5
Plot = 0.5
Ending = 1.5
Final Say: Good voice, weak plot.
Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 cherries
I liked the previous better but I'm going to continue with this series and hope that it'll get better.
ReplyDeleteTell me about it, first it works but then, omg, tstl
ReplyDeletebummr it was iffy
ReplyDeletetnx 4 reviewing
So sorry you've been turned off. I've yet to try this author.
ReplyDelete