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books2013-09-15 02:44 pm
angel_negra) wrote in books2013-09-15 02:44 pm
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Book Review: Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin
I discovered this series when Felicia Day was recommending the latest book in her old Flog webseries. The story follows Raine Benares, an elf in the land of Mermia. She's a low level sorceress from a family of criminals who specializes in finding lost magical artifacts. She winds up coming into contact with a magical beacon - in the form of an amulet that bonds to her and can't be removed without killing her - that is linked to a powerful, evil artifact and suddenly has a whole lot evil and good people coming after her.
I didn't like this story as much as I wanted to. When I initially picked the series up, I was rather excited because the cover art didn't overly sexualize the female on the cover and I liked the idea of not just a female protagonist, but one who was a bit more morally grey. Now, let me state for the record that this wasn't a bad book. Shearin is a good writer, and she excels at action scenes, which is something I always love but find that not all authors can manage.
The story itself moves along at a decent pace, though there are times when the characters have a tendency to get sidetracked in talking about random tangents, which drags the pace down a bit. The world building is also really well done and well thought out. The city/land of Mermia is similar to Venice in that it's not only a port town, but one that has canals for travel and there are a lot of good details for it. The layout of the town, the various districts and such, all feel very grounded and you really get a sense of the characters moving through the world and not just suddenly appearing in Random Medieval/Fantasy Setting #7.
The various magic classes are also interesting. My favourite being the spellsingers, who cast spells by using their voices - either in song or by humming. But the magical system itself works nicely and it also didn't feel like a tired retread of every magical fantasy system ever.
What kept me from enjoying this book as much as I wanted to was purely a matter of taste. Shearin's characterization of Raine is similar to Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake. It's first person, with two love interests - one bad boy that Raine can't resist even though he's even more morally grey and one good boy who's a big noble sorcerer - and the general attitude of Raine as the blase, snarky tough chick who's also vulnerable. (Mind you, it's not a giant gothic sexapalooza like some of Hamilton's later works, more similar to the first and second novels of Anita Blake.) And this really is a taste thing, because I genuinely used to love Anita Blake and had I acquired Shearin's books back then, I would have adored it.
But now, I find the blase/snark tends to take me out of the story. It makes the dangers Raine is facing feel far less threatening and when she's telling me how scary, evil the big artifact is and why she doesn't want to tap it, I'm too removed to feel like she's making the right choice. It makes me feel more that she's simply telling the readers this because this is the choice she has to make, not the one she truly wants to, so it feels more like she's caving to peer pressure than to her own moral code.
I'd also have been happier if there hadn't been an attempt at a love triangle. The bad boy love interest actually shows a lot of how much he cares for Raine and makes several choices over the course of the book that made for some interesting character development, especially in light of his feelings for Raine. And I think that trying to spread some of the focus to the hot, new good guy love interest takes away a lot of the punch of those moments.
On the whole, it was a good book. And if you're a fan of early Anita Blake or similar snarky heroines, you would really love this series. If you're less of a fan, I would recommend at least checking out this book from the library. It's solid enough that I think it's worth a try, if only to see some fresh takes on the medieval/fantasy world building.
I didn't like this story as much as I wanted to. When I initially picked the series up, I was rather excited because the cover art didn't overly sexualize the female on the cover and I liked the idea of not just a female protagonist, but one who was a bit more morally grey. Now, let me state for the record that this wasn't a bad book. Shearin is a good writer, and she excels at action scenes, which is something I always love but find that not all authors can manage.
The story itself moves along at a decent pace, though there are times when the characters have a tendency to get sidetracked in talking about random tangents, which drags the pace down a bit. The world building is also really well done and well thought out. The city/land of Mermia is similar to Venice in that it's not only a port town, but one that has canals for travel and there are a lot of good details for it. The layout of the town, the various districts and such, all feel very grounded and you really get a sense of the characters moving through the world and not just suddenly appearing in Random Medieval/Fantasy Setting #7.
The various magic classes are also interesting. My favourite being the spellsingers, who cast spells by using their voices - either in song or by humming. But the magical system itself works nicely and it also didn't feel like a tired retread of every magical fantasy system ever.
What kept me from enjoying this book as much as I wanted to was purely a matter of taste. Shearin's characterization of Raine is similar to Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake. It's first person, with two love interests - one bad boy that Raine can't resist even though he's even more morally grey and one good boy who's a big noble sorcerer - and the general attitude of Raine as the blase, snarky tough chick who's also vulnerable. (Mind you, it's not a giant gothic sexapalooza like some of Hamilton's later works, more similar to the first and second novels of Anita Blake.) And this really is a taste thing, because I genuinely used to love Anita Blake and had I acquired Shearin's books back then, I would have adored it.
But now, I find the blase/snark tends to take me out of the story. It makes the dangers Raine is facing feel far less threatening and when she's telling me how scary, evil the big artifact is and why she doesn't want to tap it, I'm too removed to feel like she's making the right choice. It makes me feel more that she's simply telling the readers this because this is the choice she has to make, not the one she truly wants to, so it feels more like she's caving to peer pressure than to her own moral code.
I'd also have been happier if there hadn't been an attempt at a love triangle. The bad boy love interest actually shows a lot of how much he cares for Raine and makes several choices over the course of the book that made for some interesting character development, especially in light of his feelings for Raine. And I think that trying to spread some of the focus to the hot, new good guy love interest takes away a lot of the punch of those moments.
On the whole, it was a good book. And if you're a fan of early Anita Blake or similar snarky heroines, you would really love this series. If you're less of a fan, I would recommend at least checking out this book from the library. It's solid enough that I think it's worth a try, if only to see some fresh takes on the medieval/fantasy world building.