So, the plus sides of being a college graduate: being able to read novels in less than a month--hell--being able to read novels!, having time to write blog posts about said novels, and having time to work on my stories. The downsides? Nothing, other than a slowly dwindling bank account...
SO! I'm actually catching up on reviews today; I did do some reading during my very last month of college, but I didn't allow myself to write blog reviews on them yet. I did a re-read of the "Exiles" series by Melanie Rawn, which is my favorite series out of all of her books and I HIGHLY recommend them to anyone. But I think it's always good to look at a book objectively and that the best way to recommend a book to anyone is to recognize its best and worst points.
I love this book a lot. I first picked it up in a library when I was about 12 years old because I thought the cover art was pretty. But Michael Whelan cover art aside, I was and still am drastically impressed with the contents of this book.
A quick summary for you all: In the land of Lenfell, magic is greatly feared and completely outlawed to government officials. Two factions of magic war for control of the country--on one side, the Malerissi, responsible for the brutal destruction of a major city and on the other side, the Mages fiercely hunted by the government and leading a resistance against immoral practices. Torn in this struggle are three sisters, one interested in government and two on either side of the factions, leading them against the other.
I love the structure of this book. The first half of the novel is split up into sections for each of the four main characters, introducing the reader to them, getting them invested in them, and relating their background to the reader. I really appreciate this because Rawn gives you a fair chance to get to know all the characters really well before the action really gets started. In the second half, all the stories are rather masterfully weaved together from 4 different stories into one incredible tale of a warring factions of magic and taking down the tyrant that runs the government and prosecutes mageborns.
Upsides: Incredibly lifelike characters, the masterful structure of the novel, the very interesting content matter. It's one thing to have a warring faction novel--that sort of thing happens all the time, strictly speaking. But the structure of the society and government that Rawn creates are very interesting. It's a matriarchal society--the woman is the head of the household, owns the property and the children, who possess her last name, not the husbands. Husbands are treated as is the wife's protocol, and that having been said, the men are not treated poorly in this novel, but as human beings still. Sons cannot inherit. And it is the First Daughter who gets the majority of the inheritance, the rest being doled out to the other daughters, if any. It's the fact that this plot takes place in this society that makes the whole thing so interesting to me. The laws and structure of the government are so carefully considered in this novel, that you almost think that Lenfell exists somewhere out there.
Downsides: It's been joked on Rawn's forums that she "gives good death." Rawn is fantastic at making every single character really memorable and special. Why is this a downside? Well, some secondary characters are amazing, adorable, wonderful, you love them and wait--what just happened? HOW COULD SHE DO THAT? That sort of reaction when one of your favorite characters is cut down soon before you'd like them to go...that's the biggest downside to me.
It's really a wonderful book. There's so much great playful banter amongst the character, but the banter is still useful to the plot, not superfluous. For me, it's always a book I just breeze through; I can't put it down and I always notice something new every time, a little detail. If you're interested in solving mysteries, a bit of drama, a bit of comedy, and a lot of fantasy you'll like this novel. I think it's the perfect combination of genres. 5/5 Stars is my rating and I would HIGHLY recommend this book. You can borrow one of my many, many copies. Really. I own three copies of the first book and four of the second. I'm really a crazy collector lady. Shh. Don't tell anyone.
Happy reading everyone!
AJ
PS. Next post will be the second book in the Exiles series and after that Margaret Atwood's "the Handmaid's Tale."
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