Anime review: "Nurarihyon no Mago"

I don't know why or when I put "Nurarihyon no Mago" in my wishlist, but I have watched it last week because I felt like watching some simple shounen action anime. It turned out that I should have picked something else.

"Nurarihyon no Mago" is a typical shounen anime. Nura Rikuo is a high-school boy, proper and a do-gooder. But he is also grandson of leader of strong Nura demon clan, legendary Nurarihyon. He lives with his grandfather, mother and numerous demons from the Nura clan. Despite his inheritance, he refuses to follow his demon side and wants to live as a human, together with his friends from school, who are unaware of anything. But things are getting complicated in demon world and Rikuo's thirteenth birthday, mark of demon's majority, is coming close...

As I said, "Nurarihyon no Mago" follows typical shounen tropes. A kid who doesn't want to accept his other side, being pushed into it by circumstances and care for his friends. Also, there is a stream of gradually stronger enemies, culminating in fight against leader of another demon clan (based on tanukis).

But in realization, this anime doesn't suffice. First few episodes are very bad, too generic and childish. This is also true for the main character, who is bland. There is a predictable pattern - Rikuo is attacked, defended by his demon friends/servants until they prove to be too weak and then his alter ego appears who wins everything with no effort, paralely spattering cool sayings.

There is no concern for consistency: e.g. when a building explodes, what happens with destroyed parts? Another: one room is breaking apart, while people in the next one don't realize a thing. There are only confused explanations about relationship between demons and humans. Prior history and Rikuo's origins are totally neglected, even though missing of his father just begs for explanation. The ending is pretty dull, especially the last fight. Also, what was the point with the sword??

I don't even want to go into characters. They are tropes, with no background, no dimension and no character. They also scream and shout a lot.

I had big doubts after first three episodes whether to continue watching it. There are few good episodes in the middle, but even they are nothing to be proud of. I finished it more to confirm my opinion that this is a bad anime.

Design of characters and background is also bad, so the anime doesn't have anything commend itself on visual or audio side. That CGI train was especially irritating. There are 24 episodes.

All in all, "Nurarihyon no Mago" is one of the worst anime I have watched in a long time, and I wouldn't even recommend it to most avid shounen action fans. If you want to watch a really good shounen anime with demons, watch "Kekkaishi"!

Book of review: "God of Clocks" by Alan Campbell

This weekend I finished "God of Clocks" by Allan Campbell, the last book in his "Deepgate Codex" trilogy. I really liked his first book, "Scar Night" and found it very gritty and full of epic action. The second one, "Iron Angel" took the series to an unexpected expansion, making it very different from the first one, but I liked it very much also. So I had some expectation from this last one.

In last book, things weren't going were well for our main heroes (although this is maybe a wrong word). Even though they managed to save Dill from Hell's King Menoa, Menoa had used them to deliver twelve unstoppable arconites to the world of living. To thwart him, they devise a desperate plan: former Spine assassin Rachel Heal, thaumaturgist Mina Green, god places in glass body Hasp will lead arconite Dill to the God of Time Sabor, where they will attack the Heaven in hope that this will anger Ayen, mother of all creation, enough that she will destroy all arconites. At the same time, the god Cospinol and his servant John Archer, with former Mesmerist Alice Harper serving as they guide, will try to make a distraction and attack Menoa's stronghold in Hell...

At first, I had some trouble adapting to "God of Clocks" because I forgot a lot what happened at the end of its prequel, "Iron Angel". But I overcome this fast, especially because this book feel almost like a continuation of the last part of "Iron Angel": the Pandermia, the Mesmerists, Hell, arconites, war between gods... Of course, it is hard to add new elements in last book of series, but after a tremendous change between "Scar Night" and its sequel, I expected some surprise.

There are two big flaws in this book in my opinion. First is the constant action. From the page one till the end, you don't get any rest. It's action, action, action. I know that this sound strange, because action equals interesting. But you don't get any time to absorb what is happening and you are just constantly jumping from one scene to another, without really getting an attachment to plot and characters. It all leaves you tired from reading.

I admit that plot is interesting and really unpredictable, but here is the second, more important flaw: the ending. This book looks like Campbell wrote half of it and then decided that he doesn't feel like writing it any more. But since he was obligate to finish it, he wrote up the plot-line that gives ending, rearanged chapter and left everything else at cliffhanger. Sure, book had an ending, even a satisfactory one, but there is just too much question left unanswered. Too much...

Campbell's characters in last two books were superb. Here they retain most of their quality, the old ones. Several new characters are good, although not exceptional. But again, the abrupt ending leaves both heir history and future unresolved and unfinished. The bright point was reappearance of Carnival as a character, but even though she got some pages, they can be compressed to few words: anger, violence, unbending. This would be all right I she got some resolution at the end, but that nonsensical two pages just don't cut it.

All in all, "God of Clocks" was a big disappointment for me. It had a big potential, with really unique setting, great characters and very gritty and dark atmosphere. But sudden ending ruined the experience for me. Not sure if I would recommend this book even the fans of the series.

Book review: "The Elfstones of Shannara" by Terry Brooks

I had a pretty busy week, so I was slow with my reading and then late with writing this review. Also, I wasn't much into reading it after the disaster that was "The Sword of Shannara". Thankfully, I again remembered to make some notes. So, here is my review of the second book in "Original Shannara Trilogy" by Terry Brooks: "The Elfstones of Shannara".

Events in this book take place some fifty years after the defeat of Warlock Lord in tSoS. There were no major problems in Four Lands for some time now: Gnomes kept themselves peaceful, Elves and Dwarves were nurturing they friendship, and even the Trolls were slowly getting friendly with others. Humans drifted a bit toward the isolationism, but they were at least not bothering anyone. But this is about to change. Ellcrys, a sacred tree of Elves, one which even they forgot the true reason of existence, is dying. And with its death, Deamons of the old times, times even before human dominance, kept away by Ellcrys and its spell of Forbidding, will be released from their prison. The only chance Elves and other races have, is to plant a seed of Ellcrys. Amberle, granddaughter of Elven King Eventine Essendil, unwillingly set on a journey to find a mythical Bloodfire, and by immersing the seed in it, restoring the Forbidding. On this quest, she is guarded by Will, grandson of Shea Ohmsford, sent by Allanon as the only person who can wield the Elfstones and thus protect Amberle from the Demons. Meanwhile, Allanon and the Elves, with every allies they can find, will try to stall the Demons from overrunning the whole land...

The start of "The Elfstones of Shannara" makes brighter promise that "The Sword of Shannara". It introduces a new and original story, more distinctive and powerful main enemy, new and larger cast of characters... After few dozen pages, you get the feeling like someone else wrote this second book - humor, women, not everyone is noble... there is even seduction - which would be impossible in "The Sword of Shannara", at least for simple reason that there wasn't any women. Compared to tSoS, this is a big improvement. For me, most interesting part was in later stages of the book, when they were first exploring the Wilderun. I was surprised with somewhat abrupt ending.

But considering this book alone, there is still much room for improvement. Even though this plot is original (as in not copied from some other writer) it is still a common fantasy story. Maybe it was fresher when it was originally published in 1982, but nowadays it sounds like something from a bad fantasy movie. Also, it is quite dour fantasy - there is not much humor, almost everybody is noble and serious.

There is still some problems with setting, although not as much in tSos:  years don't match; Elves live longer, but Essendil and few other Elves are old with 80... Also, a missing community of Elves would be much more convincing if they didn't live 3 days from the rest of their people; also, wouldn't someone see the giant elf-carrying birds? Characters are also better, but as I said, they are too dour and serious. Allanon is irritating instead of mysterious, as he is constantly referred to.

I also realized one of the things that were bothering me. Why are all the bad guys mute? Introduction in the book, featuring the Dagda Mor, made me hopeful, but he proved a bit disappointment, same as the Changeling and the Reaper. I understand that is classical epic fantasy, but some more understanding and exploration of the other side would be appreciated.

One curious note: when Brooks first introduced Rovers, my immediate action was to compare the release dates of "The Eye of the World" and tEoS, and a to think "Why would Jordan stoop so low of base his Tinker of Brooks' Rovers?!". Continued reading made me realize they are not SO much similar. Nevertheless, I am curious whether Robert Jordan really made homage to Brooks, or they are just both based on Gypsies or some other source?

Again, comparing "The Elfstones of Shannara" to "The Sword of Shannara" makes the former a dramatic improvement, but considering today standards (even though this can't be taken as mitigation, since "Lord of the Rings" was published almost 20 years earlier and is still a fresh book), this is not very good book. But if this trend continues, fourth or fifth sequels could be good.

Book review: "The Sword of Shannara" by Terry Brooks

When I started buying books from Amazon (also, kudos for this), I checked Wikipedia and other resources for examples of epic fantasy, especially for longer series. In such way I found about "The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan, "Malazan Book of the Fallen" by Steven Erikson, "Belgariad/Malloreon" by David Eddings, "The Rifttwar Saga" by Raymond E. Feist... There are many series, most of which I haven't still read, although for the most I have plan to read them eventually. Since I was self-restricted on one book per month, I had much spare time, so I would usually read detailed synopsis, sometimes even for the whole series. One of these was the whole "Shannara" series by Terry Brooks. This was one series that I didn't really like from what I read about it - it all smelled me too much of sucking money from the fans (something like Feist). Repetitive stories, jumping back in time, mixing it with urban fantasy... But the first few books sounded OK, and I found it mentioned a lot on blogs I follow, so when an e-book containing first three books of the series (the original "Shannara Trilogy") become available (for fair price, even) I decided to buy it. Even if it was bad, it would be an education experience - reading on of the classics of fantasy. This is my review of the first book, "The Sword of Shannara".

Since this is one of classics and it was written in seventies, the usual fantasy plot was somewhat expected. Two brothers, Shea and Flick, are living peaceful lives in Shady Vale. This is all interrupted when they are visited by Allanon, who they know only as wandering mystic, historian and philosopher. Allanon explains Shea, who was adopted in Ohmsford family, that he is a direct and only living descendant of ancient Elven King Jerle Shannara, and us such he is the only person in whole world capable of wielding his heritage, the Sword of Shannara. This is necessary because an old enemy of mankind, the Warlock Lord, is again on rise and is threatening to destroy all civilization. So Shae must journey to Paranor, old Druid Keep, to find the Sword and defeat the Warlock Lord. On his journey he is joined by his brother Flick, their friend Menion, and later by Balinor (Prince of old Human Kindgdom of Callahorn, dedicated to guarding the Human frontier), Handel (a Dwarf), and Durin and Dayel (two Elven nobles). And of course, Allanon, who is in fact the last Druid. On their journey they are opposed by Skull Bearers (black winged minions of Warlock Lord), Gnomes and Trolls.


If this reminds you to "The Lord of the Rings", this is because "Sword of Shannara" is pretty much blatant (and worse) copy of it. There is an escape from remote and peaceful valley without guidance, scary black pursuers with blood-freezing screams, a party composed of all free races... There is even a tentacle-monster living in a lake and a journey under a mountain. I know that many fantasy series found their inspiration in LotR (some would say even my beloved WoT), but not in this way and not this much. Later in the book things start moving off from Tolkien and start sounding original and interesting, but damage was already done at this point.


One good thing that Brooks does is in making a setting with interesting history, one that is connected to our present one. The bad side of it is that it is revealed in a big and obvious info-dump on the very beginning. It would be much more convincing if he had found some gradual way to reveal it. Also, there is very little sense of novelty in this book. Our heroes visit the villages of Dwarves and Gnomes, but we found almost nothing about them - like they are not different and they visit them every day. In fact, everything I know about the Gnomes in this book is that they are "yellowish" and "smaller than man" - almost nothing about their physical look, society, intelligence, habits... Similar for other races.


I usually refrain from second-guessing the characters, because this is the death of books (you know, why just they didn't kill Sauron or destroyed the Ring and saved themselves from troubles), but this book has so many problems that I just couldn't stop myself. Most of it sounds unconvincing and inconsistent. Shae founds out a complete reversal of everything he knew and believed, immediately accepts it and calmly proceeds with planning what next he will do. Handel is taciturn, moody, cheerful, grizzled, scared of basements (a racial trait of Dwarves!!!), brave, masterful tactician... I know people are complex, but not this much. All enemies are stupid, clumsy, gullible and incompetent - while our heroes are lucky, smart and dexterous. 


Then there are problems with Brook's writing. First, enemies are totally indistinctive - there is only two named enemies, one of the being the main big bad. Constant in-paragraph changes of POV are slightly irritating, especially at first. I couldn't make a mental picture of any characters - I couldn't even determine the age of Shae and Flick (somewhere between 16 and 36). Using contemporary expressions like "robotlike appearance" and "Spartanlike barracks" didn't help. My favorite was description of Hendel stalking on his "catlike feet" - a Dwarf with a "catlike feet"!!!


Tolkien received some objections for lack of strong female characters, but here there is absolutely no female characters in first half of book (except two (two!) mentions of Hendel's absent wife and Dayel's absent fiancée each). No one has wife, mother or daughter - especially not Gnomes, Trolls or Dwarves (there was some vague impression that Humans live in families, so I presume they include women). And when that one female character appear (her name is Shirl Ravenlock and she is a redhead Princess - I didn't know ravens are red) her only purpose is to be an object of love and something to protect for one of main characters. She actually says that her only wish is to support him (from away, I presume).


In conclusion, "The Sword of Shannara" is a terrible book, worse even than those by Terry Goodkind (if there wasn't Terry Pratchet, I would say that the name Terry was cursed). You know that feeling when you are read a good book and you just can't leave it without reading another page/paragraph/sentence. Well, I didn't felt in once while reading this book. What's worse, I am now stuck with reading the whole trilogy.

Movie review: "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"

This weekend I watched "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" with my girlfriend. I liked first three movies in PotC series, and the fact that this part is based upon a very good book of the same title by Tim Powers was an additional treat. That is, until I watched the movie.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" has the weakest plot of the movies from the series so far. It features Jack Sparrow in search for the Fountain of Youth, sometimes with and sometimes against notorious captain Blackbeard. In this mess are also included long known characters as Master Gibbs and Captain Barbossa, and some new one as Angelica (ex-nun, daughter of Blackbeard and Jack's past love), Ponce de Leon, Spanish Armada, sirens... PotC movies were always flamboyant, but usually there was some sense and consistency to the plot - now there is almost none. And connection to "On Stranger Tides" by Tim Powers is almost nonexistent - there is some voodoo present, and I presume that character of Philip is loosely based on early Jack Chandagnac from the book. Characters are also worse than in previous movies, without much sparks - I especially disliked Barbossa this time.

All in all, quite disappointment if you expected much from this movie, whether you like first three movies or the book it is allegedly based upon. On the other hand, "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" is decent enough pirates-based comedy for a lazy afternoon, to watch with your family.

Movie review: "Man on a Ledge"

Few days ago I stumbled at my friend's home while they were watching "Man on the Ledge". Another friend watched in the movies some time ago and was full of praise for it. But to the rest of us, this movie was a big disappointment.

The premise is OK. An ex-cop escapes from jail, where he was put for stealing some big diamond. After weeks of hiding, he arrives to a hotel in New York, rents a room, and eats a fancy dinner, after which he steps out of the windows on a ledge, where he threatens to jump if police-negotiator Lydia Mercer doesn't attend to his wishes. But is a suicide his real intention?

As I said, a good idea, but the execution is poor. The problem is that this movie can't decide what it really is. Is it a crime investigation, or heist-movie, or action comedy? Elements are introduced to the plot just to be abandoned later. Also, the banter between the brother and his girlfriend, even though was intended to be funny, sound forced and irritating. And ending, it is first predictable, and second, using deus ex machina (with the receptionist real identity). Acting was also unimpressive, especially Ed Harris.

Even though "Man on a Ledge" is not a completely bad movie, it is not something I would recommend you to spend money or time on. But if you have nothing to do, it can serve...

Movie review: "Krull"

I usually don't watch TV, but last Saturday I was resting from very tiring week. I was accidentally passing by when my younger brother was just starting to watch some old-looking fantasy movie, so I joined him (I missed first 30 minutes or so). I checked TV-schedule later and found out the movie's name was "Krull". I heard it mentioned few times over years but didn't know pretty much anything about it.

The plot is simple: a mysterious mountain lands on medieval-ish planet Krull. The owner of the mountain, the monstrous Beast, captures some princess, so her fiancée (or want-to-be fiancée; as I said I missed the beginning) gather a band of fugitives and few mystics and monsters to save her. First find the weapon, then the information, then the magical beasts for transport, and so on...

I think this is one of the most predictable films I ever watched. The movie follows tropes to the letter; on the other hand, it is possible that it actually started them in the first place. For example, when someone is killed by enemy fire, the rest of the gang will all stop and watch him for some time, although they are still under fire...

Acting is terrible and special effects even more so. I mean, really bad. Sound effects (especially the sound of those "rifles") started to give me a headache. On the other hand, these were the state-of-the-art effects at the time the movie was filmed.

All in all, "Krull" is one of the worst movies I watched in last several years. But on the other hand, it has that melancholic spirit of classic fantasy. Don't expect anything valuable from this movie, but if you are a fantasy fan (as I am) it can be entertaining to watch something of an establishing movie of this genre.

Main problem of this movie is that has been copied (good or bad) so much that you recognize all jokes and points immediately. I had this same problem when I read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams - I already knew all the jokes.

Movie review: "Prowl"

I watched prowl two weeks ago at my friend's house. He and few others are watching movies every day, so they are starting to run out of the films to watch. I don't know who picked "Prowl", but he did a very poor choice.

"Prowl" is a very bad survival-horror with one bright spark. Groups of teens (no stars) are traveling to some city where one of them is moving to. After they car brakes, they hitch-hike a truck and continue the journey in its trailer (what a great idea!).  The trucker then drives them to some abandoned pigs-slaughterhouse where they are attacked by group of something (these something look very ugly and stupid...) so they do the usual idiotic things (like getting separated and so on).

The bright spark I mentioned is the ending that actually succeeds in giving sense to this senseless movie. I must say I was very surprised (positively) by last few minutes of this film. But this still doesn't pay off the time and brain cells you will lose on previous 75 minutes. Feel free to skip this one.

Movie review: "Daybreakers"

This week I am on vacation, so I hope I will be able to finish all the late reviews. One of them is about "Daybreakers" a vampire action thriller I watched last week. On IMDB I found out it is about near future where vampires are dominant and human almost extinct, so they are working on some cure to fix all that.

This is true: movie takes place in near future, after some outbreak where vampires conquered the world and society. Now we have vampires living in nice houses on suburbia, going to work during night, going out to coffee-shops to drink coffee mixed with blood and so on. For the richer, there is even a possibility of modding you car to enable you driving during day. Humans are almost gone: there are few out in wilderness hiding, but most of the remnants are used for blood-farms. World-building is actually quite good and it all feels natural. There are few nice quirks separating the movie from rest of the bunch: fashion based on first half of 20th century (coats, hats and so on), colors and the fact that everybody smokes (since vampires don't have to be scared of cancer). At first sight, it looks like a nice place to live (if you are a vampire). But not everything is so well in world: extinction of humans also means a shortage of blood. And few days of blood-shortage transforms a well-mannered vampire gentleman to feral blood-crazy monster with wings.

Edward Dalton (played by Ethan Hawke) is a talented scientist working on finding a formula for substitute blood. He is also hoping he will one day be able to find cure of those have been turned to vampires against their will (like himself). After chance encounter with some escaping humans, he will hear about someone who was supposedly been able to reverse the process. This will not sit well with his boss who is satisfied by status quo and having a monopoly on blood-resources.

First part of the movie is good and sets a high standard. As I said, world-building is very good and it makes a believable world. Unfortunately, the plot is not so good. After initial introduction, this turns to some action thriller with predictable outcomes. Also, the characters and the actors that play them are not interesting, either. We have a collection of totally bland characters, with almost no characterization or explanation why are they doing whatever they are doing. From the way film started, I hoped for something in direction of "Matrix", but what I got was nowhere it.

Also, effects are not exactly fantastical. This is especially true at the end of the movie, where we are having false blood splashing in liters.

In the end, I can't say that "Daybreakers" is totally bad and that you shouldn't watch it. Just be sure no to have very high expectations, especially if you are a fan of vampire movies.

MBotF reread: "Reaper's Gale" by Steven Erikson

I must say that this whole reread is starting to overwhelm me. I never planned this to drag so long: it is April now, and I still have two more books to read before even starting with "The Crippled God". And due to work, time I need to read a book has grown to two weeks or more. I planned to do this again next year for Wheel of Time, but I am not so sure anymore.

Now, let's get back to "Reaper's Gale". First, Ublala Pung and voyeurs.... Ha ha, one of the best funny scenes in series. I always crack when I remember it. There are numerous jokes and puns in this book, but RG doesn't follow "The Bonehunters" in being a totally crazy book. Instead, jokes are much more moderated and decent; mostly regular bantering that anyone would expect between old friends.

First part of the book focuses on Empire of Lether and their social and moral degradation. I don't think there is any reader who would sympathize with the Patriotist; you really have to admire Erikson when it comes to writing of totally unlikable characters (just remember Jhistal!) that are at the same time totally believable. Also, Erikson never skirted from graphical violence, but physical details of Janath's torture are bit too much even for him. All this makes Lether not very desirable place to live, and without Tehol's and co parts it would be much harder to read. We also follow two traveling parties. One is Udinaas, Silcah Ruin and rest, which are not very cheerful bunch. In some way their plot-line is similar to mhybe's in "Memories of Ice": not clear on what is really happening, believing that is important, but wishing that it ends soon. The other party consists of Quick Ben, Trull, Onrack and later Hedge; they are all nice characters to follow, although after some time Trull's and Onrack's emotionality becomes irritating. Awl part of the story is very nice; I like reading about military campaigns and reappearance of Toc the Younger (on of favorite character in series for many readers) gives it an extra kick.

But the part that makes this book one of my favorites in series is Malazan invasion of Lether, executed my marines. This is a great bunch of characters, consisting of some old stars (Fiddler, Gesler, Stormy...) with addition of younger generations (Hellian, heavies, Bottle...). Their dynamic is always great to read you just have to root for them, after everything they get into. Whole concept of leaving few hundred marines in hostile territory, with no support or real command, without knowledge about enemy, it is impossible not to like. Erikson manages to make their transformation to crazy killers almost sympathetic (e.g. Bottle's chewing on grass).

Sequence with Beak is almost heart-breaking as the night on Malaz island in tBH. This reminded me: Adjunct's speech, although unimpressive and unimposing, nevertheless manages to touch me. I also like how everybody knowledgeable holds Icarium in awe or fear.

I am starting to sound like a parrot, finishing every post with recommendation for MBotF, but that's just the way it is. "Reaper's Gale" and Malazan Book of the Fallen are obligatory read for every fan of complex, convoluted and gritty epic fantasy.

Movie review: "Clash of the Titans"

I have been thinking about watching "Clash of the Titans" for some time, now. I like Greek myths in general, and I vaguely remember the original as being a nice movie (though, I was a kid when I watched it). On the other hand, comments on the Internet were not very grateful about the movie. But, with no idea what to watch last weekend, girlfriend and I decided to give it a try.

I was ready for Hollywood's butchering of the original myth, but I must say I was surprised (in bad way) about the extreme of it. There is original Perseus and Andromeda story behind it, but buried very deep. In this version, Perseus is son of Danae and Zeus, but the reason for Zeus' advance on her was because Zeus wanted revenge on her husband Acrisius, for leading a rebellion against gods. Later, after his mother, foster-father and sister end dead, Perseus gets involved with the city and king of Argos, who is current leader of rebellion against gods. He will be semi-involuntary sent on quest to get a head of Gorgon, which is the only thing that can stop the Kraken, a creature that is threatening Argos. There are lots of crazy things inserted in the plot, but the Djinns were most offending. There is also a travel to underworld, giant scorpions, Hades' plot to overthrow Zeus, flying lizard-men...

I would stomach all this if the movie was any good, but it's not. For me, it was just a jumble of scenes with not much connection between them. Effects were nice, and action too, but it was all a bit overdone. Characters were one-dimensional and uninteresting and plot was surprising only in meaning that things didn't follow logically.

I presume I am a little biased here, but "Clash of the Titans" really isn't good. It wasn't worst movie ever, but it really failed to keep me interested. I can't really point anything that can attract a viewer to it.

Book review: "Daggerspell" by Katherine Kerr

"ENTER A FANTASTICAL WORLD WHERE EVEN DEATH ITSELF IS COWED BY THE POWERS OF PASSION AND HIGH MAGIC"

Key word in his paragraph is "passion"... If I noticed this before and gave it attention, I probably wouldn't buy this book. Few months ago I was browsing Amazon and looking for a new series I could start. WoT and MBoF are close to finish line and who knows when next ASoIaF book will come out... All other series I am currently reading are trilogies and quadrologies. I plan to start "The Stormlight Archive", but that's only one. So I am constantly in look for long epic series and have few candidates already: "The Second Apocalypse" by R. Scott Bakker (6 books; I read first two but own none), "Wars of Light and Shadow" by Janny Wurts (11 books), "Saga of Recluce" by L.E. Modesitt (16 books), "The Three Worlds Cycle" by Ian Irvine (14 books) and "Shadows of the Apt" by Adrian Tchaikovsky (at least 8 books). I prefer series that are near the end, so I don't have to wait long for next books.

"Deverry Cycle" by Katherine Kerr was one of such candidates. It has 15 books, all published. When I did the research (on Wikipedia), I found out that it was set in world based on Celts. It sounded quite the ordinary setting: barbaric humans, long-lived and rare elves, some dwarves and something like orcs. Also, short synopsis didn't sound very innovating. But the comments looked good and the name Katherine Kerr is quite famous in fantasy circles, so I decided to give it a try.

First I want to complain about the price! Smallish paperback edition I bough, 450 pages long, was priced at 13 GBP (20 USD). "Toll the Hounds", a brand-new top-seller book, in really good paperback edition 900 pages long cost the same when I bought it.

As you can assume from my complaints, I didn't like the book. It is a story about Jill, who after her mother's death starts to travel around with her dishonored father Cullyn, best fighter in the kingdom of Deverry. At the same time, Jill is being sought by sorcerer Nevyn, who wants to help her to discover her own magical skills and thus repay the debt he owns her from their prior lives. They will meet while helping Rhodry, a young noble who was connected with them in past lives, to break the rebellion in his mothers county.

Past lives have a large role here: in their first life Jill was Nevyn's fiancée whom he left because of his wish to learn dweomer (magic). She then ended tragically, being in incest relationship with her brother (now reborn as Cullyn), who because of her killed his best friend, past version of Rhodry. Nevyn never died because of his magical (or dweomer) vow to repair the evil he was root. This scenario played few times between first version and present Jill, always unfortunately.

Although the plot is not bad, it's too straightforward and simple. Also, it is the only one; there are no multiple plots, hidden meanings, sense of wondering what is going on.... There are few characters and you have no problem following them. You know who is who, what is going on, and it is not hard to guess what will happen next. As I said, world is based on Celts, but in advanced Dark Age: complex hierarchy between nobility, feudal system, no science, strong influence of church, constant feuding between nobles... Magic and other races are known only as terrible legends among humans. Only partly they are present in this book; I understand that they play much larger role in later books. World-building is nice and one of better parts of the book, but I am accustomed to much more complex worlds and setting. Also, Kerr's insisting on using Celts words is a bit off-putting.

Characters are what probably ruined this book for me. They are too simple and one-sided. All men in this book are occupied by only one thing: their honor. Including Nevyn, who is half a millennia old wizard and should definitely know better. Even while giving over to sin, they are lamenting inside how terrible persons they are and how they have no honor. And women... In one scene, Jill is "feeling like a slut" because she has sexual desire while object of her desire has smarter things to do (in this case fight). This is not a first book I have read where women are in inferior position, but this is the first book where everyone (including characters, narrators and the writer) are acting like this is OK.

While it is true there is passion in "Daggerspell", it is a passion that belongs in cheap love-stories. Main characters are having worst times of their lives and it leaves me completely indifferent - this is not a mark of a good book. Only surprising thing for me was Cullyin's conclusion.

This book was simply not good enough for me and I am sorry that I bought it. On the other hand, series is well known and sounds like it gets more complex later. So, if you like this book, I can only presume you will like sequels even more. On the other hand, I double I will continue reading this series; it belongs to category with "Sword of Truth" by Terry Goodkind, only other series I gave up. I don't recommend this book to fans of epic fantasy.