This is just what I needed! A book that really captures the classic fantasy feeling I got from books like Howl's Moving Castle and Calling on Dragons back in the day. This story is a fairly simple set up but has a style all its own, a great voice and atmosphere, and just a great story that catches your attention and squirms its way into your heart. Let's get to it.
In a quiet village at the edge of the cursed Wood, Agnieszka lives a quiet life as her people are guarded over by the enigmatic wizard, the Dragon. In exchange for his protection, the Dragon takes one girl from the village to live with him for ten years. While the whole village is certain the Dragon will pick Agnieszka's best fried, Kasia, it turns out he choses Agnieszka instead. Agnieszka must now begin her ten years of solitude and learns much about the Dragon, magic, and the Wood than she could ever have known and it turns out that she may be the key to stopping the Wood once and for all.
Agnieszka is a great protagonist, to start off with. She's a tough, no-nonsense kind of person who is sloppy and slow and very real. You get the feeling that there's something wild and untamed about her that is harnessed in her ability to use magic. And while she possesses inner strength, she's not the overbearing, I'm-a-strong-independent-woman-who-don't-need-no-man type of person either. She takes charge when she feels its the right thing to do, makes mistakes, gets messy, I liked that about her. The other characters were pretty good as well. The Dragon was no pushover prince in disguise or a verbally abusive bully but a delicate mix that made him both mentor and potential love interest. Prince Marek was lovably hate-able, Kasia was surprisingly complex...there's a lot to like about the characters in this book.
The plot and the idea of the Wood are pretty interesting as well. The Wood works to corrupt humans, release them so they return home and kill as many people as they can before they're caught. That's pretty terrifying, especially since a corrupted person can behave perfectly normally until it's too late. The idea that an entire forest can be such a threatening presence and have an agenda in which it can cause wars and feed itself with discord is a really scary and fascinating idea. Just the mention of the Wood brings a level of threat and danger that nothing else really had before, so it was a great success if you ask me.
While the writing was good, I did feel it was almost a little too descriptive at times. Not that that is a bad thing, per se, but it can make reading this book go a bit more slowly than with another 350 page book out there. That being said, the plot did move fast. It didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point, which I appreciated. The voice of the author is very present in this book, allowing you to feel the weight of the dramatic sense as well as the humor in the lighthearted moments. It was all brilliantly written, even if the writing takes a while to get through. As I've mentioned before, Tolkien has this same problem and, as far as writing goes, it's one of the best flaws to have...but it's still a flaw, so there you have it.
Final Verdict
This book was really fun. I liked the characters, the plot, the ideas, and just about everything about it. Any fantasy reader is going to like it and, if it sounds up your alley, then it's worth your money at your local bookstore.
Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Please make sure to Follow Midnight Readings for instant updates. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer
Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Powerless-Shelley-Miller/dp/1543482546/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519062043&sr=8-1&keywords=powerless+by+shelley+miller
Xlibris: https://www.xlibris.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001175242
Next Time: Witness the rise of Sparrowhawk....
No comments:
Post a Comment