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Micklem, Sarah - Firethorn
Wed, Jan. 26th, 2005 07:06 pmUnfortunately for me, this is one of those books in which everything is rather competently executed, and yet, it never quite clicks.
Firethorn, orginally named Luck, takes on her name when she eats the berries of the poisonous firethorn plant and survives. She credits her survival to the will of the god Ardor. And then she goes off and becomes the sheath (sort of like a groupie for knights) of Sire Galan as he and a whole bunch of other people gallop off to war.
One of my main problems with the book was that while the world was interesting, in the end, it didn't feel like it was driving toward anything. There is a conclusion, but if you asked me, I still couldn't quite tell you what the book was about. Not just theme-wise, but plot-wise! Firethorn just sort of follows Galan around and he gets into various bits of trouble. I'm even more confused because apparently this is the first book of a trilogy, and I have no idea what the second two books will be about.
I did like the world-building, and the depiction of the life of a drudge or a sheath amidst a whole crowd of not-too-nice knights. And I was especially interested in the system of gods, in which each god has three aspects. I kept getting Hazard and Ardor mixed up though, for some reason. And while I liked the god scheme, I was a little confused as to why Firethorn is supposedly the chosen of Ardor. There is a little sense of destiny and fate in this book, which Firethorn muses on, but it's never quite at the forefront, which I am used to re: god's avatars.
I also had a problem because I couldn't find anyone in the book I liked, or even found remotely interesting. Firethorn as a character isn't too bad, but she's in love with (or something with) Sire Galan, and for the life of me, I can't understand why. True, he's got a reckless streak that could be portrayed as charismatic and appealing, but in the book, he mostly just comes off as not too bright and incredibly rash. It's also strange because this is via Firethorn's POV (the book is first-person-POV), and I still don't understand why she sticks around him. So my estimation of her character goes down a little. And everyone else in the camp is really quite distasteful, and not even in the way that makes me react with a combination of fascination and disgust. I'm mostly just put off.
Anyhow, the book just never quite clicked with me... would be interested to see what other people thought.
Firethorn, orginally named Luck, takes on her name when she eats the berries of the poisonous firethorn plant and survives. She credits her survival to the will of the god Ardor. And then she goes off and becomes the sheath (sort of like a groupie for knights) of Sire Galan as he and a whole bunch of other people gallop off to war.
One of my main problems with the book was that while the world was interesting, in the end, it didn't feel like it was driving toward anything. There is a conclusion, but if you asked me, I still couldn't quite tell you what the book was about. Not just theme-wise, but plot-wise! Firethorn just sort of follows Galan around and he gets into various bits of trouble. I'm even more confused because apparently this is the first book of a trilogy, and I have no idea what the second two books will be about.
I did like the world-building, and the depiction of the life of a drudge or a sheath amidst a whole crowd of not-too-nice knights. And I was especially interested in the system of gods, in which each god has three aspects. I kept getting Hazard and Ardor mixed up though, for some reason. And while I liked the god scheme, I was a little confused as to why Firethorn is supposedly the chosen of Ardor. There is a little sense of destiny and fate in this book, which Firethorn muses on, but it's never quite at the forefront, which I am used to re: god's avatars.
I also had a problem because I couldn't find anyone in the book I liked, or even found remotely interesting. Firethorn as a character isn't too bad, but she's in love with (or something with) Sire Galan, and for the life of me, I can't understand why. True, he's got a reckless streak that could be portrayed as charismatic and appealing, but in the book, he mostly just comes off as not too bright and incredibly rash. It's also strange because this is via Firethorn's POV (the book is first-person-POV), and I still don't understand why she sticks around him. So my estimation of her character goes down a little. And everyone else in the camp is really quite distasteful, and not even in the way that makes me react with a combination of fascination and disgust. I'm mostly just put off.
Anyhow, the book just never quite clicked with me... would be interested to see what other people thought.
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