I watch twelve hundred of their strongest sons and daughters. Listening to a pitiless Golden man speak between great marble pillars. Listening to the beast who brought the flame that gnaws at my heart.
I did not ride horses through meadows and eat meals of humming-bird tongues. I was forged in the bowels of this hard world. Sharpened by hate. Strengthened by love.
In a world....one man...driven by his desire for humming-bird tongues....
But it's also unusual in that the writing quality of the entire rest of the book is actually very high, it's just a really bad start.
This is the first novel of the trilogy and it can almost completely be described as the hunger games on mars (with elements of Ender's Game and Divergent), and yet, in a unusual twist, the series breaks this mold and gets much stronger, more interesting, and more complex in the subsequent books. Something neither the hunger games or ender achieved.
It's chock-full of violence and follows teenage underdogs from a stratified oppressed society outwitting a rigged, violent competition to win the day. Like I said, Hunger Games. It follows a very familiar formula, but is hugely entertaining, and I couldn't put it down.
Some spoilers ahead.
There's plenty of flaws, like how Darrow is the only solidly developed character, and Sevro should basically be called deus ex Sevro. And how no-one, including tons of random customers in a nightclub, thinks to sell out Darrow as he slowly gets carved into Gold. And how Darrow creates a ridiculous bond-villain-style trap for the Jackal, which he is obviously going to escape, instead of just killing his most dangerous rival.
The ending is also very pat and clean, which is completely implausible after the havoc Darrow creates. But never fear, everything gets very messy and much more interesting in the following books.
4 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment