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jaceive's review
4.0
I'm going to preface with review with a small note that all of the opinions expressed herein are simple the opinions of a book enthusiast. I have a degree in Computer Science, not in English. I've never written anything that was remotely worthy of being published, and I'm still not entirely sure what a gerund even is. This is my observations, and it's entirely possible that I'm just wrong in some or many parts of what I say.
The sequel to the Guildmaster Thief shares many similarities to it's predecessor, most notably that it's short. Over the course of the evening in which I read Crossing the Bridge, I came to a realization about these books, and calling them each a "book" may not actually be correct. I adopted the use of the word "story" when talking about the first book, at the time due to not being sure if it was a novella, short story, or something else, but now I'm revising my thoughts on what these are in a new manner.
In the first story I'd had a nagging feeling that I couldn't put to words, something about the story wasn't sitting right with me. I thought maybe it was the prose, which is not particularly flowery or eloquent, but very much serviceable. After some consideration, that didn't seem like the issue. Perhaps, then, it was simply the length. The stories are short, but I've read short stories/novellas before, without this same feeling of apprehension, so that didn't seem right to me either. It was closer though, and that thought led me to where I sit today. These stories aren't really proper books on their own.
The unease I was wrestling with came from a combination of pacing and length. The stories are short, undoubtedly with good reason (and I may in fact pester the author with some questions about this, because I'm interested in why he took this approach), but by virtue of their length, they can't quite fit the whole picture in at one time. Instead of dramas that unfold slowly and can carefully build to a climax over the course of several chapters (like a traditional novel) problems must be approach and surmounted more quickly. Each published story, after all, must have a beginning, middle, and end, and there is no real point in a story if there is no conflict to be had. Thus, over the course of a few hours of reading, you must be presented with an overarching conflict, the struggles to overcome that conflict, and the final resolution. Because there is little time to allocate to these sections they become somewhat stilted, and no longer read as a proper book.
What they do read well as, however? Chapters. If each of these stories were broken down into a handful of chapters, and perhaps cleaned up with that thought in mind, you could eventually assemble a larger novel that would, in my opinion, have a much cleaner flow. More time could be spent on details, and less spent on some of the smaller conflicts, which could fix some of the other complaints I have with the book.
****Here there be spoilers, if people complain I'll mark the whole review as having them, but for now I hope this will suffice.****
With the issue of pacing set aside, my uneasiness began to lift, and I threw myself perhaps a bit more whole-heartedly into reading Crossing the Bridge. It was right around the point where Ralan makes it to the titular bridge and receives unexpected help that I realized what my next "problem" was. Everyone in this story kind of seems stupid. Maela continually warns and worries about there being people in the Wretched Quarter who will take advantage of Ralan if he arrives alone, but those warning seem completely unfounded as when he shows up it's a nearly idyllic paradise, with clean friendly people where every single one of them is an honest member of the Thieves Guild. LArsen and Karch, meanwhile, know that Ralan has fled there, and speak about how they have literally no idea what that part of the city is like. Neither does the Guildmaster of the Knights. These guildmasters have been shown to have spies, traitors, and assassins at their beck and call, but have never thought to send so much as a single agent into the Lower Quarter to ensure there are no festering rebellions. PResumably this ignorance also extends to the Crafter and Harvest guilds, who have guild members actually living in the Lower Quarter!
That would be bad enough, but there's more. Every single member of the Thieves Guild (which we've established is everyone living in the Lower Quarter) seems to be a completely honest and whole-hearted individual. Not a single person in the Lower Quarter can be greedy, because if they were they would cross the bridge and immediately rat out their guild in exchange for a very, very handsome sum. I suppose this honesty pairs well with the blind trust the Ralan seems to put into people. So far, I've gone into every situation almost definitely knowing how it will turn out, because unless someone is a cackling, cat-petting evil person they haven't shown to be anything but upright, honest, and friendly. I'd expect at least a couple of bad eggs.
I think that, given more time/pages, some of this could be alleviated. We could cut out some of the drama required for a per-story climax and replace it with smaller conflict with more detail, perhaps a scene where Ralan gets kidnapped or betrayed by someone while on the run. Perhaps a hint at a evil subguild amongst the Thieves who have reasons for not informing the other guild leaders of their existence. Perhaps a group of heavy-handed enforcers who ensure the silence of the Lower Quarter by force. I suppose I'm just looking for something that makes it just a little harder to tell if someone might be a Good Guy or a Bad Guy at first glance.
**** End of Spoilers ****
Despite my grievances, this once again come to be a very good book. I'm excited to read the next one, even if I know the pacing will be a little rough, and I'm certainly interested in seeing where the rest of the series goes. I was pleased with some of the mysteries of the series being revealed, and I'm hopeful that we'll have more answers (and questions) in the future stories.
The sequel to the Guildmaster Thief shares many similarities to it's predecessor, most notably that it's short. Over the course of the evening in which I read Crossing the Bridge, I came to a realization about these books, and calling them each a "book" may not actually be correct. I adopted the use of the word "story" when talking about the first book, at the time due to not being sure if it was a novella, short story, or something else, but now I'm revising my thoughts on what these are in a new manner.
In the first story I'd had a nagging feeling that I couldn't put to words, something about the story wasn't sitting right with me. I thought maybe it was the prose, which is not particularly flowery or eloquent, but very much serviceable. After some consideration, that didn't seem like the issue. Perhaps, then, it was simply the length. The stories are short, but I've read short stories/novellas before, without this same feeling of apprehension, so that didn't seem right to me either. It was closer though, and that thought led me to where I sit today. These stories aren't really proper books on their own.
The unease I was wrestling with came from a combination of pacing and length. The stories are short, undoubtedly with good reason (and I may in fact pester the author with some questions about this, because I'm interested in why he took this approach), but by virtue of their length, they can't quite fit the whole picture in at one time. Instead of dramas that unfold slowly and can carefully build to a climax over the course of several chapters (like a traditional novel) problems must be approach and surmounted more quickly. Each published story, after all, must have a beginning, middle, and end, and there is no real point in a story if there is no conflict to be had. Thus, over the course of a few hours of reading, you must be presented with an overarching conflict, the struggles to overcome that conflict, and the final resolution. Because there is little time to allocate to these sections they become somewhat stilted, and no longer read as a proper book.
What they do read well as, however? Chapters. If each of these stories were broken down into a handful of chapters, and perhaps cleaned up with that thought in mind, you could eventually assemble a larger novel that would, in my opinion, have a much cleaner flow. More time could be spent on details, and less spent on some of the smaller conflicts, which could fix some of the other complaints I have with the book.
****Here there be spoilers, if people complain I'll mark the whole review as having them, but for now I hope this will suffice.****
With the issue of pacing set aside, my uneasiness began to lift, and I threw myself perhaps a bit more whole-heartedly into reading Crossing the Bridge. It was right around the point where Ralan makes it to the titular bridge and receives unexpected help that I realized what my next "problem" was. Everyone in this story kind of seems stupid. Maela continually warns and worries about there being people in the Wretched Quarter who will take advantage of Ralan if he arrives alone, but those warning seem completely unfounded as when he shows up it's a nearly idyllic paradise, with clean friendly people where every single one of them is an honest member of the Thieves Guild. LArsen and Karch, meanwhile, know that Ralan has fled there, and speak about how they have literally no idea what that part of the city is like. Neither does the Guildmaster of the Knights. These guildmasters have been shown to have spies, traitors, and assassins at their beck and call, but have never thought to send so much as a single agent into the Lower Quarter to ensure there are no festering rebellions. PResumably this ignorance also extends to the Crafter and Harvest guilds, who have guild members actually living in the Lower Quarter!
That would be bad enough, but there's more. Every single member of the Thieves Guild (which we've established is everyone living in the Lower Quarter) seems to be a completely honest and whole-hearted individual. Not a single person in the Lower Quarter can be greedy, because if they were they would cross the bridge and immediately rat out their guild in exchange for a very, very handsome sum. I suppose this honesty pairs well with the blind trust the Ralan seems to put into people. So far, I've gone into every situation almost definitely knowing how it will turn out, because unless someone is a cackling, cat-petting evil person they haven't shown to be anything but upright, honest, and friendly. I'd expect at least a couple of bad eggs.
I think that, given more time/pages, some of this could be alleviated. We could cut out some of the drama required for a per-story climax and replace it with smaller conflict with more detail, perhaps a scene where Ralan gets kidnapped or betrayed by someone while on the run. Perhaps a hint at a evil subguild amongst the Thieves who have reasons for not informing the other guild leaders of their existence. Perhaps a group of heavy-handed enforcers who ensure the silence of the Lower Quarter by force. I suppose I'm just looking for something that makes it just a little harder to tell if someone might be a Good Guy or a Bad Guy at first glance.
**** End of Spoilers ****
Despite my grievances, this once again come to be a very good book. I'm excited to read the next one, even if I know the pacing will be a little rough, and I'm certainly interested in seeing where the rest of the series goes. I was pleased with some of the mysteries of the series being revealed, and I'm hopeful that we'll have more answers (and questions) in the future stories.
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