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timinbc's review
3.0
This book has attracted some long reviews, and here's another.
APPLAUSE
OK, I didn't much like volumes 1 & 2 - but I did say I was sufficiently compelled to read #3. It paid off. #3 was worth reading, and revealed the enormously ambitious scope of the three-volume plot. I applaud Lamplighter's boldness. The overall plot was reasonable credible, even if many, many details weren't. Predictable and over-foreshadowed, sure, but that didn't really spoil it.
The author admits borrowing from her husband and from roleplaying games, with which I have no problem, but there must have been a huge load of research as well. Weaving it into Earth's history was well done and sometimes amusing.
Overall, it's entertaining. But there are some serious problems with the writing and with the plot. Let's look.
THE WRITING
Spelling is an issue. We see vender (vendor). We see Lilith most of the time, Lillith about six times. Once, we get Astreus of the High Counsel (Council). Somehow we got "with own his brother." Syntax/usage too: Lamplighter just doesn't get the rules for lie/lay/laid.
Names are again wrong so often it must be intentional: Morgan La Fay (Le Fay); Ridolfo Capa Ferro (Capo Ferro); Teilhard de Chardinon (Chardin); Allan Quartermain (Quatermain); the Revelations of Saint John (Revelation) - two occasions, including when Erasmus is claiming that he wrote it.
Authors don't have to be good at this stuff - but their editors and publishers ought to be.
Style is an issue, too, although this volume is noticeably cleaner than the others in that way.
There are many occurrences of "cruel knife" ... I hate that. It's right up there with "steaming mug" as something authors write automatically. Do we have agreement on what a cruel knife looks like? Is it like a happy sock, or a grieving spoon?
We're told of "the smell of burning cartilage;" Sure, we all know that smell.
p.298 - We're back where looking at the throne makes eyes bleed. Theo has goggles, Miranda has learned that quick glances are OK .. and "Logistilla stared ..."
p. 321 - Erasmus: "... to see if we've brought what we need .." Page 347" stuck without food or water. Have they forgotten the Bully Boys? Later on Ulysses turns into Gofer Boy. Either way, they could on many occasions have gone to get something useful, and didn't, because it would have become silly. Why not bring back machine guns or an assault helicopter? I think both of those plot pieces were a bad idea.
Eek! Ulysses disappears - so often that it becomes tiresome, as do his Britishisms, which mix class levels implausibly.
Speaking of repeating, if I had read once more that Mab was reaching for his trusty lead pipe, I'd have thrown the book across the room. AND ... a two-inch lead pipe of medium strength would weigh seven pounds per foot. Perhaps it wasn't too long, since it fit into one of Mab's 473 pockets along with the 30 pounds of salt that he must have carried. That was some trench coat.
THE PLOT
How has she gone so long without asking Erasmus what his problem is? I recall a couple of times she almost did but the author pulled the old interruption trick. Bah. And why did none of the others ask?
As they parade through Hell I thought, "this is turning into one of Piers Anthony's Xanth adventures."
Ulysses zips away and returns with a pistol -- and doughnuts. Sure. And, luckily, it's one of those movie pistols that can fire hundreds of shots without reloading.
p. 356-7 we get into conservative social philosophy, abortion is demon work, etc. - OTOH it is spoken by a Bad One so we don't know whether Lamplighter is turning into Dan Simmons.
On page 370 the action peaks and Miranda is. Two paragraphs later, she's philosophizing as if she's in class at a community college. I felt as if I'd missed a page.
SUMMARY
We've just read three volumes of Miranda being a sitcom character - the kind who analyzes each situation and gets it wrong EVERY time. By the middle of volume 2 I knew that anything she said couldn't happen would. Yep, it did.
Despite all those problems, it was still a decent read. The book is set on such a strong basic idea that it carries past the problems.
APPLAUSE
OK, I didn't much like volumes 1 & 2 - but I did say I was sufficiently compelled to read #3. It paid off. #3 was worth reading, and revealed the enormously ambitious scope of the three-volume plot. I applaud Lamplighter's boldness. The overall plot was reasonable credible, even if many, many details weren't. Predictable and over-foreshadowed, sure, but that didn't really spoil it.
The author admits borrowing from her husband and from roleplaying games, with which I have no problem, but there must have been a huge load of research as well. Weaving it into Earth's history was well done and sometimes amusing.
Overall, it's entertaining. But there are some serious problems with the writing and with the plot. Let's look.
THE WRITING
Spelling is an issue. We see vender (vendor). We see Lilith most of the time, Lillith about six times. Once, we get Astreus of the High Counsel (Council). Somehow we got "with own his brother." Syntax/usage too: Lamplighter just doesn't get the rules for lie/lay/laid.
Names are again wrong so often it must be intentional: Morgan La Fay (Le Fay); Ridolfo Capa Ferro (Capo Ferro); Teilhard de Chardinon (Chardin); Allan Quartermain (Quatermain); the Revelations of Saint John (Revelation) - two occasions, including when Erasmus is claiming that he wrote it.
Authors don't have to be good at this stuff - but their editors and publishers ought to be.
Style is an issue, too, although this volume is noticeably cleaner than the others in that way.
There are many occurrences of "cruel knife" ... I hate that. It's right up there with "steaming mug" as something authors write automatically. Do we have agreement on what a cruel knife looks like? Is it like a happy sock, or a grieving spoon?
We're told of "the smell of burning cartilage;" Sure, we all know that smell.
p.298 - We're back where looking at the throne makes eyes bleed. Theo has goggles, Miranda has learned that quick glances are OK .. and "Logistilla stared ..."
p. 321 - Erasmus: "... to see if we've brought what we need .." Page 347" stuck without food or water. Have they forgotten the Bully Boys? Later on Ulysses turns into Gofer Boy. Either way, they could on many occasions have gone to get something useful, and didn't, because it would have become silly. Why not bring back machine guns or an assault helicopter? I think both of those plot pieces were a bad idea.
Eek! Ulysses disappears - so often that it becomes tiresome, as do his Britishisms, which mix class levels implausibly.
Speaking of repeating, if I had read once more that Mab was reaching for his trusty lead pipe, I'd have thrown the book across the room. AND ... a two-inch lead pipe of medium strength would weigh seven pounds per foot. Perhaps it wasn't too long, since it fit into one of Mab's 473 pockets along with the 30 pounds of salt that he must have carried. That was some trench coat.
THE PLOT
How has she gone so long without asking Erasmus what his problem is? I recall a couple of times she almost did but the author pulled the old interruption trick. Bah. And why did none of the others ask?
As they parade through Hell I thought, "this is turning into one of Piers Anthony's Xanth adventures."
Ulysses zips away and returns with a pistol -- and doughnuts. Sure. And, luckily, it's one of those movie pistols that can fire hundreds of shots without reloading.
p. 356-7 we get into conservative social philosophy, abortion is demon work, etc. - OTOH it is spoken by a Bad One so we don't know whether Lamplighter is turning into Dan Simmons.
On page 370 the action peaks and Miranda is
Spoiler
pierced by a unicorn horn.SUMMARY
We've just read three volumes of Miranda being a sitcom character - the kind who analyzes each situation and gets it wrong EVERY time. By the middle of volume 2 I knew that anything she said couldn't happen would. Yep, it did.
Despite all those problems, it was still a decent read. The book is set on such a strong basic idea that it carries past the problems.
kattra's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
magdon's review against another edition
4.0
a lovely ending although perhaps a bit too neatly wrapped up.
tiltingwindward's review
2.0
Frankly, I'm pretty disappointed with how this series turned out. The premise is excellent: Prospero and Miranda from The Tempest come back from the Island, acquire the Water of Life, and build a vast commercial empire based on contracts with various other supernatural forces. Then, Prospero disappears. The premise was so good that I was willing to overlook a number of things in the first two books to see where the story went (Examples: (1) a main character whom I personally found pretty irritating; (2) big plot twists that were either telegraphed obviously chapters in advance or came from basically nowhere; (3) a tendency by the author to use words of extreme emotion rather than "said," so it appeared that her characters were having constant wild mood swings in the course of pretty basic conversations.)
Very limited spoilers below, but for those who don't want even that much, the short version: this book devolves into preachy message fiction without remedying any of the previously existing shortcomings in the story, and the ultimate resolution of the trilogy is disappointingly flat. I would have loved to see what could have come of this story if the author had been more invested in the plot than in the moral.
**HERE THERE BE SPOILERS (MINOR ONES)**
Unfortunately, the final book didn't reward my faith. The periodic moralizing that had popped up in the first two books devolved into full-fledged preaching with a strong Catholic varnish. The Prosperos journey through Hell in search of the pater familias, encountering any number of demons and demonic environments straight out of Dante (literally; Lamplighter has done an impressive and faithful job of bringing Dante's Hell to life). Over the course of the journey, the people/demons they encounter reveal how Hell has continued to influence the world in the centuries since Dante first described it - namely, through Hollywood, New York City, weakening the bonds of marriage, rock music, and abortion. Seriously. There's a whole speech about how abortion has been Hell's greatest invention since they pioneered temple prostitution.
On top of that, the Prosperos themselves indulge in a fair bit of thinly veiled personal reflection about how blind and wicked they have been and how awful it would be to end up in Hell and how if only people living on Earth could see and understand what awaits them they would be disgusted and reform their ways. Meanwhile, all of the non-Catholic/non-European supernatural influences just fall right out of the story, which is a shame, because one of the strengths of the first book was how well Lamplighter had integrated multiple myth traditions into her vision of the modern supernatural world.
Finally, a significant portion of the book is devoted to Miranda angsting about her own personal tragedies. Does the elf she has a crush on like her back, or is he a demon? Who is her mother? Why won't her brothers stop accusing her of betraying them? Why does everyone always want her to take their feelings into account? Some of these are serious questions that should inspire internal reflection. Some of them are annoying to read about when the character is a 15-year-old girl, and are downright infuriating when the character is 530 and should maybe have addressed some of these issues before now. Ultimately, the answers given to explain these many mysteries are simultaneous preachy and petty, and doesn't, in my view, excuse any of the internal self-justification that readers have been forced to endure. Not to mention that the final resolution of Miranda's problems (marriage before sex, obviously) is more appropriate to an 18th-century novel than a 21st century one.
Very limited spoilers below, but for those who don't want even that much, the short version: this book devolves into preachy message fiction without remedying any of the previously existing shortcomings in the story, and the ultimate resolution of the trilogy is disappointingly flat. I would have loved to see what could have come of this story if the author had been more invested in the plot than in the moral.
**HERE THERE BE SPOILERS (MINOR ONES)**
Unfortunately, the final book didn't reward my faith. The periodic moralizing that had popped up in the first two books devolved into full-fledged preaching with a strong Catholic varnish. The Prosperos journey through Hell in search of the pater familias, encountering any number of demons and demonic environments straight out of Dante (literally; Lamplighter has done an impressive and faithful job of bringing Dante's Hell to life). Over the course of the journey, the people/demons they encounter reveal how Hell has continued to influence the world in the centuries since Dante first described it - namely, through Hollywood, New York City, weakening the bonds of marriage, rock music, and abortion. Seriously. There's a whole speech about how abortion has been Hell's greatest invention since they pioneered temple prostitution.
On top of that, the Prosperos themselves indulge in a fair bit of thinly veiled personal reflection about how blind and wicked they have been and how awful it would be to end up in Hell and how if only people living on Earth could see and understand what awaits them they would be disgusted and reform their ways. Meanwhile, all of the non-Catholic/non-European supernatural influences just fall right out of the story, which is a shame, because one of the strengths of the first book was how well Lamplighter had integrated multiple myth traditions into her vision of the modern supernatural world.
Finally, a significant portion of the book is devoted to Miranda angsting about her own personal tragedies. Does the elf she has a crush on like her back, or is he a demon? Who is her mother? Why won't her brothers stop accusing her of betraying them? Why does everyone always want her to take their feelings into account? Some of these are serious questions that should inspire internal reflection. Some of them are annoying to read about when the character is a 15-year-old girl, and are downright infuriating when the character is 530 and should maybe have addressed some of these issues before now. Ultimately, the answers given to explain these many mysteries are simultaneous preachy and petty, and doesn't, in my view, excuse any of the internal self-justification that readers have been forced to endure. Not to mention that the final resolution of Miranda's problems (marriage before sex, obviously) is more appropriate to an 18th-century novel than a 21st century one.
casvelyn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
middlekmissie's review
2.0
A disappointing ending to the series. See my entire review here:
http://wp.me/p3vZnQ-rt
http://wp.me/p3vZnQ-rt
travistravis's review against another edition
5.0
Definitely one of my favourite fantasy books in a while. Takes a strong bit of Dante's Inferno, along with some Shakespeare and all sorts of mysticism from many religions. It's set in Modern day, with a feeling of Warehouse 13 as well.
mgwuh's review against another edition
2.0
Interesting interpretations of religion undermined by very strong puritan, gendered, heterosexual values on FULL display.
gskenney's review against another edition
5.0
All of the Prospero siblings and supporting characters have really come into their own in this third and final book of the Prospero's Daughter series. Lamplighter masterfully manages to make each of them likeable in his or her unique way, even though each also has weaknesses and can be trouble for each other. I don't know of many people who would have the hubris to create a structured Hell after Dante's superb job centuries ago, but Lamplighter pulls it off magnificently.
gossamerchild's review against another edition
3.0
Still irritated by the ! Oh, well, it was a fun story.
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