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A review by billymac1962
The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewelling
3.0
Once George R. R. Martin completes his Song of Ice and Fire series, I will definitely start reading it again. I decided to check out his website to see how he was coming along, and he has a list there of recommended reading for his fans who are pestering him to finish the next novel. This was one of them.
This novel is part of a trilogy and that is really too bad, because it has such a great premise for a story that it would have been great to see it done as one big novel. As it stands now, here I have finished the first novel, which did not feel like a novel. It feels like the first 1/3 of a slow-moving novel, and I'm thinking, geez, this is going to be a 1500 page story? Sure this novel got off to a great start, but after 500 pages, am I that enthralled with the story and characters to hang in for another thousand pages?
Nope.
This whole trilogy thing really is an overused vehicle to tell a story. Unless it is on such a grand epic scale, sure. As far as I am concerned, if the first novel of a trilogy is lacking in anything, such as strong characters and a story you just can't get out of your head, that's it, it's lost me.
Now, I'm not trying to pick on Ms. Flewelling (as if my opinion is worth anything), because this is a pretty good story. And if you check Amazon she and this series so far is vastly popular, so I think this series will survive my criticism. But as you can tell by my track record, the number of stories I have been willing to invest over a thousand pages of reading time into, you can count on one hand. And they were pretty darn special. So, take this review for what it's worth, because I'm willing to bet
that the majority of visitors here will take this series on for the long haul.
This novel is part of a trilogy and that is really too bad, because it has such a great premise for a story that it would have been great to see it done as one big novel. As it stands now, here I have finished the first novel, which did not feel like a novel. It feels like the first 1/3 of a slow-moving novel, and I'm thinking, geez, this is going to be a 1500 page story? Sure this novel got off to a great start, but after 500 pages, am I that enthralled with the story and characters to hang in for another thousand pages?
Nope.
This whole trilogy thing really is an overused vehicle to tell a story. Unless it is on such a grand epic scale, sure. As far as I am concerned, if the first novel of a trilogy is lacking in anything, such as strong characters and a story you just can't get out of your head, that's it, it's lost me.
Now, I'm not trying to pick on Ms. Flewelling (as if my opinion is worth anything), because this is a pretty good story. And if you check Amazon she and this series so far is vastly popular, so I think this series will survive my criticism. But as you can tell by my track record, the number of stories I have been willing to invest over a thousand pages of reading time into, you can count on one hand. And they were pretty darn special. So, take this review for what it's worth, because I'm willing to bet
that the majority of visitors here will take this series on for the long haul.