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A review by shinygreenbeetle
Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey
4.0
edit: I decided to give it a rating because the lack of stars in my review was bugging me
This is one of those books that should have been longer. Not really in the "it was so good I never wanted it to end" kind of way, though. It just felt kind of rushed and didn't have the character and relationship development it should have, and the plot happened way too fast.
All the important characters are interesting and likeable (at least IMO). It's cool to have a female protagonist who's not all small and cute and delicate (not that there's anything wrong with that-it's just nice to have some variety). Ellie is pretty badass. Also, Kevin being asexual was almost too good to be true. Even though the main reason I picked up this book was that I had heard there was an ace character, I was still kind of shocked and excited when I read that part.
The worldbuilding and magic system were also great. Or at least, the bits we get to see are. It seemed like a pretty good amount of thought was put into the details of that aspect of the story, but most of the information didnt make it into the book. It's like if someone made a really beautiful painting and put it on display, but covered it with a paper bag with a square cut out of it so that only an inch or so of the painting is actually visible.
The plot just happened too fast. I think maybe the entire second half of the book should have been more stretched out. Ellie and Mark's relationship would have been a lot better with more development and had happened over a longer period of time. The exposition of the mythological and magical aspects of the story was kinda brief.
It also would have been interesting to go more deeply into the motivations of the non-human characters and some of the magicians. I want to know more about Mr Sand and la Gribaldi. And even though the motivations of the fairy-however-you-spell-its were made very clear, I still want to know more about them. There's got to be more complexity behind their actions than what was said in the book.
Overall, this was a good book, but it could have been so much better.
This is one of those books that should have been longer. Not really in the "it was so good I never wanted it to end" kind of way, though. It just felt kind of rushed and didn't have the character and relationship development it should have, and the plot happened way too fast.
All the important characters are interesting and likeable (at least IMO). It's cool to have a female protagonist who's not all small and cute and delicate (not that there's anything wrong with that-it's just nice to have some variety). Ellie is pretty badass. Also, Kevin being asexual was almost too good to be true. Even though the main reason I picked up this book was that I had heard there was an ace character, I was still kind of shocked and excited when I read that part.
The worldbuilding and magic system were also great. Or at least, the bits we get to see are. It seemed like a pretty good amount of thought was put into the details of that aspect of the story, but most of the information didnt make it into the book. It's like if someone made a really beautiful painting and put it on display, but covered it with a paper bag with a square cut out of it so that only an inch or so of the painting is actually visible.
The plot just happened too fast. I think maybe the entire second half of the book should have been more stretched out. Ellie and Mark's relationship would have been a lot better with more development and had happened over a longer period of time. The exposition of the mythological and magical aspects of the story was kinda brief.
It also would have been interesting to go more deeply into the motivations of the non-human characters and some of the magicians. I want to know more about Mr Sand and la Gribaldi. And even though the motivations of the fairy-however-you-spell-its were made very clear, I still want to know more about them. There's got to be more complexity behind their actions than what was said in the book.
Overall, this was a good book, but it could have been so much better.