Scan barcode
A review by katieinca
Clariel by Garth Nix
2.0
There were things to love here, but there were more things that frustrated me. It was incredibly slow to get moving - I wondered whether this was an intentional move to make me share Clariel's feeling of chafing at with being stuck in the city, but I don't think so, and if it was it wasn't worth the payoff. Then 75-100 pages (based on my ~400 page ARC) that were very vivid and flew right off the page. Then an inexorable march to the finish, which felt to me like Nix at some point fell in love with the tag line "a passion thwarted will often go astray" and dreamed up a forced plot to illustrate it.
I eagerly await Margaret explaining to me what I'm missing or why I'm being too harsh. And I'm still looking forward to the fifth book, because I like Lirael more than Clariel. But this book depended on dramatic irony to an extent that strained my credulity.
I mean seriously, someone can give her a book - twice - that teaches her how to control the rage and she has time to read and study it, but no one can hand her a simple pamphlet "The History and Purpose of the Charter vis a vis Free Magic"? Or give her the 2 minute Wikipedia version? And she doesn't bother checking the library when she's been given plenty of reason to be skeptical/curious? I could buy some influence by Aziminil, but plenty of Clariel's poor judgment - like when she tries to ditch Az & Bel and head north - are clearly her own. I spent a lot of the 24 hours after finishing the book wanting to scold most of its characters and/or its author, so, yeah, "I liked it" seems like it would be overly generous.
I eagerly await Margaret explaining to me what I'm missing or why I'm being too harsh. And I'm still looking forward to the fifth book, because I like Lirael more than Clariel. But this book depended on dramatic irony to an extent that strained my credulity.
Spoiler
I mean seriously, someone can give her a book - twice - that teaches her how to control the rage and she has time to read and study it, but no one can hand her a simple pamphlet "The History and Purpose of the Charter vis a vis Free Magic"? Or give her the 2 minute Wikipedia version? And she doesn't bother checking the library when she's been given plenty of reason to be skeptical/curious? I could buy some influence by Aziminil, but plenty of Clariel's poor judgment - like when she tries to ditch Az & Bel and head north - are clearly her own. I spent a lot of the 24 hours after finishing the book wanting to scold most of its characters and/or its author, so, yeah, "I liked it" seems like it would be overly generous.