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Rights of Passage
I finished Borderland and Outland back in January; however I wanted to read Shadowland before I reviewed the series. Today it arrived and, this afternoon, I read it.
The series is called Rights of Passage [sic] by Amazon although I note that my own copies of the books don't admit this anywhere. The three books (Borderland, Outland and Shadowland as mentioned earlier) are out and described by dear old Amazon as "the Borderland trilogy".
Wrong.
They aren't a trilogy, they are the first three books of a series of five. My understanding is that the author wanted to write all five whilst the publisher (OUP) bought the first three only (of course, the other two could be commissioned later). Whilst this is probably an unfair criticism (knowing who's going to be reading this!); I did find it very irritating because the story stops in such a way as you know there's more to come.
Anyway, on to the books themselves.
The series is in the speculative fiction area and is written for children. I'm not a particularly good judge of age-ranges, but I'd guess at them being secondary school aimed. All of these things I like. It also starts in "our" world before moving scenario (although, strictly speaking, the prelude is set elsewhere) to give a sense of familiarity.
I enjoyed the set-up, many of the characters (Caravaggion, Kal, Jhezra and Ciren in particular) and the idea of factions in the Great Library. The first book starts fast and I enjoyed watching the fight between the Hajhim and the Tetrarchic build up and play out. Also I found that the war had a realistic ending and the book had the right amount of resolution and cliff-hanger to lead to the next. In terms of criticisms, I felt that rather too many characters were introduced rather too fast (which is the pot calling the kettle black, but never mind) and that the prelude spoilered more than it helped.
The second book was my least favourite of the three. On the plus side it gives a better idea of how the Doors are used and fills in some of the outlines that were the Great Library and its factions. Additionally the Ciren/Charm plot is very nice. However I found it overall rather slow and when one of the characters did their whole political manipulation thang, I couldn't rid myself of the impression that they'd no actual skill at all, but had merely been unbelievably lucky as to how things had occurred.
The third, and currently final, book is the one I like the best. The pace picked up again, one of the characters finally stopped being completely cr*p, a good (if slightly over-the-top) villain was made more of and the last quarter of events and explanations was very lovely. OK, one of my favourite characters spent most of the book under a spell, but one can't have everything.
Anyone wishing to borrow the series is very welcome (although perhaps I should be encouraging them to buy their own and increase the chance of books four and five appearing)!
The series is called Rights of Passage [sic] by Amazon although I note that my own copies of the books don't admit this anywhere. The three books (Borderland, Outland and Shadowland as mentioned earlier) are out and described by dear old Amazon as "the Borderland trilogy".
Wrong.
They aren't a trilogy, they are the first three books of a series of five. My understanding is that the author wanted to write all five whilst the publisher (OUP) bought the first three only (of course, the other two could be commissioned later). Whilst this is probably an unfair criticism (knowing who's going to be reading this!); I did find it very irritating because the story stops in such a way as you know there's more to come.
Anyway, on to the books themselves.
The series is in the speculative fiction area and is written for children. I'm not a particularly good judge of age-ranges, but I'd guess at them being secondary school aimed. All of these things I like. It also starts in "our" world before moving scenario (although, strictly speaking, the prelude is set elsewhere) to give a sense of familiarity.
I enjoyed the set-up, many of the characters (Caravaggion, Kal, Jhezra and Ciren in particular) and the idea of factions in the Great Library. The first book starts fast and I enjoyed watching the fight between the Hajhim and the Tetrarchic build up and play out. Also I found that the war had a realistic ending and the book had the right amount of resolution and cliff-hanger to lead to the next. In terms of criticisms, I felt that rather too many characters were introduced rather too fast (which is the pot calling the kettle black, but never mind) and that the prelude spoilered more than it helped.
The second book was my least favourite of the three. On the plus side it gives a better idea of how the Doors are used and fills in some of the outlines that were the Great Library and its factions. Additionally the Ciren/Charm plot is very nice. However I found it overall rather slow and when one of the characters did their whole political manipulation thang, I couldn't rid myself of the impression that they'd no actual skill at all, but had merely been unbelievably lucky as to how things had occurred.
The third, and currently final, book is the one I like the best. The pace picked up again, one of the characters finally stopped being completely cr*p, a good (if slightly over-the-top) villain was made more of and the last quarter of events and explanations was very lovely. OK, one of my favourite characters spent most of the book under a spell, but one can't have everything.
Anyone wishing to borrow the series is very welcome (although perhaps I should be encouraging them to buy their own and increase the chance of books four and five appearing)!