Triple Mini Review: The White Luck Warrior, Dancing with Cupid, and Kiatana's Journey

I haven't been up to writing a lot of reviews lately, but I've been reading as much as ever! Here's a sizzling hot batch of three books that I've read lately and my thoughts. Kudos to the authors!

The White Luck Warrior by R. Scott Bakker.

This is the most recent book in Bakker's trilogy of trilogies, which started with the Prince of Nothing. Set in a fantasy world with hints of sci-fi, the first trilogy builds the world in a convincing and fascinating method--only to smash it to bits with an even better second trilogy, which reveals that the first three books were only setting the stage. I enjoyed the last book, The Judging Eye, to a great extent... but it falls short of The White Luck Warrior. This book does everything you could want it to, and more. You see new sides to old characters, pick up on fascinating details of the unfolding universe and you will be seriously shocked at some things that I can't mention because of spoilers. Five stars!

*****

Dancing with Cupid by Jennifer Marshall.

A centuries-old Indian love god is on a quest to be reunited with his long lost wife--who has been reincarnated as a no-nonsense lawyer in a feminist law firm. The sheer uniqueness of the storyline was enough to draw me in, and I'm glad I gave it a try. The book reminds me of the Bollywood movies I used to watch in college--fun, flirty, a little dangerous and a little impossible--over all, a cute and amusing read. Four stars!

****0




Kiatana's Journey by Natalie Erin

A fairy, a shapeshifter, an adventurer, and some adorable wolf puppies set out on a quest to save the forest from a mysterious plague. I'm all about unique fantasy, and this novel has that to the brim! Unfortunately, it also had its problems. The writing felt unstable and draft-like. There were consistency problems (such as one wolf pup remembering something that happened years before she was born), and info-dumps in the middle of what could have been a fascinating plot moment. The hardest for me to read was the dialogue--every character sounded exactly the same, with the same sarcasm and the same wit to the point where I would frequently lose track of who was talking. I had to stop about halfway into the book, when I realized that it wasn't getting better and I wasn't enjoying it. Fascinating idea but poor writing forces me to give it one star.

*0000

The Judging Eye by R. Scott Bakker

This is the fourth book in a series--or rather, the first book of the second trilogy in a trilogy of trilogies. I've been reading The Saga of The Three Seas since summer and have one book to go before I'm caught up.

First, about the series. I highly recommend The Saga of The Three Seas. It's elegantly written, brilliantly creative, philosophical, and scratches my itch for fantasy in all the right ways. On the downside, it's also incredibly dense in places with a slow pace, and for the first three books there are very few relatable characters. That's why it's taken me so long to slog through them. Many of the scenes are dry traveling and battle scenes or discussions of interesting (but hard to understand) ideas. I wanted to like it because of how beautiful and creative it was, but honestly I was having a hard time with it.

Enter The Judging Eye! While the other books took months to get through, this one took days. The story resumes after a twenty-year gap in the narrative, picking up with the children of the main characters while learning what has happened since the last book ended. Usually, I don't like such long gaps in fiction, but it completely works here. The story was now fresh, new, relatable and exciting--while still being elegant and philosophically fascinating as always. Insane children, mysterious non-men, and even--gasp!--a sign of dragons near the end. Not only that, but the entire rest of the series makes much more sense in retrospect. Maybe it was dense, but it was totally worth the read in the end, and I am looking forward to getting my hands on the next book! Five stars!

*****