It seems to be missing from this picture of the cover, but my copy had "A feast for sword and sorcery fans - Publishers Weekly" right where the arrow's pointing, and considering this novel's 499 pages long, I think it doesn't quite qualify as a feast, but rather a big lunch. With lots of fibre.
Since we're marginally on the subject of the cover, let me say that it has NOTHING to do with the story. At all. Who's that girl? Who knows. And that archer? I don't think he's in the story. The wolf makes no sense, and the ghoulish face could possibly have something to do with the antagonists, but I don't think it's all that likely. The only relevant element is the snow. And maybe the rocks?
Despite the cover art's irrelevance, I still managed to enjoy this book. It drew many elements from Norse mythology (woooot, mythology!), and it features Manfred and Erik, two characters who appeared in the previous Shadow of the Lion, which was co-written by Freer, Flint and Lackey. Also, a new character was introduced: Cair, a corsair who got shipwrecked off the coast of Norway, was enslaved, and is an ardent skeptic and a skilled chemist. (Wooot, skepticism! Science!)
I found that the main (female) protagonist, Signy, wasn't a very interesting character, and the whole "she's a princess and she has an EVIL half-brother and an EVEN MORE EVIL stepmother" to be pretty clichéd and predictable. Oh well.
But overall, I still found this novel to be okay. Not super-duper enjoyable, not boring, not really mediocre; just okay.
23 May 2010
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