Elizabeth M. (CiderSapling) reviewed on + 13 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This book is a spinoff of Shinn's previous series "Twelve Houses." It is set in Gillengaria two years after Amalie take the throne after a bitter civil war and features the former King's Rider, Wen.
The first question regarding this book is if it can stand alone as a novel or if it is too dependent on the previous story line. After much consideration, I think this book can stand alone as an independent novel. It is much like 'Dark Moon Defender' in the sense that the story is independent enough to enjoy without previously reading the "Twelve Houses" books. Granted, some of the subplay in the text would be lost on a new reader but Shinn does a reasonable job filling in the missing bits of information. Further, this book focuses on a character that we only met briefly before and takes place in a place in a part of Gillengaria that wasn't visited in the previous books.
This book is easy to read with a nice story. I've only given it 3 stars, however, because it feels somewhat disjointed. 'Fortune and Fate' is very much a story independent of the other tales - even Wen's "demons" could be explained without reading the other books - but it seems that an effort to link this story with the other books, and that effort falls short. Fans of the "Twelve Houses" know Cammon, Senneth, Tayse, Justin, Kirra, and Donnal quite well by now. In this tale, Kirra and Donnal's appearance lacks depth and purpose - they seem to stop by for the sake of stopping by without adding any dimension to the tale. Much is made in the whole series of Senneth and Tayse's aversion to being apart but Senneth is casually directed to travel with Justin without Tayse's presence or even opinion. [I actually reread that part, thinking I had missed something.]
This is not a book about magic in the way that the other "Twelve Houses" were. This book is about loyalty, power, strength, and commitment. It is not a bad book, it just suffers from being tied too closely to the previous stories. 'Fortune and Fate' also has the same problem I found in 'Reader and Ralynx' - the ending is rushed and feels edited. As if key paragraphs were left out in favor of shortening the book. My sincere hope is that these books were the victims of editors and that this is not Shinn's trend in writing!
Overall, I liked this book despite it's problems. Wen is quite a capable character. I would recommend this book as both a stand alone book and as part of the series. In keeping with her style, Shinn wraps up the story into a nice little package for us.
The first question regarding this book is if it can stand alone as a novel or if it is too dependent on the previous story line. After much consideration, I think this book can stand alone as an independent novel. It is much like 'Dark Moon Defender' in the sense that the story is independent enough to enjoy without previously reading the "Twelve Houses" books. Granted, some of the subplay in the text would be lost on a new reader but Shinn does a reasonable job filling in the missing bits of information. Further, this book focuses on a character that we only met briefly before and takes place in a place in a part of Gillengaria that wasn't visited in the previous books.
This book is easy to read with a nice story. I've only given it 3 stars, however, because it feels somewhat disjointed. 'Fortune and Fate' is very much a story independent of the other tales - even Wen's "demons" could be explained without reading the other books - but it seems that an effort to link this story with the other books, and that effort falls short. Fans of the "Twelve Houses" know Cammon, Senneth, Tayse, Justin, Kirra, and Donnal quite well by now. In this tale, Kirra and Donnal's appearance lacks depth and purpose - they seem to stop by for the sake of stopping by without adding any dimension to the tale. Much is made in the whole series of Senneth and Tayse's aversion to being apart but Senneth is casually directed to travel with Justin without Tayse's presence or even opinion. [I actually reread that part, thinking I had missed something.]
This is not a book about magic in the way that the other "Twelve Houses" were. This book is about loyalty, power, strength, and commitment. It is not a bad book, it just suffers from being tied too closely to the previous stories. 'Fortune and Fate' also has the same problem I found in 'Reader and Ralynx' - the ending is rushed and feels edited. As if key paragraphs were left out in favor of shortening the book. My sincere hope is that these books were the victims of editors and that this is not Shinn's trend in writing!
Overall, I liked this book despite it's problems. Wen is quite a capable character. I would recommend this book as both a stand alone book and as part of the series. In keeping with her style, Shinn wraps up the story into a nice little package for us.
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