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Title: Renegade's Magic (The Soldier Son Trilogy | Book 3) |
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Review of Renegade's Magic (The Soldier Son Trilogy, Book 3)
The stirring conclusion to The Soldier Son Trilogyâthe acclaimed epic tale of duty, destiny, and magic by New York Times bestselling master fantasist Robin Hobb
Loyal, privileged, and brave, Nevare Burvelle proudly embraced his preordained role as soldier in the service of the King of Gerniaâunaware of the strange turns his life would ultimately take. Exposed to a plague of enemy sorcery that felled many of his compatriots, he prevailed, but at a terrible cost to his soul, body, and heart. Now he stands wrongly accused of unspeakable crimesâincluding murder, the most heinous of them all.
Condemned by his brother soldiers and sentenced to death, Nevare has no option but to escape. Suddenly he is an outcast and a fugitiveâa hostage to the Speck magic that shackles him to a savage alter ego who would destroy everything Nevare holds dear. With nowhere to turnâexcept, perhaps, to the Speck woman Lisana, the enemy whom he lovesâhe is mired in soul-rending despair. But from out of the darkness comes a bright spark of hope.
Perhaps, somehow, the hated magic that has long abused Nevare can be used by him instead. Could he not learn to wield this mighty weapon for his own purposes rather than be enslaved by it? But down what perilous road will this desperate new quest lead him? And what will be the outcome and the ultimate new incarnation of Nevare Burvelle?
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Comments for Renegade's Magic (The Soldier Son Trilogy | Book 3)
- Posted on 2008-07-04
still got the magic
Great addition to the sequence. I plan to re-read the first two after I finish this one. I don't often get these in hard back, but it is definitely worth the trouble. Enjoy!
Score: 5
- Posted on 2008-07-02
Onerous Plodding with Annoying Character
I have enjoyed Hobb's previous work, but this whole series is just terrible and I cannot recommend it to anyone. The main character(s) is utterly unlikable. He whines throughout all 3 books, and it reaches epic proportions in this final volume. Just when you think he might die, go away and let you conclude the series (the only reason to read this book is if you are foolish to read the first) . . . he just becomes even more whinny.
The writing is pedantic, explicitly forcing concepts and ideas with no attempt at subtlety. Hobb does raise interesting and challenging issues of morality and ethno-centricity, but then batters the reader over the head with the idea using the most annoying main character I have ever encountered. Apparently, the reader is intelligent enough to consider the ideas, but not intelligent enough to consider them without lecturing.
Hobb's previous work also contained complex characters and, while perhaps those works were not as challenging as the Soldier Son trilogy, I find it hard that Hobb could not create one, single character that the reader can actually enjoy reading about.
Instead, for 2000 pages, we are stuck in the head (the trilogy is written completely in first-person omniscient) of a bleating, pathetic Soldier Son.
I am very disappointed after enjoying her previous work so much. My advice: stay away unless you are a relative of friend of Robin Hobb, or you are stuck on a desert island and are looking for a more painful way to die than starving to death.
Score: 1
- Posted on 2008-06-21
Glacial Pace
The pace of this trilogy is glacial, and although I like the concepts introduced and the characters are interesting, I do not see the point of the story.
When an author paints a picture with words it is true magic. Unfortunately I didn't see much of this in this trilogy.
Score: 2
- Posted on 2008-06-21
just to finish the series
I thought renegade's magic was a bit on the boring side. The hero was very frustrating, and not much happens because he is in limbo for most of the book. The exoticness of the magical part is not a strong point in this part of the trilogy, and I got tired of the eating of magic mushrooms. Nothing much happens, as the battle seems mostly internal. The character isn't active enough to be interesting and it took me a lot longer to read because I put it down out of tiredness. I was writing a paper during the workday, but at night, I didn't find too much escape in this book. The protagonist spends his time trapped in frustration, and thus, it is not as relaxing a series as in the other Hobb books. The other problem with this book was that there wasn't any other good characters to rally behind. In the Assassins series, there were a few cool characters, the Fool, Fitz, Chade. Here there weren't really any other lead characters and the reading experience was diminished because of the lack of plot movement since you were stuck with only one actor. I am glad I finished, but I would not recommend this series unless you really like camping. And even then, you have to really like eating. Still, it was good to finish the series finally and there was some escape into the magical world... just not as much fun to read as I had hoped.
Score: 2 - Posted on 2008-06-05
Awesome
This is the conclusion to one of my new favorite series. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the two previous ones. Its a series I may read again.
Score: 5