Warning: Snarkiness ahead, which might be offensive to anyone who actually enjoys this series.
Everyone says the second book is better than the first, so I gave it a try. And I agree. If I squint hard enough, it is a smidge better. But it doesn't really improve enough to push it from "just ok" to "actually good" for me.
I appreciate that we are no longer inundated with the tedious worldbuilding of the first book, which does speed up the pacing of this one. It's more action-filled and less waxing poetic about the greatness of first-person narrator Darrow.
Yet, this book didn't really click with me. The vast majority of the plot feels like a space invader video game, with a constant stream of fights and skirmishes and battles, culminating in a boss fight. There's so much double-crossing and triple-crossing that it was hard to keep straight who were allies and who were enemies, with people switching allegiances frequently for small gains. All that constant side-changing made it hard to even care about anyone's motivations and reasons.
The other thing I'm not a fan of is how pretentious the writing style is. Where one simple sentence would suffice, Brown would instead supply five pompous sentences filled with flowery words, at the end of which the meaning is still not clear. At times, it's almost as if the author is so pleased with himself and his overwrought prose that he forgot what he's writing.
I very much doubt I'll continue onto the next book. Each book has been getting longer and longer, and I'm not getting enough out of them to make it worthwhile. I don't care to find out what happens to Darrow and his friends, which is probably a good sign that I should just stop and call it good.
Readaroo Rating: 2 stars
0 comments:
Post a Comment