Elfking

I just finished reading Elfking by Susan Price. It was a rather odd book. While in some ways (language) it was easy to read, there was something about it that made it go rather slow for me. It was heavily steeped in Norse mythology. I liked that, but also found it a bit convoluted.

The characters of Elfgift and Unwin didn't strike me the way I felt they were "supposed" to. Somehow, neither was quite sympathetic or dispicable enough. There was something a little too cardboard about Unwin, and a little too glittery about Elfgift. The thing I suppose I ended up enjoying most in the novel was the Norse mythology at its center. But the characters and story, in their own right, didn't do a whole lot for me.

Even so, I did finish the book, and even read the last 150 pages or so in one sitting. It was readable, but the early parts didn't really capture my attention.


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The Golden Queen

I posted this on another of my blog sites, but I thought it would be appropriate for it to appear here as well:

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David Wolverton's The Golden Queen is the book that I most recently finished.  I ended up finding it a pleasant enough read, though it isn't something I am particularly interested in revisting.

In my reading of the novel, I found myself growing in sympathy for Gallen, Orick, and Maggie, and feeling a mix of sympathy and disguist for Veriasse and Everynne.  It seems to me that this is by design.  In addition, I found the dronons to be a pretty disgusting evil race for our friends to face, which made the overall story pretty effective.


I came across a copy of  a later book that continues this story when I recently visited a library book sale.  I had another 150 or so pages to read, meaning I'd read over 2/3 of it.  That seems like about the spot in my reading where I'll have a pretty good idea if it is a story I want to continue to pursue when I finish my reading.  Well, I didn't buy the book, even though it would cost me less than $1.  I am not really interested in investing the time in continuing along with the story.  


That said, the last little bit did make me smile, and I would count The Golden Queen as an enjoyable enough read in itself.

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