Official Review: The Six and Anwyn of Ialana
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Jax14
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Official Review: The Six and Anwyn of Ialana
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Six and Anwyn of Ialana" by Katlynn Brooke.]
2 out of 4 stars
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The Six and Anwyn of Ialana is a fantasy novel aimed at young adults and up, and is the third in the Ialana series.
The Six healers have been living under the protection of Queen Catrin and her consort Ambros, quietly honing their skills for their mission of healing the mutant Trueni people. An old foe Branwyn, who can shape-shift , has been reincarnated in the form of a giant spider called Glahivar by the demon-lord Astrobal to find the healers, and most importantly, Anwyn. The evil demon-lord has his sights set on a long forgotten weapon, accidently unearthed, that requires a specific lineage to not only activate it, but also deactivate it. How exactly is Anwyn connected to this deadly weapon and will the Six and Anwyn, as well as the people they swore to protect, be able to evade the assassin and ensure that the weapon does not land up in the clutches of Astrobal?
Starting off the series by reading the third book before the others made the flow through of the plot very difficult to pick up on. The sheer amount of characters I encountered forced me to start the book again just so that I could keep track. At roughly 40% of the book I had already been introduced to 53 different character names, many of which were long and difficult to remember. With so many sub-plots and tangents in the book, I felt that not enough substance was given to each section, so some of the ideas were left hanging or just stitched closed quickly to end the line of thought. A large portion of the beginning of the book was spent aligning the reader with the present and past in the series, which left the character and world building rather on the thin side. Even with all the background information having been introduced, the link between the books was still confusing. I didn't really feel connected to many of the characters as most were not given enough time to have developed personalities. This frustrated me as some of the characters that were essential to the story felt bland. The villains were the ones best described! Certain parts of the story which should have been climactic (like battles or major discoveries) petered out and left me feeling unfulfilled. A few minor editing errors like the inconsistent spelling of a character's name or a missing preposition or two were not very serious.
The author has a flowing writing style which is comfortable and easy to read. The story itself, whilst inherently having nothing wrong with it, felt flat in the portrayal of characters as well as the substance of this part of the story to me. Perhaps if I had read the previous books in the series I would have been in a better position to understand the history of the characters and where the story was headed. I did appreciate some of the themes like friendship, love, courage and family bonds being explored.
I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars and would recommend it for young adults and up, specifically for those who have read the preceding books in the series. A great effort, but for me just an average read, and unfortunately I will not be reaching for the rest of the series.
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The Six and Anwyn of Ialana
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2 out of 4 stars
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The Six and Anwyn of Ialana is a fantasy novel aimed at young adults and up, and is the third in the Ialana series.
The Six healers have been living under the protection of Queen Catrin and her consort Ambros, quietly honing their skills for their mission of healing the mutant Trueni people. An old foe Branwyn, who can shape-shift , has been reincarnated in the form of a giant spider called Glahivar by the demon-lord Astrobal to find the healers, and most importantly, Anwyn. The evil demon-lord has his sights set on a long forgotten weapon, accidently unearthed, that requires a specific lineage to not only activate it, but also deactivate it. How exactly is Anwyn connected to this deadly weapon and will the Six and Anwyn, as well as the people they swore to protect, be able to evade the assassin and ensure that the weapon does not land up in the clutches of Astrobal?
Starting off the series by reading the third book before the others made the flow through of the plot very difficult to pick up on. The sheer amount of characters I encountered forced me to start the book again just so that I could keep track. At roughly 40% of the book I had already been introduced to 53 different character names, many of which were long and difficult to remember. With so many sub-plots and tangents in the book, I felt that not enough substance was given to each section, so some of the ideas were left hanging or just stitched closed quickly to end the line of thought. A large portion of the beginning of the book was spent aligning the reader with the present and past in the series, which left the character and world building rather on the thin side. Even with all the background information having been introduced, the link between the books was still confusing. I didn't really feel connected to many of the characters as most were not given enough time to have developed personalities. This frustrated me as some of the characters that were essential to the story felt bland. The villains were the ones best described! Certain parts of the story which should have been climactic (like battles or major discoveries) petered out and left me feeling unfulfilled. A few minor editing errors like the inconsistent spelling of a character's name or a missing preposition or two were not very serious.
The author has a flowing writing style which is comfortable and easy to read. The story itself, whilst inherently having nothing wrong with it, felt flat in the portrayal of characters as well as the substance of this part of the story to me. Perhaps if I had read the previous books in the series I would have been in a better position to understand the history of the characters and where the story was headed. I did appreciate some of the themes like friendship, love, courage and family bonds being explored.
I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars and would recommend it for young adults and up, specifically for those who have read the preceding books in the series. A great effort, but for me just an average read, and unfortunately I will not be reaching for the rest of the series.
******
The Six and Anwyn of Ialana
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Jax14's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: Lost on the Edge of Eternity by Jonathan Floyd
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maruyama
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This is good, makes me want to read it. But i have a list of 'to-get-throughs' and I'll have to go back to the start of this series. Trolling Amazon now.
