The Quest Classic Gold
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* For new players we recommend The Quest! * You can now have The Quest Classic, Island of Ice and...
The Onyx Prince (The Journals of Ravier #3)
8.0
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A FATE TRULY WORSE THAN DEATH . . . Is there such a thing? Before travelling through a portal to the...
Young Adult Epic Fantasy
Ice Princess Dress Designer Game for Fashion Girls
Lifestyle and Games
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*** Become a famous ice princess dress designer! *** Develop your own ice fashion in a “fantasy...
Asiza Tait (139 KP) rated The Night Circus in Books
Feb 1, 2018
All of our readers enjoyed the beautiful descriptive writing of Erin. Some found the beginning a bit difficult to follow with the abrupt changes of time and scene, though others found the whole mystery of it all utterly engrossing.
Basically, there are two ancient magicians who set their two star pupils against each other to find out who is the best. The issues are that the pupils don't know the rules, or how the winner is declared. The competition arena, is the Night Circus.
There is a great deal that is left to the reader's imagination as not everything is completely explained, which only adds to the enigmas and magic entwined in everything. This is not an ordinary novel. We first get a full view of the almost playfulness of the magic and later the darker aspects of it are explored. How everyone involved in the circus whether directly or not is caught up in it and pays a price as well as benefits from it.
Walking through the circus is so beautifully written that it feels as if you are there, smelling the caramel popcorn and watching the white flames dancing. The joy of the circus permeates the pages, people who visit the circus leave it ever changed.
The love story between Marco and Celia is restrained, elegant and ultimately otherworldly in its strength and beauty. They 'write love letters' to each other through the different tents in the circus. The demonstrations of their affection to each other are so beautiful; so dazzling as to wish that everyone could find such love.
The competition though integral to the story becomes the hardest part to reconcile as the pages flip by and the costs mount up for the magic being used, the balancing that must be maintained. Some of these costs are very heavy, burdensome and even fatal. The darker side of the competition is shown in all it's sinister aspects and we are left waiting for the 'other shoe to drop' so to speak.
To show that this book is not for everyone, half of our readers adored this book and would absolutely recommend it as a must read, and the other half were not at all convinced, conceding only that the descriptive writing was excellent but the plot felt thin.
Oz Temple: The Wonderful Wizard of oz Powerful stories with Great videos
Education and Entertainment
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Once upon a time, we had just books! But now presenting a visual journey as well! Experience Oz like...
Midlife Magic (Not Too Late #1)
9.0
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FOR ALL THE EVERYDAY HEROINES OVER FORTY WHO KNOW IT'S NOT TOO LATE FOR MAGIC! If you can imagine...
Urban Fantasy Romance Series
Sufferborn
6.0
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Her life had been planned out for her, until an elf with a fiery past came to tempt her future. ...
Dark Fantasy
A Circle of Firelight
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The execution is for the most part charming and clever, with lively dialogue, easy pacing, and...
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated The Pilgrims (Pendulum #1) in Books
Nov 25, 2019
The story follows them as they travel across this new land of Levaal and encounters various inhabitants - human and other races. There has been a war simmering between The Castle - ruled by the (not to beat about the bush) insane Vous - and a coalition of still-free cities governed by their respective mayors. Eric and Case arrive just as the war is about to become a full battle, and it's clear that this is not a coincidence.
I'm always wary of fantasy books where people cross from this world into the world of the writer's imagination, it always seems like a bit of a fanboy's wet dream and sometimes it isn't handled well and leaves a lot of holes. Elliott does adequately well in addressing these - Eric (at least) does not cross by accident, the magic that brings them to the world allows them to speak the correct language and so on. Elliott also wisely immediately plunges the antagonists into action, revealing the wonders of Levaal rather than letting them frolic on some untouched green hillside.
The other notable deviation from this being any sort of wish fulfillment fantasy is that Levaal actually isn't very.... nice. Danger, intrigue and double dealing abound. Vous could be nominally labelled as the 'bad guy' but it's clearly described that he is doing what are bad things for what he considers the right reasons. There are no 'dark lords' here and by the same token the 'good guys' really aren't particularly good.
Eric and Case are not spared from this. Neither is a paragon of virtue, Eric has some distinct character flaws, which are made very clear to him by other characters and perhaps at least some of the arc of the trilogy will be Eric becoming a 'better' person. Case has served time in prison for murder and is an alcoholic, the latter fact makes him behave erratically at best.
The inhabitants of Levaal do not deviate far from stock fantasy races, but all are unique and the world does seem to fit together and work quite well as a 'real' place, I did like the mechanism of how the magic worked and its limitations. Elliott has really put some thought into this.
The writing is hard to find fault with; the descriptive passages have real atmosphere, the dialogue is sharp and always in keeping with the characters, which in themselves are complex and nobody is represented as a cipher or standard trope. The story is engaging and moves at a terrific pace, covering a lot of ground (both metaphorically and across Levaal).
The ending is a real cliff hanger with a sting in the tail and it will be interesting to see where the story goes in the next volume, Shadow.
Highly recommended, though not for younger readers due to explicit sexual references.