All reviews for Le quattro cose ultime (2011)
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I really wasn't going to go forward with this series. After finding Left Hand a painful and clumsy exercise in poor writing I decided to ditch the series (which is a big thing for me)Unfortunately some well-meaning friends gave me the third book for xmas last year. Well me being me, rather than thanking my friends and returning the book, I loaned The Last Four Things from the library.What struck me first is an apparent change in tone. Maybe I just didn't pick up on it in the last book, but the voice narrating this piece espoused far more sarcastic humor than before. While the change in tone was welcome in a way as it morphed the melodrama of the story into satire, the series is still difficult. The main problem with Last Four Things it the protag Thom Cale, currently back with his Redeemer 'buddies' spends the majority of the book non-plussed about his situation, creating a similar effect in the reader.Only by the last quarter does stuff start happening, and its reasonably exciting stuff, but like many episodes in a series, one finds the author may just be filling time before some decent events because these days your epic fantasy has to be at least seven books to be respectable.Nonetheless Four Things was an improvement on the first book, less cringing prose (less not good mind you) the narration is slightly tighter and the flow of the book is smooth enough to read quickly which is a good thing.
After the first book in the series, (The left hand of god) I felt fairly engaged in the characters that are involved. Unfortunately the main character seems to fall down, Thomas Cale the protagonist, comes across to the reader as a somewhat shrewd leader in the first book. Brought up in a strict religious society he escapes (a desire he had harboured for a while) and experiences a life outside of the sanctuary, we quickly learn that he has an ability to fight that is unequaled by anybody else and has been trained as a master tactician. When he escapes the sanctuary he discovers a different life and new freedoms that come with it, so it is with some disbelief that even after the events of the first book he goes so easily back to the sanctuary and redeemer Boscoe.I must confess to only getting half way through this second installment, Thomas cales return and acceptance of his new revered place within the sanctuarys heirachy just didn't fit. I must confess I had my doubts after the first book but wanted to give the series a chance the more I perservered the more I disliked the character. I enjoyed the premise of the book and thought there were some really good characters within it but the main drive of Thomas Cale just left you with nobody to root for.
Realistic and brutal.