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Il Ragazzo E Il Falco (2000)

by Christopher Bunn(Favorite Author)

3.57 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

series

The Tormay Trilogy

review 1: I won this book in a First Reads contest.By the time I finished reading the first few chapters of this book, it was clear to me that Christopher Bunn created an interesting world with a dense mythology and history. The author switches points-of-view between a variety of characters. Many of these characters do not interact with each other in the first book of the Tormay trilogy. One point-of-view, that of the "boy" in the book's title, is used to establish much of Tormay's mythology and history. Occasionally, it seemed to me that the characters' points-of-view had the same "voice", with similar language for each character. However, the author is always clear about which character has the current point-of-view.The goal of this book is to set up the characters and conflict... more for the Tormay trilogy. Readers who expected some sort of conclusion at the end of this book will be disappointed, but the author clearly states at the beginning of this book that the books in this trilogy are not stand-alone, and are meant to be read as a single story.The author always keeps the story interesting, allows the readers to deduce parts of the story before explicitly revealing the details, and creates interesting characters, leaving the reader excited to read the next book in the trilogy.
review 2: Beautiful prose, rich character development - rare finds in this age of ebooks and indie authors. The sheer number of characters is dizzying, and I wonder why the book ends where it does instead of getting more of the story told before we turn the last page of Book One. The hawk is marvelous, and the final image of him awake at his post all night while Jute sleeps is magical. The magic in the prose is what moves me to give 5 stars to a story that seems weaker in plot and pace than in character development. Jute, The Juggler, The Knife, the wizards, the female characters - Levoreth, and more names than my brain will hold for long - all are memorable and riveting. It's a shame we don't get to stay with any one character long enough to see a story through to the end. The wolves, the mystery killings, the box with the hawk engraved on the lid, the missing contents (but Jute didn't take what was inside! Why is it missing toward the end of the novel?), the quest of Ronan, the Autumn Harvest, the horse deals.... so much is going on here, this can't be a YA or children's fantasy. It has a very adult feel, to me. Very sophisticated, complex, intriguing and rich with myth and legend. It doesn't follow the conventions of the hero's journey, at least not in Book One. I'm looking forward to Two and Three. This is well crafted prose, full of mystery and magic, told by a master storyteller. less

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