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De Koninklijke Banneling (2009)

by Fiona McIntosh(Favorite Author)

3.75 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

9024530598 (ISBN13: 9789024530595)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Luitingh Fantasy

series

Valisar Trilogy

review 1: I can count on my hands the number of books I personally have picked out, then given up reading half way through. This is one of them. It makes it all the worse when it looked to be such a good story too.Firstly, the petty complaints. I have a first edition of this novel, all shiny and new, and I am distinctly unimpressed by the editing errors. The fly leaf misspells Denova as Devona twice. The map at the front of the book does not mark on Brighthelm despite this being, according to the contents of the book, the capital city of Penraven. Instead the capital of Penraven is marked as Penraven. Way to go. Where commas actually appear in this book, (which they rarely do, leading all the characters to sound like they’re on crack) they only do so in the middle of hideously lon... moreg sentences and in the middle of phrases. Now to why I didn't like the book itself:The central premise is immediately very problematic, and the plot overly simplistic. Bearing in mind that the following issues are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head that occurred in the first 80 pages, here goes:The idea that the King and Queen just accept that their country is doomed and sit in the castle waiting to die, while failing to even plan a sensible defence strategy, is completely unbelievable. I’m sorry, but why on earth is a random teenage boy brought in and ordered to smother the princess instead of a servant doing the deed, or the king himself? Like, is there a point? Also, why on earth do Leo and Gavriel, (bearing in mind the entire point of the book is that they can flee and survive) actually wait in the palace till the last minute, instead of escaping weeks before the invasion? Instead, they run merrily around and are heeded by neither friend nor foe, despite the fact the castle is literally being stormed at this point.It's unrealistic that the king decides he’ll accept the terms of Loether before he has even heard them, rather than trying to assert his dominance. It’s also unrealistic that the king confers directly with soldiers rather than having generals, and seems to have literally no-one in his retinue apart from one legate. What about some advisors, or guards? It's laughable that an archer, who actually dreams of promotion, also has a petty grudge leading him to make the snap decision to randomly betray the entire city. It’s ridiculous that said betrayal consists of 'opening a gate', which lets the entire army of barbarians swan merrily in. Er, were there not guards at this gate? It’s also ridiculous that the king had actually allowed said traitor to deliver a personal message to the enemy without vetting it first; I mean, for all he knew it might have contained such vital advice as 'I’m feeling douchey today, so I'll open the unguarded gate for you, lol!' Sections of plot are jumped over too: one moment, Loether's army is a whole country away. Next, they're right outside the castle gates. Wow, can Loethar teleport? Next, Loether's suddenly in the throne room where the king was conveniently waiting for him (how kind!). Wait, didn’t anyone fight him? Where were all the guards? Oh wait I know - it’s because this book doesn’t have any god forsaken guards.Okay. Moving on.The prose is not just sparing, it is full on sketchy, which grates when much of the dialogue is actually unnecessary. Despite the occasional page of background worldbuilding, description throughout the novel is non existant, leaving the fantasy world bare and unconvincing. The dialogue is clunky and pretentious (twelve year old Leo talks like a dictionary) in a prose which lacks the levity to sustain it. Big words are used clumsily, and turns of phrase are used just unusually enough to make it sound as though the author is either trying too hard, or not actually a native English speaker. Examples from pages 87- 88:1) 'There was not sufficient room' - the word you're looking for is 'insufficient'.2) 'A smile broke across his mouth' - actually, the expression is 'face' not 'mouth'. 3) 'I will never lose that image' - 'forget' sounds much smoother.The interactions between the characters are awkward as a result of the dialogue, and there are far too few characters described to paint a convincing picture of two armies and an entire court (even if they DON'T have any guards). Characters explain and tell, rather than showing and doing, which makes them seem two dimensional and almost comical. Problems like this make the story lacklustre; there is no sense of peril, or possibility. The characters, rather than real people making decisions which weave the plot as they goes along, are puppets McIntosh is forcing down the nonsensical and linear path she has fated them to go.Oh, and I can totally see where the plot of the 'dead' daughter is going. Why on earth this is marketed as an adult novel, and has garnered such a positive critical reception, is beyond me. I may be overreacting to give up on it completely. But I simply cannot summon the force of will to suspend disbelief enough to actually finish this book, let alone enjoy it, when I know there are so many superior fantasy novels out there.Would not recommend this to book anyone who has actually read a good adult fantasy novel in their life.
review 2: Kings, barbarians, magic and canabalism; Fiona McIntosh never disappoints. The book has so much intrigue and vivid characters who motives are not always as they appear. Which is what I love about Fiona's writing; there are plot twists you expect then she completely blindsides you and leaves you gripping the book and muttering 'no freaking way!'. It's also incredibly fast paced, taking place only over the space of a week or so, which makes it so hard to put down. Unlike other epic fantasy novel, this one offers no respite.She also creates such a vivid and colourful world without a lot of description. And the magic system feels so believable because it leaves so much mystery and consequence. less

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