Robyn Hyden > Recent Status Updates

This book is definitely moving faster for me than the first one, but I’m bumping up against the same issues that annoyed me in book 1:

-I don’t care about Dara. As another reviewer mentioned he is “spiritually 1,000 and actually just acts 30”

-Nahri is making the dumbest decisions. But she is in her early 20s and locked in a harem so I guess has an excuse.

-political factions are still extremely confusing.

This book is taking ages to get into. It’s perfectly interesting while I’m reading, but every time I put it down and pick it up again, I find it hard to follow all the complex history and multiple character names. It does seem to be picking up somewhat now that I’m more than halfway through.

This book, recommended on many “best of” lists, so far has a lot of tropes I don’t love:

-scholar becomes obsessed with the object of their study and falls in love. The Power of Myth is explored (similar to the dreary Possession, by A.S. Byatt)

-scholar time-travels to be with their fated mate; their paths cross and intertwine repeatedly over lifetimes (similar to the very disturbing Time Traveler’s Wife)

I’m loving this book. The observations about Alabama political factions, voting behaviors and personalities from 1949 are still incredibly relevant. But, the case studies in part one were so incredibly specific, I skipped the case studies from most other states. Otherwise I definitely would not be so far along.