Reviews/Impressions Dump
Jun. 1st, 2010 08:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkEh? Why is everything italicized on LJ? O_o
Anyhow...
Disclaimer: I'm only 64 stars in right now and I haven't beaten the game yet, but here are some thoughts.
The first one definitely had a charm to it that the second one doesn't. Lack of shiny newness factor, I guess. Nonetheless, the second one is bursting with creativity. It's also quite a bit harder than the first; this has got to be the first game that, at some moments, my sister and I started screaming "OH NOOOOO" in unison. XD Yes, SMG likes to throw some devilish curveballs at random moments. It's a lot of fun. There are some things, though, that I don't like. For one, the Chimp's minigame stars are annoying, and some of the comet challenges have become near impossibly difficult. Argh!
All right, I'll admit it: I'm a sucker for this kind of plot and main character.
In short, The Conqueror's Shadow centers on Corvis Rebaine, the Terror of the East, who, seventeen years ago, conquered half of the kingdom of Imphallion using some cruel tactics. Flash forward seventeen years, and Corvis is now married, has two children, and lives peacefully in a little town. That is, until a new warlord named Audriss rises up and begins following a path of conquest similar to Corvis's. After his daughter is threatened by Audriss's goons, Corvis sets off to find his old allies and begin recruiting an army all over again to oppose Audriss.
The number one most enjoyable aspect of the novel, by far, is the dialogue. It's wittily, hilariously sarcastic, jammed full of deadpan snarking, and just so much fun to read. I really can't emphasize enough how great the dialogue is.
The narrative style is a little unusual: the POV is cinematic and tends to head-hop, which gets a little annoying sometimes. As with all stories that use multiple POVs, I got irritated whenever a chapter ended with a cliffhanger and then cut to another character's POV for two chapters. Also, at the beginning of each chapter is a flashback scene; the flashbacks are in no chronological order. Normally I'm against this kind of technique, but in this novel it ended up working really well, as every flashback was intriguing and added to the backstory and characterization. I especially liked the few flashbacks of Corvis pre-Terror of the East-roaring rampage of conquest, which subtly flesh out his motivations and character quite a bit.
The worldbuilding is also very solid. Different sentient beings are detailed in interesting ways, such as the horned, one-eyed ogres and the gnomes, which refer to themselves in third person and call humans "it" (instead of "he/she"). I am no expert on war logistics, but I think Marmell's descriptions of Corvis and co.'s strategies sounded plausible, especially the difficulty they had in raising and funding an army.
All in all, an enjoyable read.
I felt like I had something else to say, but I forgot it. "OTL
Anyhow...
Disclaimer: I'm only 64 stars in right now and I haven't beaten the game yet, but here are some thoughts.
The first one definitely had a charm to it that the second one doesn't. Lack of shiny newness factor, I guess. Nonetheless, the second one is bursting with creativity. It's also quite a bit harder than the first; this has got to be the first game that, at some moments, my sister and I started screaming "OH NOOOOO" in unison. XD Yes, SMG likes to throw some devilish curveballs at random moments. It's a lot of fun. There are some things, though, that I don't like. For one, the Chimp's minigame stars are annoying, and some of the comet challenges have become near impossibly difficult. Argh!
All right, I'll admit it: I'm a sucker for this kind of plot and main character.
In short, The Conqueror's Shadow centers on Corvis Rebaine, the Terror of the East, who, seventeen years ago, conquered half of the kingdom of Imphallion using some cruel tactics. Flash forward seventeen years, and Corvis is now married, has two children, and lives peacefully in a little town. That is, until a new warlord named Audriss rises up and begins following a path of conquest similar to Corvis's. After his daughter is threatened by Audriss's goons, Corvis sets off to find his old allies and begin recruiting an army all over again to oppose Audriss.
The number one most enjoyable aspect of the novel, by far, is the dialogue. It's wittily, hilariously sarcastic, jammed full of deadpan snarking, and just so much fun to read. I really can't emphasize enough how great the dialogue is.
The narrative style is a little unusual: the POV is cinematic and tends to head-hop, which gets a little annoying sometimes. As with all stories that use multiple POVs, I got irritated whenever a chapter ended with a cliffhanger and then cut to another character's POV for two chapters. Also, at the beginning of each chapter is a flashback scene; the flashbacks are in no chronological order. Normally I'm against this kind of technique, but in this novel it ended up working really well, as every flashback was intriguing and added to the backstory and characterization. I especially liked the few flashbacks of Corvis pre-Terror of the East-roaring rampage of conquest, which subtly flesh out his motivations and character quite a bit.
The worldbuilding is also very solid. Different sentient beings are detailed in interesting ways, such as the horned, one-eyed ogres and the gnomes, which refer to themselves in third person and call humans "it" (instead of "he/she"). I am no expert on war logistics, but I think Marmell's descriptions of Corvis and co.'s strategies sounded plausible, especially the difficulty they had in raising and funding an army.
All in all, an enjoyable read.
I felt like I had something else to say, but I forgot it. "OTL
