Foto de l'autor

Nancy Holland

Autor/a de Thalgor's Witch

6 obres 17 Membres 6 Ressenyes

Sobre l'autor

Sèrie

Obres de Nancy Holland

Thalgor's Witch (2018) 6 exemplars
Felyn's Curse (2019) 2 exemplars
The Witch King (2019) 2 exemplars

Etiquetat

Coneixement comú

Encara no hi ha coneixement comú d'aquest autor. Pots ajudar.

Membres

Ressenyes

To read more reviews in this series and others, check out keikii eats books!

73 points, 3 ¾ stars


I actually enjoyed reading this. If I sound shocked, it is because I am. I was really wary before starting this, because I have had bad luck with this type of story before in the past. I always want to like it, but I rarely do. Therefore I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed myself while reading it. Especially in light of how much I had trouble getting into the writing itself.

Thalgor's Witch is the start of The Witch King trilogy. At its heart, The Witch King trilogy is a fantasy romance series. There are almost equal parts romance and fantasy. While Thalgor's Witch is the end of the story for Erwyn and Thalgor, it isn't the end of the story. It was an good start to the series, despite my problems with the writing.

The goal of the book was to showcase the change in their social structures. In Thalgor's Witch, we're treated to a wanderer society, still pulling itself together after some brutal wars years and years prior. They band together in groups, with survival never certain and bands are constantly trying to steal from each other. They want to change that, though. And that is this story, the change of social structures.

The best descriptor for the writing is that it was really clumsy. All of the good elements to a story were there. It was more than just scaffolding. It was just that every element was just fumbled a little bit. The elements that authors typically take time to explain (setting, characters, events), weren't really taken time to explain, or they were explained in the wrong places. The perspective switches also weren't handled very well and weren't very clearly marked. I think with time Nancy Holland will become a fantastic author, and I do want to read more from her because of it. Some of my favourite authors started out exactly the same way, including Ilona Andrews. I just want you to know that while I liked the story, the writing was a bit clumsy.

Erwyn was a great main character. She tries to stay true to herself and her powers. In fact, her powers themselves require her to stay true to them, or lose them. She isn't willing to lose them. She has to look after her little sister, which makes her vulnerable because she cannot move as freely as she wants to. As much as I liked her, though, I couldn't really connect with her. She makes some really boneheaded choices, even accounting for her young age. She has been a slave before, she doesn't want to be a slave again. She has to find a way to live with Thalgor's group as she is, not as they wish her to be.

Thalgor is definitely the most annoying part to the story. He goes back and forth, back and forth on his position on Erwyn and witches. He doesn't know himself nearly as well as Erwyn does. It is frustrating. HE is frustrating. He keeps trying to crush Erwyn for his own pride, because he is hanging onto this idea of what was, not what is to be. Then she has to knock sense into him, and it repeats. And it repeats. I don't like the dynamic, but I like how much he worships her when he gets the fuck over himself.

For as much as this story is about the romance, the start of the relationship is extremely abbreviated. It went from a pseudo-master/slave relationship, to Erwyn running away to talk to some witches about her sister. Then Thalgor comes to collect her again because "she is his", and... Erwyn inexplicably decides to be with him forevermore. There were a few steps missed in there on the part of the author, and it felt like a giant handwave to me. The characters had to get together, so they did, without all that pesky figuring out how to get them together thing.

All of it is wrapped up in The Witch King, who appears in their dreams. The Witch King keeps pushing them to stay together. Which is necessary since they split up like 10 times in this single book. Imagine that, an abbreviated/non-existent courting period where both parties just decide to be with the other for mysterious reasons don't lead to the world's most stable relationship. Go figure.

Overall, though, like I said in the beginning: I really liked this. Despite all of the problems I had with it. Or maybe in spite of. I was surprisingly emotional while reading it. I think if this was the author's 20th book, and not in her first 5, this would have been an incredibly amazing experience. I'm looking forward to her work in the coming years and seeing her grow.
… (més)
 
Marcat
keikii | Hi ha 3 ressenyes més | Jan 23, 2020 |
To read more reviews in this series and others, check out keikii eats books!

64 points, 3 ¼ stars

Felyn's Curse was written much better than Thalgor's Witch. It is like the author took all my beliefs in her as a writer, and took them to heart. She definitely grew as an author between books one and two of this series. I'm really glad for the growth. While I suppose this could be read as a standalone, I don't think you should. I think this is really meant to be read after book one, when you've already gotten to know some of the major characters.

Unfortunately, I just was unable to connect to Felyn as a character even more than I was unable to connect to Erwyn. I enjoyed Erwyn's plight more. Felyn isn't as sure of herself, she flounders more as she tries to figure out what to do in the position she is in. It also doesn't help that everything Felyn went through, Erwyn went through as well. It was a lot like treading the same ground with a new person. A character who really doesn't have much of an effect on anything in the story. She was a catalyst more than an agent.

Varz is 100% better than Thalgor, and helps makes this book, though. Varz is so much more understanding. He looks up to the person Thalgor became by the end of the first book as a role model. While this was an arranged marriage, there was actually a courting period this time around. It was after they were married but, eh does that matter? I don't think so! While Varz and Felyn have growing pains and fights as well, I feel like Varz has legitimate fears and Felyn is right to be hurt. No one was in the right or wrong this time. I just wish these two would have talked more.

The thing I disliked the most about this was actually Felyn's curse. So much mental energy is spent on how she is cursed and oh my god it is so bad and why her. It is..It is utterly ridiculous to me. Maybe it is because of my background in urban fantasy where were-creatures happen all the time, but I just don't think turning into a panther is that big a deal, especially when those around you know you are cursed and can help you. I just..big fucking deal. I understand part of it, but not all. This is what caused most of my disconnect with the entire book. The entire book hinges on this, and I just didn't care and found it not worth the worry.

The enemy is a bit more lackluster, too. In the previous book it was them vs. the entire world, including within the camp. There was a lot of internal strife here as well, but it felt like treading the same ground. However, it isn't really them vs. the world anymore. There are minor skirmishes with a big bad I assume will be dealt with in the next book, since it wasn't here. Most of this was them vs. ...a panther. A panther that isn't Felyn. Though that is a minor part, it is mostly about Felyn trying to win over the village. Just wasn't as big of stakes.

I'm genuinely curious about where this series is going, though. While I had some problems with the story, I did mostly enjoy reading it. I am looking forward to seeing the improvements Nancy Holland will make in the next book. I'm going to continue to look towards what the author has in store for years to come because I think she is going to grow into herself marvelously.

I received a copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Nancy Holland, Tule Publishing, and Netgalley for providing this copy for review!
… (més)
 
Marcat
keikii | Jan 23, 2020 |
To read more reviews in this series and others, check out my blog keikii eats books!

55 points, 3 stars

Quote:
“Were the poets of your people among those who used to be slaves?”
“Most.” She ducked her head. “And a slave will tell the stories his master wants to hear.”

Review:
The Witch King is the final book in a fantasy romance trilogy. It has its place, and its demographic. However, for me personally I just ended up disappointed. I felt that the series promised more than the finale delivered on.

I have read all three books now, and Holland was still a newer author when book one came out. The best thing I can say is that Holland has definitely grown as an author in the time between books one and three. Technically better with every new book. I look forward to looking into her in the future to see where she grows into.

Unfortunately, I found that the biggest draw of the book, the romance, was completely lacking in substance. In fact, while Holland has improved her writing, she seems to have taken several steps backwards when it comes to the romances. Kyr and Ciel were expected to be together at the end of the book by Holland, and so they were. Absolutely no care was taken into bringing about this outcome. They essentially went on a long walk, and they were in love before they even took off. Even though they had barely just met each other and didn't know anything about each other. I just didn't care for the romance at all.

Holland also still has a problem with too many ideas in each book. The author has so many ideas that she wants to include that she can't choose so she adds them all. Which ends up with each idea crowding out the last idea she had and everything running on top of each other. Which left me feeling like everything was half finished. It felt like the book should have been twice as long to flesh out all the ideas she had. It just didn't lead to a very compelling narrative.

Which was the same problem I had with the world and the ending. Too many ideas. Too many things set up that just didn't go anywhere. And not enough work put into everything.

However this was still readable. I think Holland will become even better in the years to come. I wouldn't be surprised if this series ended up with a spinoff, though. Holland clearly has a lot of ideas that she wants to write about when it comes to this world.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Nancy Holland, Tule Publishing, and Netgalley for providing the opportunity to review this copy.
… (més)
 
Marcat
keikii | Jan 23, 2020 |
Ressenya escrita per a Crítics Matiners de LibraryThing .
Nancy Hollands "Thalgor's Witch" successfully combines romance novel, fantasy, feminism, and literary fiction in equal parts to good effect. The main character, Erwyn, is taken captive by a tribe who effectively put a scarlet letter 'W' around her collar. She is stigmatized much like Hawthorne's adulturess, but she is in no way an adulturer. She is a witch by birth, and that is enough.

In spite of the stigmata, she becomes rapidly valued if not fully accepted by her mainly male counterparts for her healing abilities and other good witch skills (her character is very wiccan). These conflicting pressures, the stigma, the value, and the inequality, reflect the real hurdles facing women. This presentation categorizes the fantasy / romance novel as feminist literature. Holland also vigorously attacks stereotyping and caste. It would be a good book for a young male curriculum.… (més)
 
Marcat
Jeffrey_Hatcher | Hi ha 3 ressenyes més | Apr 29, 2018 |

Estadístiques

Obres
6
Membres
17
Popularitat
#654,391
Valoració
½ 3.5
Ressenyes
6
ISBN
9