(read and reviewed Jan '07)
The plot of this book is about (royal) court intrigue. Combined with religious elements this makes for a very good read. Larriane Wills did a great job of immersing me into Garrans world. The first meeting between Garran of Lockmer, Govener of Sheritan, and Princess Fayahstella, future Queen of Ives, did not go well. The difficulties began when Vasglow, the head of the house staff, tapped on the door to announce her arrival. A gaggle of voices in what sounded like dire urgency brought Garran to his feet before an attending lady, not Vasglow, opened the door.
The only down side to this book for me was the dialogue. While I appreciate the desire to give the characters their own accent, it was a little difficult to read. Not too difficult. Like trying to read, rather than hear, a Cockney accent. The descriptions of characters and places it terrific. This book would be of interest to all adults and older teens that enjoy the fantasy genre.
My personal favorite part, without giving too much away, was the exchange of tokens of allegiance. You know what they are saying to each other while in front of others, without them coming right out and saying it. I found it very touching. Id love it if there were a sequel. Perhaps one involving the couples child(ren) as adults. There were a couple of issues: 1) lack of open and/or close quotes, 2) a repeated misspelling of someones name on one page. Nothing too distracting though.
On the whole I really enjoyed The Knowing. The characters are fleshed out well, I felt like I was actually there a lot of the time. Feeling their love, loss, pain. What Caslock thought of what Bashsay had done was difficult to tell. He looked over Garrans limp body, the back bloodied from the cuts from the whip and three bloody patches of raw flesh on his leg, while he walked by and ducked beneath the rope holding Garran on his knees.
Im looking forward to reading more by Larriane Wills.
The plot of this book is about (royal) court intrigue. Combined with religious elements this makes for a very good read. Larriane Wills did a great job of immersing me into Garrans world. The first meeting between Garran of Lockmer, Govener of Sheritan, and Princess Fayahstella, future Queen of Ives, did not go well. The difficulties began when Vasglow, the head of the house staff, tapped on the door to announce her arrival. A gaggle of voices in what sounded like dire urgency brought Garran to his feet before an attending lady, not Vasglow, opened the door.
The only down side to this book for me was the dialogue. While I appreciate the desire to give the characters their own accent, it was a little difficult to read. Not too difficult. Like trying to read, rather than hear, a Cockney accent. The descriptions of characters and places it terrific. This book would be of interest to all adults and older teens that enjoy the fantasy genre.
My personal favorite part, without giving too much away, was the exchange of tokens of allegiance. You know what they are saying to each other while in front of others, without them coming right out and saying it. I found it very touching. Id love it if there were a sequel. Perhaps one involving the couples child(ren) as adults. There were a couple of issues: 1) lack of open and/or close quotes, 2) a repeated misspelling of someones name on one page. Nothing too distracting though.
On the whole I really enjoyed The Knowing. The characters are fleshed out well, I felt like I was actually there a lot of the time. Feeling their love, loss, pain. What Caslock thought of what Bashsay had done was difficult to tell. He looked over Garrans limp body, the back bloodied from the cuts from the whip and three bloody patches of raw flesh on his leg, while he walked by and ducked beneath the rope holding Garran on his knees.
Im looking forward to reading more by Larriane Wills.
