The Second Son Trilogy begins with much potential and ends with a pop, the way a balloon leaks to a fizz. You're badly mistaken if you think the "genius" Dirk is going to destroy the Shadowdancer cult in the highly anticipated strategem Fallon leads you to think he will. And that's where the problem lies; the business is dealt so obvioisly, so generically.
The first book is long, but don't let the really simplistic writing style and lack of charaterisation put you off. There is a tremendous build up of tension 3/4 in that is about the most explosive and dramatic scene I've read when Dirk makes his choice against family or fiend. Then the book dies out right after, and ends without a passing finale.
The second was generic, introducing a few new characters but not developing the old. The third has some good surprises, but too much is too obvious and not all that surprising. What readers could find annoying is the sheer lack of world description. It's fantasy, yes, but is it a medieval society? 18th century europe? One scene has sword wielding soldiers in armour. Yet you get the impression the Ranadon world is more advanced.
Odd, that the entire cast has Russian style names. And the primary hero Dirk makes it cornily obviosu what he's going to do with the Senet foes . . .
In short, this trilogy shows that a simplistic writing style can work, but there were too many instances of conversational boredom and the lack of just about any action scenes can make for hard boredom, considering the books' page counts. Take it as a simple read, nothing heavy or deep, and you could enjoy it.
The first book is long, but don't let the really simplistic writing style and lack of charaterisation put you off. There is a tremendous build up of tension 3/4 in that is about the most explosive and dramatic scene I've read when Dirk makes his choice against family or fiend. Then the book dies out right after, and ends without a passing finale.
The second was generic, introducing a few new characters but not developing the old. The third has some good surprises, but too much is too obvious and not all that surprising. What readers could find annoying is the sheer lack of world description. It's fantasy, yes, but is it a medieval society? 18th century europe? One scene has sword wielding soldiers in armour. Yet you get the impression the Ranadon world is more advanced.
Odd, that the entire cast has Russian style names. And the primary hero Dirk makes it cornily obviosu what he's going to do with the Senet foes . . .
In short, this trilogy shows that a simplistic writing style can work, but there were too many instances of conversational boredom and the lack of just about any action scenes can make for hard boredom, considering the books' page counts. Take it as a simple read, nothing heavy or deep, and you could enjoy it.
