My first comment on ShadowHeart
would be simply put as ElfSorrow was a hard act to follow.
This book doesnt quite have the feel of ElfSorrow and therefore
does not feel quite as good. It is, however, a triumph of
a book. The first thing to note is the fast pace, the emmotional
side is almost all kicked aside as Balaia enters war. If you
thought the battles in DawnThief and NoonShade were good,
you aint seen nothing yet.
The action is face paced and frantic, battle
follows battle. I think the greatest thing ShadowHeart does
to the Raven series is put it on an epic scale. Other Raven
books have felt big with large distances and spralling countrysides,
but none to the extent of ShadowHeart. The whole of Balaia
really does feel involved. The fighting is intense, even the
best come out covered in blood standing next to fallen comrads.
There really is an intense feeing of loss. Lyanna may have
destroyed a lot of Balaia, but this is a real sense of destruction.
Not only of the land and the people, but of the Balaian way
of life.
I said before emmotion was licked aside.
This is litteraly the case. Then all of a sudden a battle
ends or a personal problem is confronted and sharp burts of
emmotion is revealed. We see the Raven cry, shout and almost
fight amongst themselves. The war taking its toll. This does,
however, bring their friendship closer together and they really
feel like a destructive unit.
I did, however, have a few issues. Firstly
the Raven started to seem superhuman. Many a battle or problem
looked as though it would get them and they would fail. Only
for something to happen and the Raven to win the day again.
On the positive side they came out near death or completely
injured. Another quarm was the ease at which certain things
were done, for instance the Raven opening a dimensional rip.
These problems aside, there were plenty
of great moments. With Dystrans tactics and disregard for
honour within war, coupled with the return of the Wesman,
I am really looking forward to DemonStorm.
