Courage of Falcons

Courage of Falcons (2000) Holly Lisle

In all, this was an interesting series. Again, the pace was fast–very fast–and action packed. In fact, I found it to be a little too fast, and a little too action packed, which I didn’t think was possible. The problem I had was that I was reading one tragedy after another, and it just wore me out. There were few good stopping places, so I ended up getting used to putting the book down in the middle of action or important revelations–which is never a good thing, as it placed more and more distance between me and the tale.

Even when the characters traveled, there was no sense of traveling or of the characters passing time. They get on a ship, and then get off at the other end. They start moving down a road, and then they’re at the other end, pausing only for something important to happen. At one point I was shocked to read that two years had passed–it felt as if only a couple of months had gone by.

Additionally, the characters I liked best were the secondary characters, Ian, Jaim, and Dughall. Kait seemed to keep herself so remote from events that I had a hard time feeling sympathy for her–or understanding why Ry and Ian liked her so much. Sure she was a strong woman–and I like strong women–but nothing seemed to get to her. Her family is slaughtered, she is betrayed be the other primary branch of her Family–these things should have made a normal person grieve, yet Kait seemed unaffected.

And the love story between Kait and Ry made no sense to me either. The only thing they seemed to have in common was the fact that they were Scarred, and that gave them some kind of connection that overrode any other feelings and sense. Their only attraction seemed to stem from their animal natures–a force beyond their control–and I had a hard time finding such a relationship romantic, or even interesting.

However, despite these flaws, the story was very good. It continued to go places I didn’t expect, and surprise me with it’s twists and turns. Every time I thought I knew where things were going, they headed off in another direction–and these directions all made sense and were consistent with the story and the characters. People died who I expected to live to the end, story arcs were concluded earlier than I expected. All of these things were wonderful. I just wish I’d been able to care more about the character who inhabited the story.

So I recommend this book with reservations. However, the story was very good and enjoyable, and did somewhat made up for the other shortcomings.
Rating: 6/10

• Browse the archives:
  
• The Vampire Files: Bloodlist » »
• « « Vengeance of Dragons