The Isle of Battle

The Isle of Battle (2002) Sean Russell

The Isle of Battle is good book. However, it is a middle book in a series; although the tale continues forward, the book doesn’t have the momentum of the first book. The characters are still good, the intrigue is still good, but the characters spend much of the book wandering lost in the hidden lands, and at times the story felt like it too was lost in those same lands.

Additionally, unlike other Sean Russell books, this story moves from one incomplete ending to another. We pick up the pieces of the first book, but by the time we reach the end of the second book, those pieces are again scattered to the wind.

Yes, this is a personal peeve. I simply don’t like books where we almost none of the story arcs are closed at the end of the story. And I think what bothers me most about this book is that this is a very unusal thing for Sean Russell to do.

Yes, this book is crafted well as are all his books, but I had the feeling this wasn’t a true trilogy, but was instead a duology that got too big for its britches, and so three books were created from the two, and the middle book had to make up for it.

Perhaps I’m wrong and Sean Russell simply changed the way he wrote, but there was just something off about this book.

Mind you, Sean Russell in an off book is still pretty amazing and better than many of the other books I have on my shelves. But as a Sean Russell book, this one felt like a bit of a let down–I expected more of him.
Rating: 7/10

• Browse the archives:
  
• The Shadow Roads » »
• « « The One Kingdom