Title: Wolfsangel
Author: M. D. LachlanGenre: Fantasy
Plot: 6/10
Style: 5/10
Cover: 6/10
Final: 6/10
Style: 5/10
Cover: 6/10
Final: 6/10
You know the goosebumps
you get when reading a really good story? When you can't go to sleep
'cause it's gonna be just one more page... This book doesn't make you
feel like that. It's long, and seems to be even longer. It took me a
month to finish it. A month! It wasn't overly bad, so I kept on
reading, but I just couldn't get into the spirit.
The story evolves around
the tale of two brothers, twins, who were separated after their
birth. One is to become the prince of the Nordic kingdom. The other a
beast, the avatar of Fenrir the Wolf. The Devourer of Gods. Odin and
Loki are directly involved in their destiny. Sounds interesting,
doesn't it? A story of bravery, loyalty and love, spiced with battles
and witches. The perfect recipe for a bestseller based on history and
mythology. Still, the arm of addiction reaches towards you, missing
just by an inch. It continues further on, never gripping and drawing
in, so the sea of the plot is unable to absorb you. You turn the last
page with the hunger for more adventure, for the thrill of losing
contact with reality. All the ingredients were there, just a pinch of
salt more... or maybe of pepper... and it would be the best meal of
the month. But the plate is empty and the meat was just slightly too
raw and chips not crunchy enough.
It's a mediocre novel to
read on a bus. Not overly demanding, not soporific either. The very
short chapters make it possible to go through, as it's always the
case with short bits of text. However, many retrospections present in
the middle of the action slow the book. The moment you get excited,
you're sent back to some events long past. When you come back to the
actual storyline, you have already managed to forget why it was fun.
I guess if you shuffled with the order of some chapters, it could
actually create a more entertaining story.
I could also grumble
about the way the female characters were marginalised. Or maybe not
marginalised per se, but strongly categorised in the old Lewis &
Tolkien way. For there are only so many patterns for a female
character to follow: either a weak but loving dame in distress or a
bad and evil queen. Unfortunately, Wolfsangel
does not get creative in this field.
Lachlan
could have done better. Actually, his editor could have done better.
The story has a potential and the author has a talent. Still, what's
worse than a wasted skill and time?