Sunday, July 25, 2010

Mission Accomplished

For $1.75, I jumped over the 400+ person waitlist and now have The Passage in my hot little book bag.  Thank you, Waltham Public Library! 

Before I re-start it, though, I'm wrapping up Jovah's Angel, by Sharon Shinn.  I just really got into it after I had to send my old copy of The Passage back.  I'm really loving it, which is not surprising because it's Sharon Shinn.  But there is one problem.

There's a major plot point that hinges on the fact that none of the characters have figured out something I figured out very quickly.  If you remember the first book in the series well, you'd figure it out, too.  For the first hundred pages, I wasn't sure if this was going to be a central tension of the book, or if it was just going to keep me guessing for a few chapters while the characters figured it out.  But no--the hurdle keeping apart our protagonists/lovers is one that has a big hole in it.  The characters can perhaps be forgiven for not figuring it out, though it's some very sloppy thinking that's put them there.  But I'm pretty disappointed in the fact that I've figured out the big reveal.  By giving me a little less information, they could have kept it a surprise, while maintaining the satisfying "of course!" at the end.

It's a small complaint, though.  Not as fabulous as Archangel, but if I haven't teased you enough with this review, you should read the first one and then the second one.  Preferably with a few months in between, so you forget just enough to keep the tension alive.  It's not my fault I remember an eerie amount of detail in the books I read.

No comments: