The Sharing Knife: Horizon

Amazon preorder

After taking almost 2 months to finish the last book I read, I went through this one in about 3 days! I think it also helped that my internet was down.

Anyway, I do enjoy this series, and I like the characters and all, and the climactic battle was very exciting, but I could have done without all the pregnancy stuff. ( )

This was my favorite of the four novels - it really digs into the social and moral implications of the magic system the previous three volumes have been setting up, and there's quite a bit more action. The relationships between the characters are established, so they can get on with doing things instead of moping around, which makes for much more interesting reading in my opinion.

I would really like to see a second trilogy set twenty years in the future that is a straight-up adventure to see how some of the social change plays out. I am curious what romance readers think of this series - as a fantasy series it's really not up to par, although it has tremendous potential. ( )

This final book of the series dragged a bit in the beginning and the middle, but the climax and ending sure made up for it.

Still, it's interesting how my feelings about the characters have changed over the course of four books. I really liked Fawn in Beguilement and Legacy, but by the halfway point in Passage she started getting on my nerves, and in Horizon she was downright annoying. It's not exactly that she's a Mary Sue, though sometimes she comes dangerously close. Her saccharine nature, which I think was meant to endear her to the reader, just makes me want to reach in through the pages and slap her. It also has a lot to do with her taking on a much more passive role as the series progresses. Like I noted in the last book, the focus definitely shifts from her to Dag.

The books themselves shift their focus too. Whereas the first book was more of a romance than anything, the last couple of books are more about exploration and adventure. I don't mind this so much, as I can always appreciate a series that evolves. I also enjoy how more of the world is revealed with each book. The magic system is truly a unique one, not to mention the evil threat of malices and mud-men.

All in all, a decent and satisfying end to the series, with everything wrapping up nicely. Perhaps a little too nicely. But since these books are meant to be fun, feel-good reads, I guess I can't begrudge it that. ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1872730.html

The end of the four-volume Sharing Knife series, in which the romance / action plot, of mutual suspicions between two human cultures, equally threatened by an 'orrible supernatural menace, resolves in entirely satisfactory manner, with much character-building wisdom being imparted to the foolish younger relatives. But I found myself a bit dissatisfied with Bujold's use of the very rich background she has developed, for three reasons: first, the story got way further into the technical details of her world's magical system than I was interested in; second, my niggling concern about the uniqueness of Dag and Fawn's mixed marriage was actually exacerbated when it becomes clear in this book that it isn't unique at all (which disintegrates some of the framing description in the earlier volumes); and third, I got the lingering feeling that the entire story is to an extent an attempt to positively reframe the history of interaction between white settlers and Native Americans (note that the Lakewalkers are magical and basically a warrior culture) - I am not saying that this is a necessary reading of the series, but I would have been more comfortable if some way of deprecating that interpretation had made it into the text.

Anyway, even problematic Bujold is entertaining enough, but I'm not sure how strongly I recommend the series as a whole. ( )