The Eyes of God

I'm giving this book 5 stars, and yet I'm also giving up on this book a third of the way through. I loved the writing, and the characters and the culture, but the story is all about the messes people make for themselves, and it just...makes me flinch so hard I can't keep up with it. It is not graphic or gory, just the intensely human faults that lead me to stop watching some movies because I can envision all too well what it would feel like to be in their shoes. My failure to finish this book is entirely my own failure and no fault of either the book or the author. Well worth the read if you're made of sterner stuff than I.

***

Okay, so I went back, skipped a few chapters, and kept going. And finished it. A good read, ripe with the show more follies of man and the pain it brings. Definitely worth the read, but could have been better served by being a bit shorter.. show less

The first question that I asked myself when I finished this book was "Why did I wait so long to read this?"

Well, with the recent release of The Forever Knight, the fourth installment in the series, I decided that I would read the other three even though the new one is can be read as a stand-alone. I have read several other John Marco books and own all of this series, but for some reason I just never started this one. I don't know why I waited so long. This is a great novel and a wonderful intro into the world of Lukien, The Bronze Knight.

As usual, John's strengths lie in a well-developed and detail-oriented storyline with very strong character development and outstanding military battle scenes. The Eyes of God is no exception and the show more care that John takes in breathing life into these particular characters is exceptional. The thing that I like most about the majority of his works is that no good character is without flaws and most evil characters are not truly evil, but more misguided or validated in their view of their own motives. I like that there is really not a true black and white except in a few rare cases here and there and that the reader actually can find themselves both feeling sympathy for the antagonists and also occasionally not liking the protagonist too much.

A lot of people have said that they really didn't like Lukien as a man all that much, and I can see that. I however grew to like him quite a bit over the course of this novel (which is a large one, however I felt that it moved along at a fairly swift pace.) I feel for the guy and the mistakes that he has made during his journey that have led to a lot of unfortunate things happening to him and those around him. I look forward to seeing what happens in his subsequent adventures. show less

This book is nearly 800 pages. I told myself I'd give it till at least 200 pages, so I could say I gave it a fair shake. However, I'm at page 158, and I've found myself reading passages out loud for their amusement value.

For example:
"Cassandra felt herself flush from the heat of their fires and her growing apprehension. The wine worked on her brain, making it swim. Akeela was beyond those fabulous doors, waiting for her. And she knew that she would not emerge intact, and that a piece of her would be left behind, never to be reclaimed."

Uh, may I share with the author that when a virgin has sex for the first time, she doesn't actually leave any body parts behind, lying amongst the sheets. She's not about to be dismembered. (Although, if show more she were, this book might have been marginally more interesting.)

Another:
"His touch was warm, like the coming sun. Cassandra felt the stirrings in her body, dreading them yet following their lead. She lowered her head in offering.
"What are we doing?" she asked. "We will be damned for this."
"No. Lukien leaned in closer. "no one will ever know. Not ever."
"Just this once then."
He didn't answer. She was glad he didn't. Once, she knew, could never be enough."

No. Once could be far too much. Enough already!
In addition to this overblown, Harlequin-romance style writing, there are also tons of actual grammatical errors and tons of, let's say, peculiar word choices.
The characters are flat and stereotypical. Nothing very interesting has yet happened in the plot. I even find the librarian character offensive, and turning me against a librarian is hard to do - I love librarians on principle. Did I even mention the magical 'midget'? Sigh.

I leave you with one more quote:
"But it's dreadful to be clever," she thought. It was like a revelation suddenly, as clear as any of the moonbeams. To be clever was to be a bitch... Akeela wasn't clever. He was moral, and moral men were never clever. It was why they were better than everyone else..."

Ooooookay. On to the next book! show less

An interesting book, but fraught with problematic character development, dialog and numerous plot holes.

When your characters do things that make no sense given their motivations, it's a sign that you need to work on it some more before publishing. Massive plot holes don't help either, especially when they're cliched plot holes.

The characters are shown early on in the book having no problems with committing less than chivalrous actions on the field of battle, yet toward the end, there's multiple points where they could have ended the conflict, yet are artificially made to ignore solutions that any logical person in the same situation would use. It's just bad writing at points, and it almost wrecks the novel at times when you just can't show more suspend disbelief that a character would suddenly become massively stupid for no apparent reason. show less

Good fun, but a loooong time getting to anything approaching a plot. Huge time gap in the middle. Lots of movement and action in the latter half. I nearly chucked this one halfway through but persevered.

Leuk plot, leuke karakters, een held met karakterfoutjes en een slechterik waar je medelijden mee hebt. Dan maken een paar ongeloofwaardigheidjes niet meer uit. Zeer lekker leesvoer.

The first chapters of John Marco's The Eyes of God were quite strong and definitely worked at intriguing my appetite to continue reading.

The story is heavily character driven and much of the first 200 pages is about a love triangle motif. It is not that imaginative considering it is in the fantasy genre and I was a little disappointed that in the scenes where the heroes reach the desert cities that the culture very much represents a Muslim one - the god's name rhymes with Allah, the women wear veils and there are camel-like creatures for transportation. I was hopeful that the story would improve a little as I approached the mid sections.

The next 200 pages of The Eyes of God were much better I think. I particularly enjoyed the scenes of show more the deformed boy Gilwyn. His characterization is very strong and I enjoyed reading about his attempts and thoughts related to impressing a beautiful girl. His self-conscientiousness about his deformity along with his attempts at using his new shoe are among my favorite parts of the novel.

The second half of the book was a little disappointing. The novel continued to be quite unoriginal at times but still well-paced and just a good old story. Much of what I took to be plot twists or items to make the reader become surprised were, unfortunately, usually predictable as well. I wouldn't say I'd rush back to read this story again but I do have the remaining two novels that finish the trilogy and I will definitely continue on with them some time in the future. It is also quite clear after reading this novel as to what the main story line of the next book will entail. show less