Hobb, R. (2008). Renegade's magic. New York: EOS.

07/01/08 to 07/10/08
***

It was hard to reconcile the drumbeats and lifted voices in the night with my memories of flames and the screams of dying men. How could humanity range so effortlessly from the sublime to the savage and back again?

I liked the first novel in this series enough to read the second and see if things got better. The second improved sufficiently that I bought the third (in hardcover no less) and read it. The problem was that I was still waiting to really like the character, waiting to feel that the disparate threads of the story were coming together, waiting for there to be a coherent message. None of those things happened. At least not in the settling, satisfying way I'd wanted them to. That's not to say that I didn't devour this book. I did. I read it in that all-consuming way that interferes with other things I ought to be doing. Hobb's pacing was fantastic, but even as I read and read I wondered if I was really enjoying it that much. At least there did turn out to be a few relatively strong women, but having a hero who is at odds with himself throughout the book detracted from my ability to focus on his experiences, and from Hobb's ability to bring together the elements of the story in a sound manner. When I finished I felt liked I'd watched a good movie except that there hadn't been a charismatic star at the center of it.