Magic Study

I finally finished the book. Not because lack of interest, more like lack of time.

I liked it. Again, it wasn't as perfect as any of Pratchett's, Gaiman's or Butcher's writings, but it was loads better than the usual fantasy crap I encounter.

The bad:

• The characters were too amateurish and sometimes too idiotic. I mean you have an all-powerful master magician and she's a sweet, delicate thing who hugs people on their first meeting. Yikes. That kinda hurt, but that was the worst.
  
  
• Also, some of the characters were mean and turned out to be mean, some were pink and fluffy and happy and turned out to be... *gasp* pink and fluffy and happy, and some were bad-good-bad again. Their niceness turned into evilness at the drop of a hat, but that was one guy... well, ok, two.... (And you had some who were mean and turned out to be big hurt puppies...)
  
  
• Jade is still at 6.5-7.0 hardness and does NOT require diamonds to carve it. Tsk, what a stupid big mistake.
  
  
• Some of the horse portrayal was very silly. It started great when she started describing the mind of the horse... and then she had to ruin it with making it speak like a wise old guy with bad English.
  
  
• Actually, it was the Mary Sue stuff I complained about last time. The writer is clearly inexperienced, but trying... sometimes a little bit too much and thus ruins the impact. But over all, I still couldn't stop reading.

The good:

• The initial horse portrayal, as we slipped into its mind was awesome. The first few lines, first scene was very good. It was awesome. I mean I could imagine that the horse was wondering why there were two people sitting on it and not only one. That was good. The writer should have left it at that.
  
  
• Colours. The description of colours was wonderful. It was new and very welcomed. I loved the descriptions with all the vivid colours, although the descriptions were still not enough.
  
  
• Valek. Once he appeared he stole the show again. He was, as usual, very good. A nice, lived-in character, finally. Neither good nor evil, it showed that the writer worked on him. I wouldn't be surprised if he was modeled after someone the writer knows and holds dear.
  
  
• The story is still interesting, and the background story of two cities, twin cities in fact, one south the other north living in a precarious balance, the delicate peace brought by treaties is marvelously done. The military dictatorship of the north and the somewhat failing democracy of the 11 clans of the south (think bribes and magic influences) felt lifelike and just perfect.
  
  
• Another interesting story with plotlines that actually surprised me. Yay!
  

So, while the writer obviously lacks in her character portrayal and needs to wipe her Mary Sue henchmen clean and write some realness into them, the background was perfect. At least the main protagonist isn't a Mary Sue... half the city wants her dead. :D

Over all: I liked it, although it wasn't perfect.