The High Lord, by Trudi Canavan

The High Lord by Trudi Canavan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What a disappointment! I was counting that at least the last book of the trilogy would be fool of excitement and revelations, but even though some happened, the plot still continues to develop too slow for my taste and I didn't enjoy at all the character's evolution.
The heroine, Sonea, has changed very little from the beginning, except for embracing magic. But Akkarin, the High Lord, loses his shade of mistery and his actions justification doesn't get any better.
On top of that, there are, in my opinions, some flows in the context of the story, with a side story without big connection to the main one, with some unclearness in some way on how magic is used and with some unexplained items hanging as question marks there and then.
It is a pity though, because I think it had the bases for becoming an exciting story, but it lost its charm when the author spent too much time in passages that didn't give that much to the thrill the reader might expect.
Despite everything, though, I still wanted to know how it turned out for Sonea after all the troubles she went through!

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The Novice by Trudi Canavan

The Novice by Trudi Canavan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really do not understand why the author can't skip a lot of irrelevant parts of the story in order to make it more interesting. For how much I still want to read the trilogy and know how it is going to end, I find myself wondering if certain passages are really needed or not. Maybe everything will be clarified, finally, in the third book? Or maybe not... how many times have we seen Sonea harassed by the other novices?
It is also interesting to notice that there are very much similarities between this and Harry Potter. Sonea is not as the rest of the magicians and her antagonist bluntly resembles Malfoy.
And also, why can't her, being the protagonist and surely reserving a lot of surprises about her strenght, being a bit less of a wimp? Her development is slow and doesn't give in a lo of surprises.
Finally, when Akkarin appears on the scenes, the story gets a bit of bite into it, but it is still a very evasive presence.
Interesting is the fact that is presented the odd topic (for a fantasy book) of homosexuality, even though - no knowing what is coming next - I wonder if it will be really of use for the the general plot in the last book of the trilogy.
Generally, I think there are better fantasy books to read...

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