Book Review: The Holy Road by Ginn Hale
Dec. 1st, 2013 10:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juushikaTitle: The Holy Road (The Rifter Book 2)
Author: Ginn Hale
Published: Bellingham: Blind Eye Books, 2013
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 487
Total Page Count: 144,184
Text Number: 423
Read Because: continuing the series, borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: John has created a secure, if uneasy, life for himself in Basawar, but change is coming that will link John's present with Basawar's tumultuous future. These middle arcs have less worldbuilding and more plot than their predecessors, and Basawar feels more vibrant and alive as a result; the revelations of the plot aren't terribly complex, but they're satisfying. The Rifter has forethought without predictability, the sort of plotting which encourages theorizing without giving away all its secrets. The developing relationship between the protagonists is more transparent—despite the complexities of the characters and setting, the relationship has an underlying, nearly saccharine purity; the utter absence of sex scenes is glaring against the amount of detail everywhere else, and contributes to the sense that the central relationship lacks the depth and complexity of the world which surrounds it. But on the whole, the series continues to be a surprising success. It's overlong in places, strangely shallow in others, but always thoughtfully developed and engaging. I'll see it through to its end.
Author: Ginn Hale
Published: Bellingham: Blind Eye Books, 2013
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 487
Total Page Count: 144,184
Text Number: 423
Read Because: continuing the series, borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: John has created a secure, if uneasy, life for himself in Basawar, but change is coming that will link John's present with Basawar's tumultuous future. These middle arcs have less worldbuilding and more plot than their predecessors, and Basawar feels more vibrant and alive as a result; the revelations of the plot aren't terribly complex, but they're satisfying. The Rifter has forethought without predictability, the sort of plotting which encourages theorizing without giving away all its secrets. The developing relationship between the protagonists is more transparent—despite the complexities of the characters and setting, the relationship has an underlying, nearly saccharine purity; the utter absence of sex scenes is glaring against the amount of detail everywhere else, and contributes to the sense that the central relationship lacks the depth and complexity of the world which surrounds it. But on the whole, the series continues to be a surprising success. It's overlong in places, strangely shallow in others, but always thoughtfully developed and engaging. I'll see it through to its end.
