Very imaginative world-building and a neat concept, but it fell short on character and writing and, most especially, pacing. I kinda skimmed around the boring bits (which was most of the book) and tried to pick up important plot points and I think I succeeded admirably. Mull and I just don't seem to get on great, though I'll probably give the second book a go.
Very angst. Much unbelievable. Such bored.
And there you have it. But seriously, each new book in the series gets progressively worse. The characters, by which I mean Ben and Chance, get more annoying, the book is always at least 100 pages too long, and the plot for the individual books are pathetic or ill-written.
For example, Chance. Chance is something like 19. He's a multi-billionaire. And he IS Jackson Whittemore from Teen Wolf, no joke. His whole life is consumed with finding out what Tory and her gang pack are and becoming it too. He cannot rest till he has accomplished his goal and he's a giant jackass, to boot. Despite being a bajillionarie, I find it highly unbelievable that he can literally do whatever he wants and experiment in labs and wander in and out of anywhere and everywhere and no one ever questions him or wonders what he's doing or anything. Urgh.
Or, and here's a gem, why would two teenagers who wish to fake their kidnapping in order to get ransom money from their (apparently) horrible stepfather ASK A COP TO HELP THEM? Like, how did that even come about?
Kids: *wander into police station*
Cops: *eating donuts*
Kids: *spot a likely candidate*
Kids: Hey, mister. Want to help us fake our kidnapping for $5 million ransom, which is entirely too much to ask, so that we can use that money to make our own way in the world, even though this is an ill-fated plot that will never work out?
Likely Candidate: *silently ponders*
Kids: Oh, pretty please, mister cop!! We'll give you $1 million of it.
Likely Candidate: Okay!!
And like any good self-enterprising cop, Likely Candidate plans to double-cross the Kids, kill everyone in his way, and abscond with the $5 million.
Just not getting into this series and, after picking up the last book and paging absentmindedly through it, I shan't be finishing the series. I simply don't care enough.
Yikes.
You'll note that one of my shelves for this book is "somehow the movie was better". That's because, roughly 100 pages into this boring peasant festival, I watched the 1936 movie with Loretta Young (who is shockingly NOT half-Indian) playing Ramona and some Italian chap(who is incredibly not Indian) in a terrible wig playing Alessandro. The romance/love story is hyped up and the conflict between the Indians and the whites is almost nonexistent so, obviously, there's a love quadrangle. See, Margarita, who yearns for Alessandro, hates Ramona, who is totes in love with Alessandro. Ramona is loved so much by her sorta-adopted brother, Felipe, (who in no way wants to be her brother) that he is willing to let her marry Alessandro, who was instantly struck by Ramona's beauty and is deeply in love with her. Presided over this is a bitchy matron lady who is Ramona's father's former fiancee's sister and no one is good enough for her son, Felipe. Sounds like a drama filled mess, right? Well, it was actually pretty good. It was in technicolor and evvverything.
But this is not a space for reviewing the movie, much as I'd actually rather do just that...
So the book. It's supposed to be an epic love story/tale of true love tested. Well, if by that you mean "horrifyingly lengthy love triangle fraught with tragic circumstances, angst, and depression that is as dull as the Amazon River is long", then BOOM, you're right on point.
There's one scene where Ramona is actually dying due to her not being able to be in Alessandro's presence because he is gone for a week. Then one night, Ramona awakes and knows, just knows that Alessandro is near. So she hops out of bed, sprightly as you please, and wanders around the estate until she finds him. Is it just me, or does that sound highly ridiculous?
But really, I think the shining highlight of this whole gem is the last 100 pages. Let me elaborate.
Ramona and Alessandro's land is stolen from them by the American Government, who sold it off to some white people. Their baby dies. Depression sinks in. They have another baby. Alessandro is shot and killed. Ramona is incapacitated by grief and is practically at death's door. Felipe shows up and, after an (maybe) appropriate amount of time, professes his undying love for Ramona, who agrees to marry him only because he's been so helpful and she does love him, but SHE LOVES HIM LIKE A BROTHER. They have a bunch of kids, Felipe is blissfully happy, Ramona appears to never be truly happy again, and Ramona 2.0 is the prettiest and bestest and most specialest of all the kids, because her dad was Alessandro.
Ugh.
I'll admit that the writing of the book, barring any and all dialogue, is really quite decent, but I could not, in any way, get into the story. This book was supposed to bring the people to a better understanding of the plight of the Native Americans, and it was supposed to accomplish this through the characters, but I found it to be so much more an depressing lengthy love story than anything else. But it doesn't even matter what was the point, because I didn't care for any of it.
Um. I didn't quite get this book. Writing prose was pretty good, the characters were decent, the pacing was hell, and the story really lost me. Despite speed reading the last 140 pages at 2 am, I got that we needed to not bind the dead, but I had so many questions left over from throughout the book. This may have partially been due to the speed-reading at 2 am shush
*DISCLAIMER*: If any of these questions were answered in the book and I missed it, I take full responsibility for being a potato. Please don't hate on the potato.
Some of my questions that come to mind:
If binding the dead is such a bad thing, why were we doing it in the first place?
And if we were binding because we didn't want the dead to come back and hurt us, than what exactly are we accomplishing by not binding the dead because it's also bad?
Why exactly did the binders (Spider, Willow, and Otter) go insane?
Why did Willow bind as well as crazily unbind, sometimes without even trying to?
Why does yarn, of all things, have power?
Why, if this is a so-called all-women community, are these some guys?
Why do some guys choose to stay (or why are they allowed to) and others choose to go?
Why do only women have power?
WHY DID CRICKET HAVE TO DIE??!
"Gina..." Mark hesitated. "Do you realize you're afraid to get married?" he asked gently. "Daniel would have been a good choice for you. I'm a good choice. When you find there are none of your must-not-haves and all of your must-haves, it's time to say yes. I love you. And I'm confident you'll love me well in return if you let yourself take the step. Say yes and marry me. Your doubts are real, but they won't survive first contact with reality."
- Page 323
"Marry me, Gina. You need me. I want you as my wife. There are worse reasons to get married."
"There are better." She bit her lip. "I don't love you, Mark."
"Yet," he qualified. "You don't love me yet."
- Page 339
"Gina, I want to be your husband. And getting married now could be a good buffer for you. You could say 'See my husband about that' when the questions start coming. I can tell the Navy to go through me on any concerns, that I have the authority to speak for you. You'll find life is a lot easier--maybe even happier--if you marry me before this goes any further."
He waited a moment and then smiled. "I'm going to make one last pitch, okay? My best one. Then I'll let this topic drop, I promise." He waited for her to glance up. "I know the package might not be ideal. I'm older, I've been married before. But the 'content', those characteristics you're looking for, are what you want. We share a deep faith in God, a strong work ethic, a sense of ambition, alongside a personal life that is quiet and, for the most part, peaceful. We have a willingness to be open with one each other--a verbal intimacy, if you will--a desire to listen and share what we're thinking and feeling."
....Blah blah you have a pretty smile
"I'm a good risk, Gina. Take a leap and make the decision that your future is with me. Trust me, trust the fact that I love you. I'm not asking you to have everything sorted out and not have any doubts. I don't need that from you. What I need, what I think you need, is a yes."
- Page 346-7
There are just so many problems with this book and, mainly, their relationship. Those quotes above should give a pretty giant indication of exactly what I mean. See, I'm all for the guy realizing that he loves the girl, that she is the one, before the girl comes to the realization that she loves the guy. I like this trope and, actually, it happens all the time. But this was horrible. Mark comes to the realization that he loves Gina months and months before they even start dating. In fact, she's dating someone else and he's all, "Crap. I should have asked her out when I had the chance." All fine and good. He's interested in pursuing a relationship. Lovely. And when exactly did he go from that to, essentially, tricking her into dating him when she's still dating Daniel, begging her not to get engaged till after he got back off-duty, and proposing marriage as more a best-case scenario "This would be useful" kind of deal?? He could see that his talk of marriage, and actually dating, was worrying her; upsetting her, and yet he wouldn't give it a rest until far far after he should have. If he actually loved her, he would shut up, back off, and let her come to her own decision, without his nagging and begging. Instead, it feels like he talks about him loving her and how great their life would be together that she just, all too conveniently, starts to believe it too? I don't even know. It was weird.
And, weirdly, besides the fact that Mark was waaay too insistent, he was "perfect". Like, no flaws. Gina didn't have any either. Neither did Daniel, for that matter. Him and Mark were totally chill about moving in on the others' girl, so long as they did it slow like. They had "man-code" or some shite, so may the best man win, we'll still be friends no matter who she picks, etc abounded. Except I have a brother and I know that's not really how it works. Maybe, MAYBE, one guy would feel like that, but definitely not both of them.
Thankfully, the Christian element was not heavy-handed. A few prayers here and there, but none of the preachy stuff.
As far as plot went, it was so boring, I could have probably watched "Arrow" on pause and been more interested. (Hey, if it was a screencap of Oliver and felicity standing next to each other, I KNOW I would have been more interested.) It started off pretty good and some of the submarine elements, Gina's work, and solar flares(STAAAAARGATE) were interesting, but it went NO WHERE. This was a nearly 500 page book with almost nothing happening. Even when I thought something exciting or dangerous might happen in the last 100 pages, there was still nothing. Bah.
The quality of Dee Henderson's books/writing appear to have gone drastically downhill since her O'Malley series. I'm not sure I want to even bother checking out any forthcoming works.
Really pathetic and not worth the read.
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