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*gasp* "> Soldier! Would you really scowl at me?

Somehow, I have trouble believing that...

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Sorry for taking so long to post this especially as I was the one who suggested the book.

What can I say that Manon did not say so eloquently?

I was hugely disappointed with this book. Yes it was easy to read so I was able to finish it with little difficulty but I found myself racing to the end not because I was caught up in the story but just so I could get it finished.

The story went nowhere for three hundred pages and then the climax of her quest was over in a matter of four or five pages.

I thought the setting for the world was good and the use of wights imaginative. But as Manon said she spent far too much time imparting her knowledge directly instead of letting the reader acquire it for themselves through the actions of the characters and their consequences.

Also I found that the secondary characters were just cardboard cutouts with no real depth.

Overall I was very disappointed and I don't think I'll be rushing out to get books two and three - even if they are supoosed to be greatly improved.

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hehe Maon you know me only too well. I could never think ill of you. I am besotted you know that.

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*relief emoticon here...*

Ouf! You had me worried here for a minute... Now, I'm in the chat room. Won't you come play with me? ">

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Manon

You are correct... it isn't bloody December yet...
Cruise where is that scowl emoticon?

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The Ill-Made Mute by Cecilia Dart-Thornton

Okay. I know it's not December yet, but I wanted to put up that critique first since I missed the last book. All right, I'll admit it: I also wanted to beat Soldier at it! "> But hey, feel free to delay the reading of this critique until you finish reading the book!

When I first heard of this book, I heard both good and bad things about it. And because the bad things had been said with a measure of scorn, I was a bit reluctant to read this book. So when it was suggested by Big Hills, I resigned myself to read it.

In a nutshell, this story is about a disfigured mute who finds himself in a castle, with no memory of his past life. As the story goes along, the mute escapes the life of a servant to later discover that he is really a she. With a new name given by a new friend, Imrhien embarks on a series of adventures to ultimately get to some sorceress who might be able to restore her rightful face and memories. Along the way, she manages to make friends, get rich, battle wights, or faeries, and fall in love.

Ms Dart-Thornton had done a lot of research into ancient celtic folklore and mythology to build a setting for the world of the Bitterbynde trilogy. A lot of that research found itself in the book, a thing that most editors will warn new writers against. And with good reasons.

At the beginning of the book, I found myself transported back to my childhood readings as I read the stories of seelie and unseelie wights, or in other words, faeries. It was fun for a time, until I realized after a few dozen pages that the main character's quest, aside from getting her memories and original looks back, was escaping me. I was under the impression that I was reading the background information about some fantasy world in which a great story was going to take place, but hadn't read the story yet - like reading "The World of the Wheel of Time" without actually reading the books themselves. When the mute finally left the castle, I said to myself: "this is it. This is where the story begins." But as Imrhien, our mute, escapes a ship of pirates in the company of an adventurer, I found that the story was dragged for too long. Bits of information got repeated as Sianadh explained the world of the wights to Imrhien, and I couldn't help but think that what the author was doing resembles what is referred to as "info-dump." I could picture Sianadh nodging Imrhien and saying: "As you well know, Bob, the seelie wights are the good wights, and the unseelie wights are the bad wights." It's as if the author wanted to include all the knowledge she had gained when researching this story. That was a bit too much for me.

I've read fantasy for many years now, and the things I've come to prefer in my readings are stories that are character driven. A good chunk of the Ill-Made Mute only serves in transmitting world background and giving Imrhien a hard time. Other than falling in love, which could have been accomplished in a number of different ways, she doesn't really "grow" or "change." She is as determined to find her true self at the end, as she was at the beginning of the story. Usually, in fantasy, a character's quest is tightly tied to the world in which he/she lives: if the character isn't successful in accomplishing that said quest, the world will fall under a terrible cataclysm. In this book, though, there is no such tiding.

The Ill-Made Mute is Thornton's first novel. One of the critiques I read said that she must have written this book with a thesaurus at hand. I agree that there are a good number of words that were quite unfamiliar to me, and I did reach for my dictionary a couple of times. Which annoyed me after a while, because I don't like to interrupt my reading. I don't know if CDT is trying to establish her style, but at some point, I thought this was becoming ridiculous. I haven't read any story where the author describes the sky by actually naming the clouds. I can picture myself pointing at the sky: "Hey look! I see a horse in the cirrocumulus!" Who talks like that anyway? And looking at the thesaurus made me doubt whether the choice of words was the right one to convey what was being said. So I stop looking at the dictionary altogether. It was too great a distraction. Fortunately, the writing has a good rhythm to it, so I could continue reading without feeling the urge of throwing that book across the room.

I found that the ending was a bit precipitated. All along, Imrhien is dragged through countless hardships to get where she needs to get, to be transformed from a deformed, ugly mute to a beautiful fair-speaking maiden in the space of a couple of pages. I felt a bit cheated.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give that book a 5. I will certainly read the next two books in the trilogy, because I'm curious about what will happen to Imrhien. Surely, CDT will lead us somewhere? If I owned a bookshop, I wouldn't put that book on the "must-read" list. However, it wasn't too difficult to get through, as some other books I've read in the past. But I wasn't entirely satisfied.

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Well, you have just inspired me to read it. I have skimmed a few pages previously and rejected it as some of the worst writing I have ever read. She just can't write and that's that. Nevertheless, I shall torture myself with it so I can join this discussion.

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Ha! You beat me to it! I was going to post a topic in best reads as I have just finished the Battle of Evernight.

I felt I had to post as this was truly the most damn frustrating book I have ever chanced to read.
But I'm not saying it's bad. It's frustrating because at times it's so good! Just flashes of brilliance, when you begin to think the comparisons to Tolkien are (almost) justified. But she can't sustain them for the whole book.

And oh! It's so annoying, some of the devices she uses. Like she introduces a character who speaks only in alliterative sentences. That's right, alliterative sentences. So of course she has to use outlandish words to make the sentences alliterative! I just hit that and thought 'my god, that is so corny.'

But as for the writing style, I have found it much improved from the first book. The first book is definitely the worst on that score.

But you know what? She has about six pages of comments praising herself at the beginning! I mean, what happened to modesty here? The one that made me laugh was the one that praised her "brilliant syntax" "> . Her writing can be a bit like that.

The ending, however, was very annoying. She put the proper ending in the epilogue - can someone give this woman a few pointers, please? It ends, you think 'what?' then in the epilogue she casually mentions that it may all have ended happily after all. Am trying not to give away any spoilers here, sorry if I have.

So I am just so so so so frustrated. It might have been better to wait and read something that she writes in a few years time - she does seem to be improving with each book.
But aaarrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
(That feels better"> )

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Thanks for those comments, Isobelle. Now that I started on the first book, I'll have to read the next two because that's the way I am. I hate to leave something unfinished, especially books, no matter how bad they might be. I agree with you that this is not necessarily a bad story, but she has a way of writing that is just so... well, I'm at a loss for words! I just wonder who is the editor that picked her book! And as for authors praising themselves, I really, absolutely can't stand that! Hugh! She must be the most insecure person if she felt the need to praise herself in her own book. I don't think I will be buying any more of her books in the future, after this trilogy that is...

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In terms of her use of language and style of writing, it is more medieval than usual and Ms. Dart-Thornton has oen diving for the dictionary all too often. She also has a predilection for repetitive lists, and become tiresome ... she describes too much detail... when one encouters an new interior it isn't necessary to know all that detail.

Also CDT uses up just about every folklore and fantasy device she has learned. Her research must have been extensive but you don't have to use it all. Everything in moderation would have been useful in this book.

By handicapping her protagonist with a hideous outward appearance CDT forces the conflict and the empathy for the character. This I thought was very clever.

There is beauty in the language used and it reads like an old medieval romance.. but with a modern twist. I am not sure about this book.. some of it is wonderful, some infuriating, some borrowed, some dynamic, some too sentimental. But overall you can't ignore this book... it has an effect on one... if that is what the author intended then she succeeded.

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Good you've read it, Big Hills. I'll probably read the next two books out of curiosity, but I'll buy them in MS Reader format, I think. They're cheaper. ">

I thought the one character with potential depth was Sianadh, but she killed that one off. Or did she? Hmmm... I wonder...

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I was SO annoyed when she killed of Sianadh just like that. One minute he was there, next it was like, 'oh, sorry, he got killed, fighting bandits, don't you know'. And the reader feels like WHAT??!?
I suppose it was necessary given events in later books, but I still think it was badly done.