The Riddle-Master's Game by Patricia McKillip
| The Riddle-Master's Game by Patricia McKillip | |
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| Category: Fantasy | |
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Reviewer: Sophie Diamond
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| Summary: A fantasy epic not for the faint hearted, or light hearted readers. If you love fantasy and riddles, this is precisely for you. | |
| Buy? yes | Borrow? yes |
| Pages: 640 | Date: August 2015 |
| Publisher: Gollancz | |
| ISBN: 9781473212022 | |
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In a realm where the wizards have long since died, but where magic and riddlry reign, no one takes much notice of the small, peaceful kingdom of Hed. That is until the young Land Ruler Morgon, wins a riddle game that sends a series events into motion that will shake the realm. Together he and the High One's harpist embark on a journey across the realm, to discover his destiny and finally marry the second most beautiful woman in the land. But Morgon has a long way to go and his journey is just the begginning of the impossible riddles before him.
This fantasy classic is not an easy read. McKillip's style of writing is very dense, it took me most of the first book to get accustomed both to her writing and the context of the novel. You are plunged into the realm without much preamble as to where you're going and who you're meeting and it took me a while to get my bearings in the story, which as an avid reader I found unusual.
However, I'm incredibly glad I stuck with it. The story is huge and incredibly detailed, full of wonderful characters and wondrous experiences. But pay attention or you'll struggle to keep up! This is a demanding book on the reader, you need to keep many characters and themes in your head. I couldn't guess where the story was leading to in its climax however that was less about the surprise of the narrative and more that I'd misunderstood points of the story leading up to it.
If I have one criticism of McKillip's trilogy it's that every time a big action event happened, I found myself flicking back a few pages looking for what had caused it and where it had come from. In some places I felt like the story was trying to be too clever and too sophisticated, but maybe that's just me.
I really did enjoy this story and I reached a point of no return in the second book where I had to know where it was going. I love a challenge and I love reading a series where I can read one straight after the other.
If you like the sound of this try The Sorcerer's Mirror by Adrian Howard
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Riddle-Master's Game by Patricia McKillip at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Riddle-Master's Game by Patricia McKillip at Amazon.com.
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