Synopsis:
Need a Hero?
You've got one in Sir Michael Sevenson.
Although there hasn't been a knight errant in over two hundred years, this young noble has decided to revive the trade. He's found himself a reluctant partner in Fisk, a clever rogue who has been given the choice of serving as Michael's squire or going to jail for a very long time. Now Michael and Fisk are on a quest to right wrongs, protect the innocent, and make the world a happier place.
It's not going to be easy. On their first attempt at rescuing a damsel in distress, they break a lady out of a tower, only to discover she was there for good reason: awaiting trial for poisoning her husband. Now the would-be heroes must find Lady Ceciel and return her to justice or be condemned themselves.
Source goodreads.com
Overall review:
(This book was published in 2007) During this past spring break, I have found the oh, so glorious fantasy label. Of course, I realized that it existed before, but I didn’t know the books that were labeled as fantasy contained stuff about prince, and princesses, dragons and all that fun stuff. It’s what I’m mostly interested in reading now, because of one of the stories that I’m writing. Blech, I’m doing it again; bad, Kalee stop talking about yourself. Time to fly over to the actual review.
This book had me laughing at the start. I love both Fisk and Sir Michael just as much! Fisk is a wise-cracking, 17 year old from the streets and Sir Michael is a wannabe hero, who is a noble. Usually I end up hating one of the narrators and just skip over the section that is being narrated by my least preferred narrator. I love the way you can tell the difference between Fisk and Sir Michael when they’re narrating the story. The way they talk about each other is always quite amusing to me. They also have a really good developed relationship. The relationship between Fisk and Sir Michael was quite refreshing to read. Instead of a romance, it was a development of a friendship. The way their relationship progresses is smooth and seems real.
The plot was straight forward and easy to understand. It can be read by younger readers and old readers. It's not a super suspenseful story or anything of the sort but I really wanted to see what would happen at the end. It is an easy book to understand and you don't really have to try hard to figure out what is going on.
The story progresses nicely and the plot is easy enough to understand. The sarcasm of the characters made the book really enjoyable to read. Overall, I think you should give this book a peak.
Warning this next section contains spoilers:
Plot:
The plot of this book is easy to understand: Sir Michael have to go and recapture Lady Ceciel. They helped her escape at first because they thought she was a damsel stuck in a tower. In order to redeem himself to his Father, Sir Michael has to go and retrieve Lady Ceciel. Fisk, Sir Michael's "squire" is unwillingly dragged along for the ride. The simplicity does have its drawbacks as well. Simple plots can get a little boring and predictable, and (in television shows) have a lot of filler. The side problems that the pair face are rather interesting, but there's nothing that's extremely original. Magic plays a role in this book, too.
Normally, I'm turned off from a book, when the author throws magic in, when it doesn't seem necessary. But I didn't mind magic (or as the author calls it, magica) in this book. It did add nicely to the story and the Lady Ceciel's motivation was made more unique because of magic. The rode to the conclusion was slow.
A lot of the time it seemed like our protagonist were taking two steps back every time they took one forward. A lot of the steps they took didn’t really seem like it was related to the story, but most of the extra steps in their journey wasn’t planned, like getting kidnapped by pirates. But other than it’s slow progression, the plot was good; it wasn’t perfect but it was good. I give the plot an 8.5 out of 10.
Characters:
I really like both Fisk and Michael. Fisk previously lived on the streets. When Fisk was unable to pay for his crimes, the valiant Sir Michael stepped in and paid for him. Fisk is super funny and sarcastic. He is quite blunt most of the time and it is obvious what he think of his employer. Fisk is the sort of character that seems uncaring, but really does care. The “uncaring” sort of character is not something that unique, but his personality works well in the story. I can’t really think of another character personality that would work well in this context though. His relationship with Sir Michael is just as great as the characters.
I find stories that build on friendships rather than lovey-dovey sort of relationships. It is something we are lacking in today’s literature. Anyway, more about Sir Michael. I like how the author gives Fisk and Sir Michael different voices, when they’re narrating. Sir Michael speaks in a more educated tongue, and he uses fancy word like ‘Twas. Fisk uses a more common sort of speech similar to the speech we use in everyday life. (Errr, does that make me not educated?) Anyway, I like Sir Michael’s character.
He is a noble who had things done for him most of his life. To me, his character really matched his background. If Sir Michael hadn’t worked odd jobs before the main story started, he wouldn’t have been that capable. He gets hurt or in trouble a good amount of times more than he helps. But usually he gets in trouble for reasons that fit his character (if that makes any sense at all). The villain could have been better though, and for that reason I give the characters a 9.
Conclusion:
What to say about this conclusion? It ended differently than I thought it would. I originally thought that in the end, Sir Michael would find a way to bring back Lady Ceciel and redeem himself to his Father. Regardless to say, he didn’t do that; he let her go. I can’t say the ending was bad, because it was still unexpected, but it wasn’t anything spectacular either The ending did (once again) seem to fit the personality of the main character though. For these reasons I give the conclusion a 8.5.
Overall rating: 8.67 out of 10
Have a good day!
Kalee
I apologize for the stinky review :’)
No comments:
Post a Comment