Reviews for The Crow (Pellinor Series #3)

The average rating for The Crow (Pellinor Series #3) based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-08-04 00:00:00 Simon Grech I loved The Naming. I loved The Riddle (with a few notable exceptions with parts near the end). But I might as well be honest. I did not like The Crow. It took me a long time to pick this one up and read it, and I'll be honest, it was because of the lack of Cadvan and Maerad. I really got wrapped up in their story, and I was none-too-pleased to realize they weren't in The Crow at all, but I decided to give it a chance anyway, and I was disappointed. In comparison to Cadvan and Maerad, the characters fell flat. The situations seemed less realistic. The story was darker than the first two books, but I think it tried too hard to be dark. At some point, I stopped being appalled by things and started thinking, "Ok, now that was just done for the shock value and to illustrate that the Nameless One is a Very Bad Man." Yes, the Nameless One is a villain. Yes, he is a bad man. He is a very bad man. I don't need the author to bash that into my brain by having him kick babies in his free time. She does, at least, give an explanation for why some things are done (which is good), but it's not entirely convincing. In the end, I forgot the storyline was so much darker than it had been because it was more convincingly done in the first two books. I still have hope for the series, and I do look forward to reading the last book, but I really thought this one fell flat. That's a shame too, because I do love Croggon's writing for the most part. And even though I really didn't like this particular book much, I still love the first two, I still expect good things in The Singing, and I would still gladly recommend the series to others. With that said . . . here are a few of the notes I made about things that bothered me. (Possible spoilers. I tried not to get too specific, but I want to give fair warning just in case.) 1) As Eliza said to Freddy in 'My Fair Lady', "Please don't explain. Show me!" Yeah, yeah. So the kid's heart is bursting with anger. Don't tell me. Show me his fists are clenched and his eyes are brimming with tears of rage or some such. Show; don't tell. 2) A makeshift hospital during a siege will probably not be an atmosphere of peace, even if you do like healing. I'm sorry, but no. 3) Adults who are a vital part of planning battles during a siege or who are in charge of short-staffed overrun war-time hospitals are not going to have time to stop and have comforting talks with children in the middle of what they're doing. No, it's not fair, but it is battle. A healer doesn't have time to let men and women die so he or she can comfort a weepy child. It's just not realistic. 4) Hundreds of men and women sacrifice their lives bravely and die in battle, and forever more the bards will sing of . . . the boy who talked the birds into fighting off some other birds. Yeah, it's a good idea and helps the cause a little. A little. Not enough for the entire town to talk about him and for bards to write a song about him. Next thing you know, they're going to be building the kid a statue. Which the birds will then make a mess on as they say, "Hey, we did all the work! Why don't you give us some credit?" 5) And your new name shall be . . . Slasher Blood? Oh, come on. Are we in a fantasy novel or the WWF? I laughed for a solid five minutes over that one, and I don't think it was supposed to be funny. I mean, seriously? Slasher? First thought: fake wrestlers with bad face paint. Second thought: Wait . . . you mean he writes that weird Harry/Snape fanfic? Ew. Yeah, yeah. So these are some tough little kids because they collect ears they've bitten off of people and name themselves "Slasher" and "Slitter" and "Reaver." I get the point. They're Very Scary Children. You don't have to keep hitting me over the head with it. 6) Boredom: perhaps NOT the best emotion to describe what someone might be feeling when in disguise in a hostile enemy stronghold fearing discovery and excruciatingly painful death at any moment. 7) "Hem sniffed the air uneasily: it was heavy with a vague menace, which grew stronger the closer they came to Dagra." I wouldn't even raise an eyebrow if he hadn't actually smelled the air. So that uh "vague menace" there, what does it smell like anyway? Does Yankee Candle perhaps sell this scent? If not, maybe I should suggest it to them. "Dear Yankee Candle, in your winter line, I would like to suggest the following scents: Vague Menace, Quivering Fear, and Dank Oppression. I do hope you will comply, as I cannot quite decide how to take over the world without your candles to help me instill fear into people everywhere with their wicked scents." Oh, yeah, and I almost forgot, "P.S. If you decide not to make these scents for me, I will kidnap your puppy, turn it against you, and make it eat out your intestines. And I'll throw your lollypop on the ground too, because I am a Very Evil Person." 8) So the hero is trapped right under the enemy's nose. He's just been caught trying to escape. There are deadly creatures flying around. Most importantly, there's a barrier that extends so high birds can't even fly over it and an impregnable gate. How does our hero escape? He passes out and when he wakes back up, he finds an earthquake and a battle have taken out the obstacles between him and freedom. Whiskey tango foxtrot? Can you say Dues ex machina? Prime example. Come on, Croggon, you're better than this.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-01-01 00:00:00 Michael Whalen When I began this book I was disappointed that we'd be following Hem rather than his sister Maerad. But then I stopped being disappointed, both because Hem is at least as interesting as Maerad, and because his part of the story is just as important as hers--in fact, it's fully half of the story. Who knew? It was pretty cut and dried in the first two books: Maerad was the one in the prophecy, and Hem was secondary. But no. And watching Hem grow up in the course of the few months described in this novel is fascinating, too. He goes from a fruit-stealing, trouble-making ragamuffin to a responsible young mage in just a few hundred pages, and in some ways he does it more gracefully than his sister. I also was drawn in to the story of Zelika, a character I liked very much. So now I'm just waiting for The Singing. Hurry UP, February, seriously!