I really love this trilogy! I thought I might have a hard time adjusting to William being the main character in this second book, moving away from his mother Ellenweore's story in book one, The Copper Sign. But, I loved Ellenweore's story and I loved William's story. This trilogy reminds me of a much shorter Game of Thrones, with a lot less characters and no fantasy element, but definitely engaging from beginning to end.
I will admit that there were a couple of times I had to "take a break" for a few minutes because it was hard to read about the evil things people did to each other - or I was too afraid to read what was coming up because I thought something really bad was going to happen. As with Game of Thrones, some really wonderful people died - and it took a long time for certain people to be brought to some sort of justice - and that was difficult too. Another thing that was hard for me to read about was some falcon-related things: sealing their eyes shut; killing small birds to use as their food; the descriptions of the falcons taking down their prey. I am not a big fan of hunting (that's an understatement!), so that's never my favorite thing to read about in any detail. I enjoyed reading about William training the falcons and Robert's love of the dogs though.
William & Robert were wonderful - devoted and loyal friends - and I rooted for them throughout. I was really grateful for Marguerite for forcing them back together - and for Marshal, who gave William some good, non-judgmental advice. William could definitely be a bit of a hot head! And honestly, his jealousy of Robert & Marguerite just because Odon put the idea in his head?? Ridiculous! I absolutely despised Odon, which is what the author intended of course. She did a really nice job of portraying an evil man with a softness for only two people: Clara and Adam. Not that his love for Clara and Adam made up for one iota of all the evil things he did - or allowed. Enid's death was horrible - and so unnecessary (except to move the story along of course). ;)
By the time Marguerite meets William, I had already forgotten that her mother, Alix, was only 17 at the time of her birth and married to Richard. I think I was so distracted by William's story that I forgot about the connection between Alix and John. It was also hard to follow the fight for the throne - who was who, who supported who, who fought for who, who died and how a death affected the throne. But this didn't detract from the story for me. The reader doesn't have to understand all the details of 12th century England's succession to the throne to get wrapped up in the main story.
I was happy that William went home a couple of times to visit his mother & Isaac, because I missed them from the first book. When I finished The Silver Falcon I pulled The Golden Throne (third book) off my bookshelf to see who was the main character. I was hoping it was still William, but no. At first I was disappointed - until I realized that it focuses on Marshal. He is called by a different name in the book though so that the reader doesn't get confused by the two Williams, father and son. I am really looking forward to finishing this trilogy. Hopefully it ends well.
Wendy's Rating: *****
No comments:
Post a Comment