Lost Shoe

3/5

I do not really enjoy reading books about villains as this is one of those. I enjoy villains who are indeed human and who do have "good" in them (just as good as some bad in them,etc). I find it disturbing though that in these books many of these characters "dont care" I realize some villains really don't care. But I find this frequently in books that I read. I do not know if it's just fantasy or what but the person shows no emotion toward killing or the dying. Maybe they do not care as they are in the heat of the moment -- violence everywhere, dying everywhere it can swallow up the mind. Maybe its because I live in a very violent side of the town where people mindlessly kill someone over stupid things or injure those that they supposedly love that I feel pained when reading "dont care/didn't care/hated him anyways" type mindsets when someone dies.

I am not saying that the characters are emotionless robots, they aren't. Gareth struggles with practicing void magic because it is illegal where they live, he adores Helmos (the Prince that will be king) and the King, who are all of Good and the gods. Which I understand when you find someone to "worship/adore" and you do not live up to how they are. ..it can be horrible. Gareth is one of those that doesn't ever see that he is worthy enough for their affection or attention. and he is bound to the prince, because he came into the palace to be the prince's whipping boy. His only love is the dedication he has to the Prince Dagnarus, he sees an older prostitute to "settle his needs" but he has no love other than that.

Prince Dagnarus finds love in the wrong place == the woman he fell for is a Lady, who is already married. An elven woman who if found cheating would be killed and so would her children if she had any (thankfully not). But there love was short-lived towards the end of the book when he becomes the Lord of Void, because the husband of her comes to her to seek revenge on her for dishonoring him and their family. So, she is struck by an arrow, an artery and bleeds out. But she does not die, not completely anyway -- she vows herself to the void and is then turned into a vrykrl.

Helmos, the good-guy?. The crown-prince I guess is what they call him. He is a scholarly man who is well , to be king. The father dies after his son, Dagnarus turns into the Lord of Void probably of a heart attack from all the commotion of the ceremony.  He has a wife named Anne, who is darling and wishes to have children but cannot have any. He dies at the end of the book,  she is alive as Dagnarus finds her with his mother caring for her, he sets guards out side the doorway and allows them to live --- see what I mean about a villain with emotions? he still somewhere loves his mother. Helmos is a minor character they do not really talk about him or use his POV very much. I think because he is one of those that is to be killed at the end they didn't want to give too much emotional appeal to the dying. Or, well, he was a character written in specifically to die.

I also think his life was meant to be "tragic" jsut as his brothers life is. He had his love, all to himself, and all they wanted were children and couldn't have any. Dagnarus finally gets to have his love but she dies a few days after they escape.

Tamaros: The king, who believed solely in the help of the gods. THe GODS will do everything type dedication. if he was a real person he would be that person dying who would only rely on the gods to save him when he could have walked down to the dr office.

I did a break down of the characters bcos i did enjoy them greatly. they were well written. It just bothers me about the emotion toward the dying, death, destruction. I know the blind-lust for things that what you want will have you ignoring things and destroying things until you get what you want. But like I said, Gareth was really the only one they showed about who had sometime of emotion towards others and sometimes it just wasn't out of selfishness.

it isn't that I wanted them to weep over every person that they killed or saw dying. Its there was nothing towards the deaths at all. I realize warring is deadly and people die. But it bothers me the lack of emotion when it is written in stories it just for me  helps worsen things, turning things cynical or keeping it at bay, because if you can't feel the pain from what is going on ..you don't really care that there are dying people. And, I am not talking about the books. I feel that the more we write apathy into stories and into movies..it's just not helping. I realize not everyone cares about strangers that it is hard to connect with those you do not know. But I do not like the attitude we have towards all of this.

The story is good, the writing that is  there is humor through out. The Orken -- a sea people who are superstitious The Elves -- which are sneaky and political  --- Dwarves -- like to roam around and do things on horses . I am sure there are other things that were listed but I cant remember.

They have elemental magic  -- fire, water, wind, earth -- the good magics that take forever to learn, study  and practice. the void is a quicker but more destructive of the magics.

It is five hundred something pages but reads really fast and especially once you get into the second half of the book it gets really going. I read it when I cant sleep at night due to the amount of pain I am. The story helps me forget the pain though it irritated me the things that happened at the end of the book. Its the first out of a sequel. Thankfully the book ended just as if I could leave it and not have to read onto further. If I chose that route.

I think I may read the second book though I did not check to make sure my library had a copy of it.

I would suggest this book especially if you like action and villains. Especially if you do not like romance or if you like the broken up kind. This story is based off a game, which one I am not sure. lol.

The next book I am reading is: Take A Thief by Mercedes Lackey  

What Wiki says of it:
Take a Thief: A Novel of Valdemar is a 2001 young-adult novel about Skif, an orphaned pickpocket, who finds a magical horse. Written by Mercedes Lackey, the novel is the third in the Heralds of Valdemar series, and introduces Skif, who appears in the subsequent Valdemar book Arrows of the Queen