Having finished the book now, I have to say it has left me a little disappointed.
I understood and was aware before I begun reading it that this was the first book in a series of four. Needless to say, this is not the first time I have begun a book knowing that there are more volumes to come - it is impossible to be a fan of fantasy fiction if you only read single volume books! Bearing that in mind, I don't think I have ever read a first installment that was entirely a prologue to a tale that seemed to begin at the end of the book.
I feel cheated.
The pace of the book didn't help any. It started slow, which I did not have an issue with initially as it allowed me time to settle in to a new world become familiar with the characters. But it remained constant throughout, which for me, significantly reduced the impact of the events and left me waiting for something sudden and unexpected to happen, and it never did. There were no surprises, no twists and no race to reach a goal. By the end I was also getting weary of the constant need to insert descriptive passages into a stream of dialogue as this only served to slow the pace even further.
Half the fun of reading a book is being able to get inside the heads of the characters, in a way that is just not possible when you see a story acted in front of you. I felt that this element of character building was lacking to the extent that I believe I would have been more emotionally invested in the characters and their stories if I had seen this translated to screen, or theatre. Most of the the character development was done through what little dialogue occured and the interaction between the characters. I know more about the robes they were wearing than how they justified their decisions or actions to themselves. I think the 'pose' aspect of their language was very inventive, but at the same time, a barrier to getting invested in the characters. The author obviously knows what these poses look like, but they are a completely alien concept to me and I found myself getting distracted quite often, wondering how the characters were standing and moving and if facial expressions were part of the posing, or did they all look like they were dancing?
Having said all that, I actually did enjoy the story. The edition I purchased was Shadow and Betrayal, so I already have the second book in the series and curiosity, if nothing else, will make me read it. One day. Probably.
