Fantasy
Thief’s Magic is doing more for me as a setting than as a pacey read, which is not quite a complaint, just a fact at this point.
The industrial-magic setup is the bit that keeps me turning pages. Tyen and Vella are doing most of the heavy lifting for my attention, and that probably says enough. I’m still interested, but not because the book is in any rush to be interesting.
The industrial-magic setup is the bit that keeps me turning pages. Tyen and Vella are doing most of the heavy lifting for my attention, and that probably says enough. I’m still interested, but not because the book is in any rush to be interesting.
That sounds about right for Canavan. She can make the world itself do a lot of the work, and if the characters aren’t pulling their weight, the whole thing starts to drag.
I’d still take a slower book like this over one that sprints through its premise and leaves the setting feeling like wallpaper. But it does need enough character tension to earn the pace. Tyen and Vella are doing that, from what you’re saying.
I’d still take a slower book like this over one that sprints through its premise and leaves the setting feeling like wallpaper. But it does need enough character tension to earn the pace. Tyen and Vella are doing that, from what you’re saying.
Canavan tends to get away with that for me because the world is doing real work. If the setting has enough texture, I’ll forgive a book for not sprinting.
Tyen and Vella are the sort of pairing that matters more than “plot momentum” anyway. A lot of fantasy forgets that being curious is a kind of engine.
Tyen and Vella are the sort of pairing that matters more than “plot momentum” anyway. A lot of fantasy forgets that being curious is a kind of engine.