I don't normally review books, but I just had to get a few things off of my chest about this one. I finished it last night & am still a bit angry at it.Overall, I did not care for this book at all, especially after reading it directly after the first three. I came into it off of a "high" from those earlier books, and maybe it was because they were so fresh in my mind that Requiem for the Sun left me angry and frustrated. It felt stiff, padded, and pointless, without hope and without the personalities I had come to expect from the other books.A few reasons & examples: (Warning: SPOILERS!)(view spoiler)[Way too much time and detail was spent on scenes & events that should have been half (or less) the length that they were (for example, way too much time spent on reviving Entudenin, and to what purpose? Yarim has water again. Great. There should have been more to it). I was left with the feeling that it was all just padding in order to get the book up to publishable length.I'm generally not a fan of the gratuitous, over-the-top violence in any of the books (jars way too much with the more sophisticated prose & storytelling of the non-violent bits), but felt it was even worse in this book. I *get* that F'Dor are horrible. I *get* that bad people do bad things. I don't need repeated horrificness to remind me, especially when there seemed to be more horrificness than good in this story. I will say, though, that I suspect the violence stood out so much for me this time because the rest of the story was lacking any warmth or appeal, and so the violence was just that much more stark by contrast. Also adding to my dislike was that the bad guys seemed to steal the show, and not in a good way. They were way too powerful and getting away with way too much, and there were so many of them. It seemed like evil was everywhere doing evil and our heroes were unaware or always at a disadvantage or otherwise non-hero-like. It was like a story of unavoidable doom, instead of a story of good over evil (as the first ones were). The heroes no longer seemed like heroes, just fodder for the bad guys, with no overall sense that good would triumph.The heroes also didn't seem like themselves. Achmed does *not* have a single-minded lust to kill F'Dor, as was said in this book; he wants them dead, yes, but he doesn't go into instant-hunt-demon-mode when one is alive. If that were true, he'd never have rebuilt Ylorc in the earlier novels while an F'Dor lived (and he would have instantly killed Ashe). Also, in previous books he'd never have let Ashe talk to him the way he did a few times in this book, not without a strong-enough caustic comeback to silence Ashe. Achmed is the stronger personality, not Ashe.When Ashe and Achmed go after Rhapsody, Ashe never seems all that distraught. Despondent, but not enraged. For all the times in previous books that Ashe had to fight the dragon from rampaging, like when it almost got loose in Elysian when he was mad about his grandmother lying to him about whether Rhapsody survived the cataclysm, this time Rhapsody might ACTUALLY be dead, stolen by MICHAEL, and the dragon in Ashe doesn't roar forth and and rampage?! Ridiculous. If ever we should have seen that happen, it was in this book.As for Rhapsody, she didn't have much to do, which is fine, as I realize the story wasn't really hers. But at the end, after her ordeal, she's pulled up on the beach & asked to sing a dirge? That's it? Ashe isn't devouring her with kisses and being happy she's alive and all that? No discussion of what happened? She doesn't thank the men? Heck, she kissed Achmed after they killed the previous F'Dor, but after this experience says not a word to him, not even a half-smile of thanks? I was wondering who these people were and why they were called Rhapsody, Ashe, and Achmed when they were clearly NOT the characters I had come to love.Despite all that I did not like in this book, a few things stood out as good:The way MacQuieth killed Michael. Tempting the demon ("Come to me"), then using his broken arm to impale Michael, going over the cliff & the sea roiling & creating a backward tidal wave from the impact of the demon. Omet surviving. I'm really glad he did, because I was really tired of all the good/innocent people being killed by the bad. I hope we see more of him in later books.Grunthor's dispatch of Esten. Perfect. Probably the best moment in the book. (hide spoiler)]
I know it took me a lot longer to read this book than normal, but it has nothing to do with the quality of the story. I've been having vision problems but once my glasses come in I should be back full swing. Now onto the actual review....With every new book (well new to me) I fall more and more in love with this series! I cannot say enough good things about this book or it's author. I absolutely adore the story with everything in me and am glad there are more books to continue with :) highly recommend this to any fantasy lover.
What do You think about Requiem For The Sun (2003)?
Starts off a bit slow, but picks up. I was v. excited for this one after polishing off the original trilogy more than once. I remember checking out Haydon's website after reading Destiny; she had a poll asking whether her readers would prefer the Continued Adventures of Rhapsody & Co., or Past Adventures of Rhapsody & Co. Clearly, everyone preferred the former -- and with good reason, because The Three are a great team and lots of fun to read about; separately, they are not nearly as compelling.
—Laura
I read the whole series, but I started with this book.It made one terrible introduction.There was this guy talking with some people. I thought there were ten guys in the room, Guy #1, Guy #2, the bolg, the bolg king, Achmed, the Dhracian, the Dhracian king, the firbolg, and the firbolg king. Guy #1 and #2 leave. Then it was just Achmed in the room. It took me two pages to figure out that the bolg, the bolg king, Achmed, the Dhracian, the Dhracian king, the firbolg, and the firbolg king were all the same person. Wheeh.I eventually pieced it together. The author uses bolg and firbolg interchangeably for some unknown reason. Achmed is half Dhracian and half bolg. He also became a king somewhere along the way. So once I had that sorted out, the story flowed better.There was some woman named Rhapsody. I didn't like her. She was too melodramatic. But then she spent the remainder of the book stuck in a cave, so it wasn't too bad.Same with Ashe, though he was tolerable. Achmed, for the whole book, was like, "I'm big, I'm bad, I'm tough, and whoopsie, I just let the bad guy into my castle. Tee hee." So that left me scratching my head, because he seemed to be capable of making basic life decisions. But then he invited the villain into his castle, told his subjects to let her do whatever she wanted, and then left, leaving her free to murder the entire population of said castle. And for being such a tough, capable character, he sure spent a lot of time drowning.After reading the first three books, the fourth made more sense, and yes, Achmed spent the first three books being over-qualified. And it turns out, the author needed him to overdose on stupid pills, because otherwise, the book would have been a third shorter. And his inability to deal with large amounts of water was addressed in the earlier books.
—Rhyson
