Typos. Why did it have to be typos?No seriously, this was an engaging read for the most part. BUT...it has a tendency to monologue too much and slow things up almost as much as the typos. Lines like "Small dark things flocked to his fingers, moths or horseflies or bad ideas" -Yea, I really liked that- but then the rest of the sentence has a blatant typo - "motes that cling and clumped to the blood sliding down the man's wrist, round, BACK (instead of black I assume) and barely translucent." So what started out as a nifty and mildly humorous description instead turns into a face palm. The first third of the story is just insanely full of typos. Things like a 'we' that should have been 'he', and a 'tail' that should have been 'tale'. Another that was rather annoying was wanting a "beef stew of a haunch of lamb" and another stating he wanted beef and red meat. Since deer were mentioned, guess that would qualify as red meat instead of venison. Lamb might be considered the other red meat but it's not even remotely beef. As I do make a mean lamb stew (sans beef) as well as other lamby things, as I'm not only of Irish descent but also having been taught by an excellent Basque cook, I can say I know lamb stew quite well. On the plus side, where it was good it was very, very good and the typos lessened to the point where they weren't so painful. I especially liked "Most faiths could stand to learn the virtue of keeping their devotion to themselves." Yea, I agree. The battles and fights were pretty fun, and the boys learning to be friends as well as men was nice. Dismayed the only female mentioned of any note was the one to be destroyed. But it's the author's world so he can have his testosterone filled say and leave women denigrated to vague mentions of bar maids, past musings and the one evil sorceress.The few times there's cussing might be more than some youngsters need to read, but it's not that bad. Just makes it PG-17 or whatever rating you get for the g-d word more than once. Now that I'm starting to monologue, guess that's all I have to say about this YA adventure. I had this on my kindle for a while, but after being a bit disappointed by a couple of other free/cheap fantasy reads, was nervous of what to expect with this. It turned out that I was pleasantly surprised! This is a fun fantasy romp with plenty of action and a fair nod in the direction of deeper characterisation. There are also some decent comedy moments too.The story of a boy who's down on his luck, takes a chance and discovers that he's bitten off more than he can chew is not particularly original, but I don't think it's an issue here - it certainly doesn't feel like Edward Robertson is lazily using old tropes. In fact, I'd say the world building here is one of the strengths of the story - not just a world, but a credible religious framework of multiple faiths that comes across as believable and measured. You don't get the clumsy "my god is good so yours must be bad" dichotomy that marred series such as The Belgariad. There's a definite sense of testing the waters - the main characters are allowed to ask questions about their faiths and those questions aren't glibly answered in the next page. In fact, they're almost deliberately ambiguous. Most of the characters are likeable and detailed enough to get a real sense of them. Each has a fairly distinctive voice and the supporting cast are solid enough not to feel like props to the main storyline. The relationship between the two main characters is quite sensitively drawn - I liked the way the balance of power swung between them throughout the book.There are a couple of things I wasn't so keen on - if this is the author's first book then they should be fairly fixable as they go on. One thing that did jar with me was that the dialogue was slightly uneven. You'd be going through a section that sounded quite universal/timeless and then one of the protagonists would come out with something that sounded very much like a modern teenager. It's not disastrous, but it does remind you that you're reading someone else's words and takes you out of the world that Robertson has spent so much time and attention building. I also wonder if it might date the book badly in 15-20 years time.The other thing I was a little disappointed by was the lack of characterisation of the main enemy of the book. After all the other characters were so well drawn, she just seemed quite flat in comparison, and I was still left wondering what her motivation was after the denouement. I didn't get a strong sense of who she was, she just didn't come alive on the page for me so I didn't really feel strongly for her.The verdict:Overall though, this is a pretty good read. Definitely worth whiling away a few hours on. And it's one of a series too, so if you like this, there is plenty more to get your teeth into.Who should read this:I'd say it's more suitable for the younger end of the fantasy market (possibly even sliding into YA) due to the age of the main characters, but there's still plenty to keep more seasoned fantasy aficianados interested. This would also be an ideal book for boys who are reluctant readers, as it has quite a 'boys vs the world' feel which I think would appeal to that group.
What do You think about The White Tree (2011)?
Would have been higher, except for a weak ending. Left me not wanting to read more.
—zauraiz
it was okay, but I could easily put it down and do something else.
—Daddy
Great book cant wait to read the next book in the series.
—Tina
Really poorly edited but worth struggling through.
—Elizabeth
