Book Review - The Wandering Fire

The Wandering Fire - Guy Gavriel Kay

I went into the Summer Tree with high expectations and was unfortunately sorely disappointed. A third of the way through the novel I nearly gave up and although things did improve, I could not understand what all the fuss was about.

I approached the Wandering Fire with slightly more caution then.

The Blurb:

This is the second book in the Fionavar trilogy. It finds the evil Rakoth threatening the existence of Fionavar. To stop him, Kimberly Ford and her companions from Earth must summon the Warrior. But desperate measures can have desperate consequences when curses and prophecies are involved.

Before I begin I will state two things. Firstly, this is a review of the audio book and secondly, this review will be short. The reason I mention this two things as they impact on my review.

I did not enjoy the Wandering fire. I tried, I really did but it did absolutely nothing for me. 

 You know when you find yourself not really concentrating and then having to go back to the start of a paragraph and remind yourself what you have just read – that pretty much summed up my whole experience with the Wandering Fire.

The book features a comprehensive recap of the events that took place in the Summer Tree. Although I remembered parts of the first novel the recap was very much needed and highly useful. So there was no excuse for me not to be immediately engaged with the novel.

 

As I mentioned I was listening to the unabridged audio version of the book. However, I must stress there was nothing wrong with the narration, it certainly didn’t impede on my enjoyment of the book. I simple struggled to follow what was going on. 100 pages in and I found I was rewinding the audio book and listening to it again and again determined to concentrate and each time failing to do so. I even stopped listening and went back to good old fashioned reading – the book only marginally improved.

This is a difficult review to write, as I can’t really pinpoint what exactly I didn’t like. The characters did not grab me in anyway. I guess it didn’t help that GGK does not linger on any character for too long before drifting off to another character’s PoV.  Even the injection of Arthur as a character did little for me.

As I recall the book now, the only scene that I truly enjoyed was near the beginning at Stonehenge. I apologise for those reading this review and looking for a firm reasoning for my dislike but I cannot give it. GGK’s writing is fine – although not to my tastes. I guess it boils down to the fact that I found the characters bland and the plot rather dull.

Overall then, I will hold my hands up and acknowledge that I am in the minority but GGK it seems is not for me – which I hate as I wanted to love his books so much.

My rating: 4.5