I wanted to stay in those moments, but instead I was plunged forward. The scenes that should’ve pulled me in, that should have torn open my heart, that should have reduced me to tears were too understated, too rushed, too.plain. I love characters who have experienced something horrible, who’ve been to the bottom, who have an internal struggle that tears at my heart. Well, I hate to say it, but this fell short for me. Conn's a character with interesting potential, but it remains to be seen if the world he inhabits is as complex and deep as he seems to be. I give Gods of Sand and Stone 3 stars and would recommend it to fans of action fantasy tales like Tarzan and Conan. Perhaps some of my questions will be addressed in the next book. I just find myself wishing for more information to put the action in context. Which is not to say it's a bad story, and my issues with it were not so off-putting that I won't buy the next book in the series, Into a Dark Land. This is a fantasy that feels like an action movie script where the battles are fast and tense, but there's not much context for why all this fighting is going on. What I felt was lacking was not details on the fights, locations, or physical descriptions of the characters, but rather the history of this world and these gods. They also seem to be so weak that they have to ask a human to stop Cernunnos, though no one explains why he's so powerful and they're all so weak and blind. None of them displays any powers aside from shapeshifting, they're apparently not omnipotent, and despite Cernunnos plotting for years, they seem pretty clueless about his plans. But the cause of his insanity is as much a mystery as his plans.īut the other gods are also bugging me because they're.well, they're useless. Maybe if there was some background information on why Cernunnos went bonkers, this would be easier to accept. Here, he's presented as a psychopath who speaks in all caps, and even reminding myself that writers can exercise artistic license, this version of Cern rubs me the wrong way the same as Hollywood's decision to make the Nordic gods aliens in the Thor movies did. Part of this is a personal hang-up, because I've studied Cernunnos, and I understand him as The Green Man, a god of nature with a peaceful demeanor. I'm also not convinced by the depictions of the gods. I'd think most folks interested in this kind of dark fantasy won't be bothered by it, but it bugged me that they didn't even get a flashback or dream sequence to be developed in some meaningful way. They exist solely as an explanation for the main character's anger. First off, Conn's motivation for his quest is a trope that bothers me, the "woman in a refrigerator," meaning his mother, wife, and daughter are brutally murdered long before the story's intro, and show up only as bodies in a flashback. So what's the problem? Well, I have several. The POV shifts are clearly split up without confusion or instances of head hopping, and the story does end at a place that feels natural, if a little rushed and anti-climatic. The dialogue is good and flows well without ever feeling forced. The battle scenes are vivid and tense, and most locations and characters are described with good detail. All that can be said of him is, he's a mysterious mage. This leaves me wanting more, and I don't just mean a sequel.Ĭonn is a sympathetic character, and the same could be said of "rogue" fighter Aerlyn, while Mur's introduction is at a point in the story that prevents him from having any back story. Then the story ends quite abruptly, leaving most of the plot threads open for the next book in the series. In his journey, he encounters several other gods, fights some possessed hunters and undead animals, and meets some new allies. Conn Fuilteach is a warrior on a quest for revenge who discovers early in the story that's he's been tricked by Cernunnos, who has apparently gone insane. I feel conflicted about Gods of Sand and Stone for several reasons, though there's nothing wrong with the writing or the story.
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