Bone Up Yar by Dan Edelman

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kailhofer
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Bone Up Yar by Dan Edelman

Post by kailhofer »

I believe it is important to summarize the plot in a review so that the author can gauge whether or not the reviewer “got” the main point of the story, so those of you afraid of “spoilers”… behold, thy fears have come to visit:<br><br>As I understood it, this story was about the further adventures of Omen Swords as perceived through bard and accidental wizard Jechiel Andrade. Jechiel, a moody and strung out performer, is caught in a bloody attack on his band and his employer during the biggest performance of his life. In his struggle to survive, he discovers that his gittern, his instrument, is a magic device to let him “bend” the wind to his whims. Thanks to his unsteady success, Omen survives to advance to another chapter.<br><br>I liked the vocabulary of the tale just as much as the last one. It was a little hard to catch up with what everything really meant, but it seemed very moody and archaic-sounding, yet strangely modern, to me.<br><br>I’d say that setting in this one felt more real to me than in “Swords in the Fire”, the previous installment, because this was more narrowly focused. Instead of a dozen sites on a couple of islands, there was a bar, an alley, and a river valley. Of those settings, the bar/performing hall was the most real to me, because of the extra description given there. I didn’t like the musings and long argument with Lok, because it seemed to be, in its essence, to be a drawn-out infodump about the Ramblewood Wall and the political scene behind things.<br><br>I’d like to understand the limits of technology in this world. The guns, polymer shards, and even stage lights together with demons and swordplay is hard for me to figure out.<br><br>It may be simple of me, but I like characters I can easily and quickly sympathize with. In this regard, I didn’t really care much for Jechiel at first. He was a character who, I would think, should have been enjoying the greatest success of his life, but instead was grumpy and unappreciative. All of his suspicions may have turned out to be correct, but it took until the bullets were flying before I cared about his plight. Perhaps this was intended to be an example of those who are not doing what they are “meant” to be doing, are unhappy. I couldn’t say.<br><br>I tried to let all the names and places wash over me, as was suggested for “Swords”, but I was overloaded again. I think you could have cut out half of this story and still conveyed the same plot, grew the characters the same way, and wound up with the same climax with equal effect. Moody boy is attacked, survives because he has powers he didn’t know he had, and goes on to become a helpful henchmen of Omen--that was the main thrust as I saw it. I thought it was a good plot idea. <br><br>I know you warned me to ready my steely knives for your story, but I hope this wasn’t too sharp, because I thought this was much better than “Swords.” If you could focus the plot a little more and cut out everything that isn’t directly pertinent to these scenes, I think you could have a really great story.<br><br>Nate
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