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Veil of the Dragon

Tom Barczak

Start date: July 1, 2014

Finish date: August 5, 2014

Discussion: Book of the Month Fantasy

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Book of the Month Fantasy

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* Fantasy books already reviewed:
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What Members Thought

May 20, 2013 Sadie Forsythe rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: blah

3.5

This is a really hard book for me to review, because I'm of two very different minds about it. It is beautifully written. The use of language is almost awe-inspiring. It's just pain pretty and its slow, measured recitation gives it an eerie, heavy feeling of mystical gravitas.

However, that same atmospheric writing, no matter how beautifully the words are strung together, comes across as emotionally flat and provides only an anorexic outline of what is actually happening in the story. In the 3.5

This is a really hard book for me to review, because I'm of two very different minds about it. It is beautifully written. The use of language is almost awe-inspiring. It's just pain pretty and its slow, measured recitation gives it an eerie, heavy feeling of mystical gravitas.

However, that same atmospheric writing, no matter how beautifully the words are strung together, comes across as emotionally flat and provides only an anorexic outline of what is actually happening in the story. In the beginning, it took me a long time to figure out what the story was about and even then I never felt wholly immersed in it.

I decided at some point that it felt very Biblical. Not only because there is a very obvious Christian influence (which there is, lots and lots of similarities to the Jesus story...well, I suppose the model could have been Osiris, but as the authors American I'm guessing not) but also in the way that the book gives very little deep details and leaves a lot open to interpretation.

I gathered almost nothing of the characters histories, motivations, or personalities as well as the world's circumstances, peoples, cultures, or anything else. The scope of the telling is very narrow and as a result, a lot is left out. And again, it's lyrical and pleasant to read, but it's a style that annoys the living daylights out of me because I need that depth to sink my teeth into. I found reading this comparable to reading The Psalms. It related information to me in a pleasant matter, but that's not quite the same as providing me an engrossing story.

That isn't to say the story isn't an interesting one. It is. It's about redemption and recognising both the potential for grace and the human susceptibility the shadows that same light casts within each of us. It's an interesting idea. And while I don't like the way it's executed, as a personal preference, it accomplishes what it apparently set out to do. So, I'm happy to recommend it to fellow readers, but I'm also a bit glad to be done with it.

...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jul 08, 2013 A.L. Butcher rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, sci-fi-and-fantasy-challenge, sci-fi-and-fantasy-2014-challenge, swords-and-sorcery, adventure, gr-author, indie-book-club, fantasy-and-vamp-challenge, sci-fi-and-fantasy-book-club-bom, sf-and-f-2014-challenge

This was an interesting fantasy, and to me at least I haven't read anything quite like it before. The pace starts fairly slowly but soon engages the reader well enough and the suspense continues until the end.

Revelations abound for the main character, and the reader and the Dragon of the title is both more and less than he, and the reader imagines. To me this is, in essence, a journey - a journey of faith, self belief (or the lack) and and the journey of life and death, which is not clear cut. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 19, 2013 Tom Barczak rated it it was amazing

Nov 20, 2015 Walter Rhein rated it it was amazing

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