Title: The plot and writing are too predictable.
Product review: I try to like Mercedes Lackey, I really do. However, this trilogy is written in black and white rather than shades of gray. The villains are evil (and she gives you very graphic descriptions of how and why) and the good guys are Good, and never the twain shall meet. All this is fine, but it makes for a very predictable, even boring read. It's also disturbingly graphic. Ms. Lackey shows us, in very minute detail, all the evil things the bad guys do, and then holds up her hands in horror and says Oh! How terrible! I have nothing against violence if it somehow has a point within the plot, but here it doesn't. It just shows us in nauseating detail how bad the bad guys are and why it's so right that the good guys are fighting them. I'd say this book has the right sort of plot to appeal to teenagers and novice fantasy readers, but the graphic violence is just too much. If you're a parent, read this book before you let your child anywhere near it.
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