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Title: Well-written but superficial...
Review: I was perhaps expecting too much from this book, but it has such a cult status that I went in expecting it to be appealing on an adult level. There's no question that it's beautifully written, and the Darkangel, his castle and brides well-described; the problem is the heroine. Aerial is a perfect fairy-tale heroine--in fact, like Cinderella or Snow White, she is just flat-out perfect. No wryness, no irony, no flaws, and no sense of humor; no explanation how she got to be so darn brave and loveable; where other women fail, she succeeds just 'cause she's so completely *good*. There's no backstory and no depth to her. Little kids might find her appealing, but compared to the heroines of Martha Wells or even Tamora Pierce, she is flat & uninteresting; definitely unengaging for the adult reader. (Maybe she gains another dimension or two in the next books; I didn't care enough to keep going.)
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