This promising debut has all the right ingredients: a well-paced plot, a likable heroine, and some surprising twists. After 100 pages, I found myself turning the pages almost faster than I could read them.
What mars Britain's first novel, however, is her rather pedestrian writing style. (Writing a back-cover blurb comparing the author with Tolkien, Marion Zimmer Bradley simply embarrasses herself.) The number of sentences beginning with inert phrases (It was... It had... There would... This was...) is nearly deadening, especially in the opening descriptive passages. Nevertheless, as the action intensifies, Britain's writing style seems to mature (or perhaps I was too caught up in the story to be annoyed any longer).
Readers of fantasy novels will undoubtedly enjoy this novel, in spite of its occasionally static prose. And I, for one, can't wait for the sequel.
This promising debut has all the right ingredients: a well-paced plot, a likable heroine, and some surprising twists. After 100 pages, I found myself turning the pages almost faster than I could read them. What mars Britain's first novel, however, is her rather pedestrian writing style. (Writing a back-cover blurb comparing the author with Tolkien, Marion Zimmer Bradley simply embarrasses herself. ) The number of sentences beginning with inert phrases (It was... It had... There would... This was... ) is nearly deadening, especially in the opening descriptive passages. Nevertheless, as the action intensifies, Britain's writing style seems to mature (or perhaps I was too caught up in the story to be annoyed any longer). Readers of fantasy novels will undoubtedly enjoy this novel, in spite of its occasionally static prose. And I, for one, can't wait for the sequel.