Jewel of the Endless Erg

by John Bierce

[sa090]

The series continues to be interesting, although ultimately, I think I liked book 1 more than 2.

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Don’t let the above imply that I hated this book, not at all. I for one really really like the magic system John Bierce has in place in the series, even if it reminds me of other forms of entertainment, I really like how individualistic he can make it at times. The world he built is also interesting as I assumed that Kanderon was a bit of a unique existence, but turns out it was not exactly the case which was fantastic to see. Especially since the entity in question in this book in particular, is what I consider to be my all time favourite creature.

The plot does feel a bit rushed at times, mostly because it’s a short book so there’s really not much room to go into length about a lot of things, but the plot starts in the middle of the book and gets resolved by the end. About a 100 or so pages for a whole plot line is pushing it a little bit, although I will admit that I was pretty excited for it. I did wish for a little bit more on how or rather why this actually ended up happening more so than a change of partner if you will. Pride does play a big role in many plot lines, but maybe a little more than that?

Now the characters other than the magic system and the world is what caused me to like the first book, they are interesting in their imperfections and I’d really like to see them grow because of them. However, this book seems to be jumping through development phases for no real reason, Hugh for example ends up actually making a romantic connection with someone. This might not necessarily be jarring if it was with any other character, but Hugh? The same guy who cries multiple times in the first book because he can’t believe that people can actually be nice? The same Hugh who can barely put two words together when meeting someone new? This feels premature, and honestly, took quite a bit from the enjoyment of the book for me as this being in the focus seemed to take the opportunity to develop others away from them.

I didn’t enjoy it and I think that taking this chance to develop him as a person before this becomes a thing is a much better idea. The other thing I didn’t really enjoy in this one is Sabae’s character, she seems to give Hugh so many free passes, yet can be really harsh to another character for no real reason. I really liked how she developed as a mage, and I loved learning more about her family, but her reaction to different characters and her meddling let’s say, kind of ruins any development she makes when I can’t really understand what’s going on. To be fair, because Bierce is trying to do quite a few things while jumping through phases and trying to keep a plot going for the book, it makes almost all of them, including Hugh feel somewhat shallow and one note-ish.

Yes, the book is fast paced and enjoyable to read because of the world and how the magic works on it. God knows I absolutely loved the trek in the desert and what that entailed while seeing the various various training sequences, but I like the characters to have more to them than gimmicks. They fit certain molds, and after two books, I expected a little bit more development wise.

There is a huge chance for that to happen as this is a planned series of 6 books, 2 more are already out, but I won’t rush through them. The final chapter of this book is opening the field to so many options plot wise, where it can go and what can happen. I’m very excited for what’s to come, I can’t wait to know more about the world (the Tongue Eater for example? Holy shit that was very interesting to learn about) and finally, I really hope to see some more tangible development for the characters. They live in a very interesting world for them to be not as interesting.