Genre: Fantasy
Series: Greatcoats #1
Page Count: 372
Publication Year: 2014
Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books
Special Notes: I finished it in November.
Summary: Three musketeers…Wait. Wrong story. *ahem* Three Greatcoats escort a woman to a city. One of them also protects another girl from being killed. There’s fighting, reminiscing, revelations, fighting, running. Then there’s more fighting and running, but while making quips. There are also duels, fighting in a blind rage, fighting to get a message across and fighting against not killing someone. Did I mention there’s fighting?
This series has a lot of potential. It just didn’t have the beginning I expected and wanted: one simple adventure with good friends, a smattering of intrigue and the tip of the great battle.
Just so you know, the official summary bears pretty much no resemblance to what actually happens. My summary is way more accurate.
All the unfavorable stuff I’m discussing may be non-issues to those who haven’t read much fantasy. But I’ve been in this genre for years and I’m getting more critical with each review so, as an aficionado of fantasy, these are things I see as negatives.
The story is fractured into three-ish plot lines. In flashbacks we learn how the Greatcoats were founded and what led to the king’s death. Fine. You need backstory when creating a new world full of politics and laws.
Then there are about 130 pages devoted to the protagonist protecting this girl. Okay, we see Falcio’s capabilities, learn about an important city and those who operate in it, and glimpses of the baddie’s plan. Regrettably, Falcio does it all on his own. I want more teamwork in a book that’s compared to The Three Musketeers. Something like The Lies of Locke Lamora (my review), instead of watching him struggle alone against every available obstacle. At least I know he can overcome those obstacles (but has it now made his friends superfluous?).
But it took a comparable amount of pages to get to the protecting part, and that time is spent escorting a different girl to that important city while informing the reader of their travels, history lessons, and speculations on the baddie’s plan.
And then the final sixty pages throws vague hints, scatters some conflict and answers while hastily dealing with the baddie.
The problem is those three things have very different tones and pacing and they don’t weave smoothly together. I realize the author included all that stuff because at some point it’s all going to come back and be useful. And to be fair, it’s engaging. Heck, I didn’t realize it took so long for them to reach the city until I checked the pages. But I don’t think it needed to take that long. Looking back on it, I’d have preferred the book focus either on getting to the city and staying with the first girl or all three protecting the second girl, instead of juggling both.
There are a few extra plot lines and people that maybe don’t need to be right where they are. I’m sure the author wants to introduce them early so there’s not as much explaining to do later. I could be wrong, but it’s the impression I got. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing; I like when hints are dropped for future “ah-ha” moments. But when those hints take up pages and are afterward forgotten, it doesn’t look so good.
It bothered me that big questions aren’t asked and revelations are ignored. For example, Aline is never asked about the king’s chariotes, Ethalia is brushed aside, and Lorenzo turns out to be, I guess, immaterial? I hope the latter two will return at a later point, because if not, why were they in the book? Or is it the best time for them to be included? Now, I don’t need to hear every conversation but I think important information should at least be acknowledged, if not discussed. When I’m writing fiction I put myself in the place of my characters and think what kind of questions they’d want answered and what kind of questions the reader will be asking so I can provide adequate dialogue.
On the flip side, certain conversations happened solely for the reader’s benefit and not because that’s what the characters would actually talk about. In the first chapter you learn several things I assumed the characters would already know or have already talked about. For me, dialogue is the best way to be told things instead of long paragraphs full of lineages and alliances. But when the dialogue is only happening to educate and could not be further from organic discourse, it’s, well, lame.
When dialogue wasn’t the answer, the author did something rather clever: he addressed the reader. With a wink-wink he’d say something like, “Let’s imagine you want to do this. Now, you would’ve done it this way, but I’m pressed for time, so here are my limited options,” or, “You don’t know what this is, so let me break it down for you.” It’s a humorous way to explain a situation and has a pausing effect on the story that’s quite fun. I just hope he doesn’t overuse it.
Returning to the story, I like how it begins after the good guys have essentially lost. It’s a nice break from the heroes discovering the threat and then dealing with it. Everyone for the most part knows where they stand and who the villains are. I did get thrown by some plot twists, which I always appreciate.
Now that that’s taken care of, let me go over the characters.
It’s in Falcio’s perspective and he is a persistent, calculating, honor-bound, fast talking, reckless fighter. He’s also sometimes an idiot and too trusting. All that might sound like I got a good impression of him, but I think his joking attitude got in the way of really showing me his character. A traumatic event in his past has put him in this over-used box. Something happens to him in the last few chapters and, call me crazy, but I wish the author had just gone and seen it through. I’m not very attached to him but he’s a decent narrator.
As for the two principal women, I don’t care for them. I have a very hard time ever liking fictional women. They’re either trying too hard to be something they clearly aren’t or they have as many unique characteristics as a parking lot. I’d say these two fall in the latter category. One of them starts as a spoiled brat who thinks she’s oh-so grand. Her arc is going somewhere else now and it seems a bit shoehorned in. The other girl is going for the plucky assistant who tries to keep Falcio out of trouble but is also the reason he’s in the deep pits of danger. And she’s, like, thirteen and I don’t buy it. But maybe these are actually innovative characters.
All those negativities aside, it’s decent. Does it blaze new paths and wave a cheerful goodbye to everything you’ve ever known? Pfft, no. But entertainment doesn’t have to. If, however, the next book does not make significant improvements, I will not finish the series.
Check out my rating here.
A couple of spoilery remarks:
If they didn’t stab the duchess to make sure she’s dead, they’re idiots.
Did Aline really eat the soft candy? If so, what did she have to live for that pushed her into not dying?
The horse suddenly loving them is so sappy and convenient. Why didn’t it immediately take Aline’s arm off?
So…Kest is a saint now?
Is it bad that I wanted Falcio to die at the end? The next book could’ve been from Kest or Brasti’s perspective. I know it’s a lot of time and backstory to go through only to end up killing the narrator, but I want it to happen one of these years.
I don’t know how the magic system works, but I’m betting Aline has some form of magic. Why else would he make a point of her having good hearing?
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