After a visit to nonfiction land with The Lost City of Z (disappointing, sadly), back to tackle another book on my list.
Note: This might be a bit long, but there are no spoilers here; any plot details mentioned can be found in/inferred from the description of the book.
Mirror Sight by Kristen Britain
I've been a bit anxious to take this one on, honestly. Scores of scathing reviews and outright anger and hatred for this tale of time travel directly continuing the events of the last book, Blackveil. Catapulted nearly 200 years into the future, series heroine Karigan gets a taste of an utterly bleak reality. With magic all but gone from the world, can Karigan find a way to alter the past and return home or is everything lost, forever?
I can see why so many people hate this book. Reader expectations, for one. What started out as a fantasy adventure series is suddenly a Victorianesque steampunk time travel story. Karigan is basically on her own (for the 200 pages or so I've read so far anyway), with only glimpses of the friends and allies we've come to love over the last four books. She has new allies in this future land of course, but they seem so bland compared to the Riders we've come to know so well. And one of the biggest sticking points of all: the enemy is not who one would expect. What strange fate has twisted this future, so close and yet so distant?
This book has some massive obstacles for fans and it shows.
For myself...eh, it's hard to say. The steampunk setting doesn't bother me; I've read and enjoyed it before. I do find it interesting to get a look at how the world develops, given how often fantasy worlds seem to stay in stasis. Kristen's done an admirable job of portraying this advancement, if nothing else.
As for the time travel, this also does not bother me overmuch. Given what happened at the end of Blackveil, it's a logical consequence of Karigan's actions. Regardless of intent, messing with stuff like that is and should be dangerous. I'm also not particularly adverse to time travel in general as long as it's done well.
For myself there are really two main sticking points: first, the characters. I'm not going to lie, I'm really missing some of my favorites, some of whom haven't been major players in two books or more. One of my favorite parts of the series, the dynamic between Karigan and Zachary, is completely missing. The overall tone has also gotten more serious and I find I'm missing some of the lighter moments in all of this plot-fueled desolation.
Second, the plot. It's still early enough that obviously I don't know much more than Karigan does at this point, but so far I'm just not seeing what I expected as far as enemies go. I'm sure it will be explained later on, but it makes me as lost and confused as Karigan, wondering what the hell happened.
Paradoxically, even though I should dislike it, I find myself unable to put it down. The glimpses of old friends, new mysteries on both sides of time, the horror of Sacoridia's future-past. It both repels and pulls at me. I need to know what happened and why, and if Karigan can really pull this one off. Curiosity, and an interesting story about an interesting character. Sometimes that really is all you need.
