I've been meaning to review the Named series for a while now. In fact, I did. In a format where I tackled the whole series (so far, I don't know if there'll be a sixth book) in one sitting. However, that format just didn't work for me and it has been well over a year since I last read the books, so I've decided to re-read them once more to give them all a proper look. Spoilers ahead.
Ratha is a young creature known as a Named, a prehistoric feline with sapience and the ability to speak, born in the herding clan of Named cats. The clan is constantly being plagued by the Unnamed, though, felines that are often non-sentient that live in disorganized chaos and constantly attack the Named's herds. When Ratha finds a creature known as the Red Tongue (fire), she brings a change to the Clan that will affect them for all the years to come.
This book definitely has a lot of things going for it. Ratha, for example. Not all of the characters are that memorable (though there aren't all that many), but I like Ratha. She's young and inexperienced, and also determined and vocal about her opinions. She quite an enjoyable main character. I also like Bonechewer, her Unnamed mate. He had a sarcastic and fun personality to him, shame he wasn't in that much of the book. There's also Thakur, Ratha's mentor and Bonechewer's brother, but I didn't find him and enjoyable or likable character. Just bland and uninteresting.
I also liked the world building. A lot of things are left up in the air, such as what exactly causes one to be sapient or not in this world, but enough is established to make everything feel tangible. You feel the oppressive organized vibe going on in Meoran's clan, and the opposing chaos without laws from the Unnamed. I also liked the idea of these felines taking on the task of herding.
That said, this book also has some flaws. For example, it doesn't really pull me in. Aside of Ratha and the world building, I don't like a lot of the other characters and the main villain/antagonist Meoran is just not interesting in the slightest. The whole conflict regarding Ratha's creature also dies down pretty soon only to be brought back in the final chapter, with a whole lot of little going on in between.
The book is also very low-stakes compared to the rest of the books. Ratha does get banished from the clan, but due to the unpleasant and oppresive atmosphere going on there, you really don't want her to be there.
She honestly seemed happy with Bonechewer for a while before the cubs were born and they joined up with the other Unnamed. I liked them together, though I didn't feel a particular connection between them. Their relationship felt more like "well, we're stuck together and I guess we have each other now" than actual romance.
It should also be noted that this book isn't really geared towards younger readers, unlike some xenofiction like Warriors for example. It deals with more mature topics, so I don't recommend this to children.
So, yeah, for a starting-off point, it's not bad, just decent. I like it, but not enough to give it a lot of stars.
Rating: 3.25/5
No comments:
Post a Comment