- Reviewed by Mr Austro-Hungarian
Foreword:
Before I get into my review, I realise that this has been a long time coming,
and I am very sorry that this has been the case – I have had some university
commitments that originally kept me from divulging my opinions on The Indigo
Spell, and then I had slight trouble getting my head around reviewing
a book.
My Mother Dearest (I will only refer to my Mum as this
within this review, which I am sure she will love me for – NO. MORE.
HANGERS!!!!) writes such exquisite reviews, as does her blog partner, Cindi. When
you have never reviewed before, it is a rather daunting task to have even by
itself, but having a high standard to live up to when you are a perfectionist
is positively frightening!
…and then I realised that my reviews will probably just ramble psychotically,
which is exactly how I communicate in everyday life.
So here I am, trying to do what Mother Dearest does so very well. Again, thank
you for waiting this long for my review of The Indigo Spell, and I hope that
the psychotic ramble I produce is eloquent enough to explain my viewpoints.
Kindest Regards,
D
Introduction:
I have long been a reader of the series, and had read all of the Vampire
Academy novels, so the year-long wait to see The Indigo Spell come out was
agonising. Then, when I knew of its release date, it was much anticipated. (I
was, literally, counting the days.)
Then…it came out - dun dun DUN! But even then, I had to wait a few more days
for a hardcover copy to arrive, as my Mother Dearest had ordered it on her
beloved Kevin – and if she has not told you her Kindle’s name by now…well, you
now know.
(Aside: Every time I hear that name, I instantly think of
Kevin the Mailman from Just Shoot Me!)
(Aside II: My Mother Dearest would have rather resort to cannibalism or sent me
as a tribute to the 75th Annual Hunger Games than give up Kevin for
me to read this book. Seriously, I would loathe if anything happened to Kevin
other than old age…)
But I waited, and as soon as I saw the indigo cover with Sydney on it I pounced
and started ravaging the book to pieces - the word “reading” would’ve been a
euphemism. And, as soon as it came, it was finished…and then I cried.
All that is left is to review. Now, when I review, I often invent the reviewing
game I play called:
A Novel:
What’s Hot, What’s Not & Who Wants to Make D Hate Them and Hit Them over
the Head with a Frying Pan.
(But use the acronym WHWNWWTMDHTHTOTHFP – it just rolls off
the tongue more easily, I think.)
So let us begin:
What’s
Not So Hot:
Predictability:
1. The
Ending:
Richelle Mead has a huge tendency to give us, as readers,
some nice twists at the end of her books, just to throw us off the trail of
anything we might preconceive when we’re given the initial information. I like
it when authors do this, as I never like to know what will happen when I am
absorbed into a book.
However, what I find with some of Richelle Mead’s books is that these plot
twists can lead to another predicament, which I like to call “The Predictable
Twist”.
What I mean by this is that – as I have read quite a few of her books – her
formula for how a book is going to end can get quite predictable. This might,
however, be my viewpoint only, as others may be pleasantly surprised by what is
to come.
But when I read this book, my reaction at the ending was basically summed up by
this:
2. The overall predictability:
This might sound like a slight nit-pick, as we humans can
often guess what is going to happen within a Young Adult book (it is like we
are wired to sniff out the best possible ending, and then naturally draw our
conclusions that this is what will happen within a YA series.)
But the slight problem I had with TIS is that nothing stood out as something I couldn’t have guessed. It followed
along a path like a pre-programmed electronic device, doing - by and large - exactly what it
should.
Should this be a major issue with the book? Of course not. As I stated in the
beginning of this sub-section, a YA book – to my way of thinking – will always
have a certain predictability to it, and what TIS has lost in originality it
makes up for in quality of writing and technical precision. Besides, very
rarely do Young Adult books surprise me. (I have only read one that did, but I
cannot think of the book for the life of me…)
However, for something to truly make its mark, I prefer it to have a splice of
je ne sais quoi – something completely different to a viewpoint I went in with,
if you will.
3. Repetition of old storylines:
Again, this is nothing new when it comes to a Richelle Mead
book. I went through Vampire Academy having re-learnt about spirit, which is
certain type of magic a mortal vampire can wield, over.
…and over.
…and over.
…and over. (About…1257 times? It seems like much more, trust me.)
Of course I kid about the number and the severity, but when you have read the
series, and the series the spin-off came from, it gets rather tedious when
things are being re-explained.
This is not entirely a bad thing, however. If you are a new reader, it actually
is quite a nice thing to have, and the reason why I think I am not as annoyed
as I am is because the repetition is done well.
Why is it done well? Two reasons:
1. The depth: As I talked about at the
end of the paragraph before last. This is important, as you should look at it
from this way. If you are going to assume your audience are so devoted to your
book they have inhaled the previous book in the series for breakfast every single
day from release date to next release date, they will know the content of the
series like they know how to breathe. (Which they do, as they just inhaled the
book when eating their regular meals).
If this is the case, then give them no dated information.
Alternatively, if you are assuming that your reader has not
read a book since it came out, or that you might have a big influx of new
readers, give them some old information.
So, if you are going to do the alternative? Do it right, which
brings me to:
2: Give them enough information to
feel like they have read the previous books, but not too much as to bog down the whole series.
Richelle Mead does this last point well enough; I cannot complain too much. But
I have put it as a slight criticism, just because I feel it can make your
reading experience slightly less enjoyable when you just really want to get
to the juicy end of the book.
Who
Wants To Make D Hate Them and Hit Them Over The Head with a Frying Pan?
1. Marcus:
Truly, I think this man is the sole reason I developed this
sub-section’s title; hence, I will now commemorate that honour with:
Seriously – he is the only character in this book I could go on a rant about,
or just say “ugh”, and I would get the point across in either fashion.
He is a ladies’ man (and he comes armed with winks, knee-buckling croons,
guitars and his
flirting-at-every-girl-who-might-have-a-pulse attitude). But hey, he’s also got
mystery around him - he is that mysterious, Sydney guesses everything he is
about in about five seconds.
Then, he gives her vital information and plans to smuggle her away! (This point
in the book would probably contain heavy drinking and STI’s. But hey, it’s Marcus
– he could smile away that STI for
you!)
But if you couldn’t feel my dislike radiating through that last paragraph –
which may or may not irrational – I will try to explain why I dislike him:
He has nothing going for him. From having henchmen that fight his initial battle;
to his grand ideas (which suck so hard-core that when they try to act upon getting
to those ideas, it would take roughly a million years to achieve what they
wanted); to having no dialogue that doesn’t
involve being smarmy; to being gutless and overly infuriating; to almost
stopping something from happening that I would have personally killed him for,
he just…
…ugh.
(P.S: See what I did there?)
(Disclaimer: He did what he needed to do
in the book, I guess…but I still do not like his character. I feel he was the
least three-dimensional character within the story.)
2. Zoe:
It’s not like she plays any big part of the bloody book –
but when she does, she just has to make me want to stab
her in the eye with a fork.
She just annoys me. The end.
(Disclaimer: I am aware that I have neither
evidence, nor justification for my said feelings above. I could have gone into
that she has no faith in Sydney; she is the epitome of a mindless drone and has quite possibly thrown herself
into my hate list for actions I cannot discuss. (It will give away a crucial
point in the book.)
…but I just like my hatred to be succinct sometimes, you know?
Who
is Actually Worthy of Not Assaulting?
1. Sydney:
Sydney, Sydney, Sydney – you are named after my city, and
you are truly unique…in such an austere way.
She surprises me sometimes; the way Richelle Mead writes her, you would think that
you’d rather watch paint dry, or even…watch a golf tournament (shudders) than read about her life. But she can be
very funny, in a dry sort of way, and she is a good member of Team Sadrian (Sydney
and Adrian, naturally) – they work well, which is what I want for Adrian.
Sydney is also quite strong – I think this is aided by her ability to be
incredibly stubborn and strong willed. She is no Rose, but she holds her own.
Overall, Sydney keeps adding a few layers every time I read her, which I do
very much like. She makes the story good, if not a little too pedestrian at
times. N
ow, when I said that she is not entirely boring, I was
stating the truth. However, the only criticism I have with Sydney is that she
can sometimes be summed up by a segment from SpongeBob:
“When your friends describe you, do they use words like “dull” and “drab”?”
“Don’t forget platitudinous!”
I am sorry Sydney, I do quite like you, with your regimented ways and beige ensembles, but you do have a tendency to have boring viewpoints.
But, in a way, this is not an entirely negative criticism. I personally think it has to do with the way Sydney views life; this makes her character more believable – boring is very much who she is and what she was moulded to be, and as much as I think it detracts slightly from one aspect of the book, I will relent and say that it makes up or it within the character development side of the book.
I also think this is why I made the statement that she is
not boring – by being boring, she is a unique character and is, therefore, not
boring?
(Disclaimer: I know, that last statement was positively brain-frying:
(I hope you get what I meant.)
2. Adrian:
Oh Adrian, I could spend all night (actually, it is 5 past 4
in the morning, so that is probably a lie) prattling on about how incredible
you are and how you make the story much, much better.
But I won’t, as I think this review is getting very long.
I like Adrian for his humour, his sarcasm, his incredibly liberal style, his
ability to make anyone feel wonderful or creeped out, his artistic flair and
his good-hearted nature.
But most importantly – I like him because he has made Sydney a much better
person. And even though I didn’t say it within the “Sydney” domain, I like that
she has given him personal growth as well. This aspect of the character
interactions is what I enjoy most – they feed off of each other, as a good
pairing should, and it makes the undercurrent of the story have a tangible aspect
that everyone can relate to.
To keep these sub-sections less verbose – the long story short answer is: I
like Adrian for pretty much everything.
3. Mrs. Terwilliger:
Oh yes, the resident crazy cat lady that The Simpsons could
be proud of, Mrs. Terwilliger becomes very much a central character within TIS,
and even though I very much did not have an opinion of her in the first two
books, she has grown on me.
She is whimsical, but very aware of everything around her and what is needed to
make Sydney do her job properly. She has a great ability to make me cringe
whenever she comes up with a vague explanation, or an unusual order that
catches Sydney off guard. But I also know that there is a logical explanation
for her actions, no matter how much I cringe at the time.
(P.S: Does anyone else picture her as Joan Cusack in a house full of boxes that
explode cats and herbs?)
4. Angeline:
“Oh, Angeline…”
This basically sums up everything Angeline Dawes ever does.
Ever.
She infuriates me to no end; then she makes up for it by giving us the best
entertainment within the series – from knocking out men with stereo equipment
to perplexingly hilarious piñatas, she is not content on being the wallflower
of the book.
I like that – it is why she is one of my favourite characters.
Non-entities:
1. Eddie:
Oh Eddie, you’re a good guy, from Vampire Academy to Indigo Spell, that never changes. You have some rough patches in this book, and you handled them with dignity and class. You always are on the job, and you are very good at it. You are pleasant to pretty much everyone you see. And you never, ever complain.
But that has always been you – and, whilst I like you, you never change. I guess that is a good thing, but…I think this sub-section suits him, as it also does for:
2. Jill:
Jill – the girl that, ultimately, keeps this series running;
without her, there would have been no happy ending for Vampire Academy, and
there be no Bloodlines.
So how is it that she is a non-entity?
She seemed to be downgraded to secondary character status completely in this
book, in my opinion. She was always on the precipice, but always had something
going on that warranted our attention to her in the first two books.
But, in The Indigo Spell, she didn’t have much of a role to play – her
storyline was set-up from the previous book, and almost touched in with Sydney
just to make sure she hadn’t, you know, died an unknown death.
(Disclaimer: If ever Eddie and Jill were
to eventually happen as a couple, it would be fitting – nice, but uninteresting
people that adore each other and eventually go to live in a cottage, where they
have many Dhampir children. Jill sits there knitting, while Eddie sits on a
rocking chair and watches Jill endlessly, making sure she is never harmed.
Let us hope that is
never a plot twist that Richelle Mead throws in, and we get stuck with that
scenario for a long time, because I just might yawn myself into oblivion.)
What’s
Hot:
1. Pies n’ Stuff:
This was my favourite, if not random, plot in the book. Yes,
I am being perfectly earnest – when Adrian announced that Sydney, Mrs.
Terwilliger and him were going to an pie shop, and Sydney basically said:
“It’s called Pies N’ Stuff? I’m more worried about the ‘Stuff’ part”
I lost it. I don’t know why, but that was a golden name for a pie shop, in my
opinion.
2. The Piñata:
I am purposely not giving away what this scenario is, why it came about, nor
the reasoning behind it, but it made me laugh up a storm.
I had also heard Mother Dearest laugh incessantly at part of the book, and I
wondered what it was. Because she read it ahead of me, I also thought to myself
that, when I got to that part, would I agree with her and laugh a lot?
It was The Piñata.
(Disclaimer: Mother Dearest and I are very alike – we are both quite insane, so
it was only natural that we both laugh a lot at this juncture of the book. You
may not find it as funny, as you may be saner than us. Shhhh – don’t tell the
voices in my head that I said that!)
3. Overall direction of book and content:
The last book within the series (The Golden Lily) left me
feeling slightly blasé about where the series was being directed – I knew, by
and large, that it would focus on Sydney and her growing ability to perform
magic, but I also had a strong feeling that it was, yet again, going to largely
focus on her incredibly stubborn nature and her internal struggle to do what is
right by her people.
(Which I will never get – it’s not like The Borg The Alchemist’s have
given her anything in return, except for a regimented lifestyle and a life of
beige, because we know how exciting beige can be!)
But the book surprised me in the sense that, whilst it had that train of
thought, it wasn’t as exaggerated as I initially thought it would be. Instead,
it focused upon bringing the series into new, exciting – if not a little
infuriating at times – territories.
The content also largely follows my viewpoint of the direction. I thought that
it would get too heavily bogged down by Sydney’s inability to be able to
actually think for herself and not be a snark whenever something new is thrown
her way be able to let go and do what is best for herself, not for ‘the
collective’.
But, again, whilst is it very much evident that Sydney has this viewpoint, she
also has the ability to look past this, which makes for a slightly faster
reading experience and a better paced series.
4. Character development (by and large):
Mostly the characters within The Indigo Spell do Richelle
Mead’s bidding – they serve a purpose (or sometimes, non-purpose) very well,
and they fit within the story. (Trust me, nothing irks me more than – what I
feel – are misplaced characters within a story.)
The characters have their quirks, their points of view, their dysfunctions,
their good and bad sides, and are – above all – human. (Well – metaphorically
speaking, of course – some actually aren’t human, but we still put some
of the human archetype onto them. I mean, what is worse than a vampiric Mary
Sue/Gary Stu?)
Conclusion:
The funny thing is that, when I look back upon this review, it sounds
like I have a lot of gripes with the story. I actually don’t – I think it is
the best book in the series by quite a way; it serves as nice vessel to see the
metamorphosis that will take place from the first word of the series until the
very last word. It has some very funny moments, has a lot of charms and is
quite well written.
I would highly recommend Vampire Academy to anyone that I think would remotely
enjoy the genre – and whilst I do not have as high an opinion of the Bloodlines
series, the books are slowly but surely making their mark in the Young Adult
genre.
So, for this, I would rate it four stars.
(Or, as I would put it, one hit over the head with a frying pan.)
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