I started A Crown for Cold Silver during a month of intense busyness, reading 15 minutes one day, half an hour another. The book started strong, with five different groups all engaged in life-or-death struggles in interesting and different situations. I wanted to know more and see what connected these people, what would happen next, but it was hard when reading a dribble here and a drabble there. Finally I had an evening with several hours and sat down to enjoy it.
Unfortunately, the strong beginning peters out. We see how the characters will connect, what may eventually bring them together, who may oppose whom. But none of the characters is likable or interesting enough to keep going. About half way through my evening I found myself distracted, wanting to do just about anything aside from finishing the novel.
Too Much Back Story
The world in A Crown for Cold Silver has a complex geo-political back story, something that usually fascinates me and keeps me going. A challenge with building a new fantasy world in a novel is moving the story along with action and character development at the same time as explaining the back story and helping the reader understand the context. This is essential for a novel that has geo-political/religious/cultural conflicts and it is where author Alex Marshall fails to deliver.
A Crown for Cold Silver has plenty of action, lots and lots of action, and some character development. I liked the characters less he more I learned about them, not a good sign. None of the countries or religious groups were attractive either; the Crimson Empire apparently used assassination and regicide and duels to transfer power and the main religious group was sadistic.
Just Not Interesting
The combination of overly-complex and un-illuminated fantasy world with unlikable characters and what felt like a pointless plot (revenge no matter the cost) left me feeling “so what”. In fact I could not quite finish the book even though it was from NetGalley. (I’ve managed to get through some real stinkers but this one was just too bad to read.)
Maps might have helped but I think the main problems are the unlikable people and the fact the actions take place in a world that we know nothing about.
1 Star
I received this novel from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
Leave a Reply