Book Review: The Naming

TITLE: The Naming
PART IN SERIES: First in the Books of Pelinor series
AUTHOR: Alison Croggan
PUBLISHED: 2002
GENRE: Young adult, fantasy, series
PREMISE: Young Maeran is a slave who is discovered by a bard. She learns she has magic and is whisked off from her life to a dangerous adventure.
MY REVIEW: I'm not sure why I couldn't get into this book. It's not bad per say...I do actually think the author did an excellent job of creating a unique fantasy world. But that's the problem. The world it's set in is about the only unique thing about it.
The rest of it is predictable as hell if you read fantasy books on a regular basis (which I do), and the characters...lack. Maerad, while likable, is pretty much a Mary Sue or one dimensional character. There wasn't much sense of her personality in the book and I got mighty tired of people going "oh my this girl has unusual gifts!" every other chapter.
It wasn't totally horrible...it was just that I've read books like it before and I didn't care enough about the characters to want to pick up the next book.
WHO SHOULD READ: fantasy fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five bards

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