I'm a Liar!

Long time no post! Sorry for that - I've been spending my evenings knitting away on a Doctor Who scarf, and I've also been spending less time on the bus, so I've been short-changing myself on reading time.  I'm trying to be better about it! I'm already nearly halfway through my 'next' read - I lied when I said I would post before starting my next book. I felt the need to ruminate a bit before I commited any of my feelings about The Iron Codex to writing, which was a good decision.  I was too emotionally invested in the story to look at it clearly when I first finished it.

It took me 24 days to finish "The Mirrored Shard", wrapping it up late Saturday evening.  I admit, I struggled with my desire not to finish this story. Knowing it was the last in the trilogy, strongly suspecting it would have an unpleasant ending, I simply did not want to finish with Aoife.  I like her.  A little naive at times, but always courageous and supremely gutsy. She reminds me of Frodo Baggins, in that I watch them suffer and hope for a positive outcome, knowing there will never really be a 'happy ending'.  There is too much darkness in their lives for things to ever return to how they were - and in Aoife's case, let's be honest, it certainly wasn't all that good to begin with!

I loved this series, but not as much as I thought I would. The ending was a bit of a let down, although to be fair the story is so large and complex there really wasn't another way to end it.  The Iron Codex is an adventure quest, which by its very nature is a 'coming of age' story, much as I detest that phrase (it just sounds so twee), and by the end of this novel Aoife has embraced her destiny, if you will.  She has grown up. The rest of the story, what happens after "The End", is not a part of this narrative.  I understand that. My disappointment comes from liking the character so much that I want to know what happens next. As problems go, this is a good one for a story to have!

I'm certain that fans of H.P. Lovecraft will enjoy this series on a whole other level, but my lack of Lovecraftian knowledge didn't really effect my overall enjoyment.  There were times when I knew that I was missing a reference to something, and a couple of things I googled, but it wasn't too intrusive. I would definitely recommend it for any Lovecraft fans!

Moving on, I wanted to catch up with Jeff Lindsay's 'Dexter' series, but I couldn't remember which title was the last I'd read, so I've started over again at the beginning.  I probably won't read them back to back, but they are a nice palate cleanser between fantasy series!

Happy reading!