Book review: Dragons of Dorcastle

content/reviews/books/dragons-of-dorcastle.md

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+title = "The Dragons of Dorcastle -  Jack Campbell"
+date = 2021-04-13
+
+[taxonomies]
+tags = ["books", "reviews", "books:2021", "fantasy", "jack campbell", 
+"the pillars of reality", "published:2014"]
++++
+
+[GoodReads Summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23379245-the-dragons-of-dorcastle):
+For centuries, the two Great Guilds have controlled the world of Dematr. The
+Mechanics and the Mages have been bitter rivals, agreeing only on the need to
+keep the world they rule from changing. But now a Storm approaches, one that
+could sweep away everything that humans have built. Only one person has any
+chance of uniting enough of the world behind her to stop the Storm, but the
+Great Guilds and many others will stop at nothing to defeat her.
+
+<!-- more -->
+
+{{ stars(stars=4) }}
+
+Before anything else, let me say that I really enjoyed the way the book was
+written: It is accessible, easy to read, easy to digest and, well, fun.
+
+I also enjoyed the setting: A place where magic exists, but in which technology
+wasn't ignored due this. So you have pistols, rifles, even cell phones, but
+people that can make things burn and go through walls with the power of their
+minds.
+
+What I didn't like, though, was the way the relationship between the two main
+characters evolve. It feels a bit forced and not something that develops
+naturally. Also, one of the characters seem only to mirror the other (there are
+reasons for this in the story, which I'm trying really hard not to spoil), so
+it's not like they are really feeling that, they are more like mirror the
+feelings of the other -- which, again, feels forced.
+
+Also, I have some trouble with the pacing. You're reading a tense discussion,
+with blatant disregard of one of the character's opinion, and then it cuts to
+some memory or internal thought for 3 or 4 paragraphs, and then you return to
+the same discussion. I see no problem in things like when the plot is just slow,
+so you can give some character building at that point, but in the middle of a
+heated discussion? The whole tension just breaks and it feels like the
+discussion is not that tense anyway -- so, no repercussions, which isn't what
+actually happens.
+
+But is isn't a bad book, and it sets a whole universe for exploration in the
+next books.