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The Crow: The Third Book of Pellinor (Pellinor Series) Review

This book follows The Riddle in the Pellinor series. However, this book doesn't follow chronologically; the story is parallel to that of the Riddle. Where in The Riddle Maerad's story is told, in The Crow Hem's story unfolds. This is a good and a not-so-good thing.

I really looked forward to and enjoyed the chance to experience Hem's story. We travel to a new city and are exposed to other cultures of Edil-Amarandh and get to learn about Hem himself. We also meet a new character, Irc the white crow (as seen on the cover) who is enormously endearing. Being an animal lover I always appreciate our non-human characters in fantasies.

I found it mildly annoying that we had to go back in time to see Hem's story which coincides with Maerad's. We made big leaps in plot during The Riddle and I felt that there wasn't much that was new or unexpected in The Crow. I could feel the strings of the author pushing and pulling the plot to set everything up for when everything converges in The Singing (the fourth and final book).

That being said, The crow really stands out from the previous two books. This installment is much darker. There are heavy themes and also many gruesome images. It really gives you the sense that things are starting to get very serious. I liked that; it made everything seem that much more real. I highly recommend this series!

The Crow: The Third Book of Pellinor (Pellinor Series) Feature

ISBN13: 9780763641467
Condition: New
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The Crow: The Third Book of Pellinor (Pellinor Series) Overview

As this enthralling epic nears its climax, the young heroine’s brother discovers his own hidden gift — and the role he must play in battling the Dark.

Hem is a weary orphan whose struggle for survival ends when he is reunited with his lost sister, Maerad. But Maerad has a destiny to fulfill, and Hem is sent to the golden city of Turbansk, where he learns the ways of the Bards and befriends a mysterious white crow. When the forces of the Dark threaten, Hem flees with his protector, Saliman, and an orphan girl named Zelika to join the Light’s resistance forces. It is there that Hem has a vision and learns that he, too, has a part to play in Maerad’s quest to solve the Riddle of the Treesong. As THE CROW continues the epic tale begun with THE NAMING and THE RIDDLE, Alison Croggon creates a world of astounding beauty overshadowed by a terrifying darkness, a world where Maerad and Hem must prepare to wage their final battle for the Light.

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Customer Reviews

Mediocre, and Extremely Depressing - Mago - United States
I'm not one to usually write a review but I thought I'd best for others like myself. While the author writes very well and I enjoy her use of English, the third book in the series is abjectly depressing. My concerns with the series lay more along the lines of content and character development so bear that in mind. I'm also going briefly discuss specific circumstances so MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOWING. ;-)

Some of the male leads are rather blasè. I have a hard time differentiating between the previous male lead (Cadvan from the first two books) and Saliman. Aside from appearance and a few quirks, they about the same. Both are so entirely insensitive and rather... dull witted it is humorous. (Cadvan in particular suffered from the dull-witted disease frequently.) There is a heavy dose of moral ambivalence present throughout the entire series. To me this started coming to a head when Zelika (young orphaned girl) is struck by a male bard. Saliman just sits there and Hem is the one to attend to her. (As a personal comment on this, I found this scene to be disgusting. Particularly since the bards involved were supposedly "good".) Shortly after being struck, suddenly the children desire to be trained by the same inhuman thug bard that hit the girl. (At this point I only continued the book to finish it. The characters were already unbelievable.) Things of course did not improve as the book continued with both Hem and Zelika becoming spies. Rather than get into more specifics I'll just issue a warning to others like myself who get emotionally embroiled in a story: there isn't a happy ending for Zelika. Themes of depression, self-doubt, moral ambivalence, and very dark themes permeate the series up to this point.

Another major concern are the similarities with the Lord of the Rings. Many elements are so closely similar it's almost laughable. I don't mind authors building off of LOTR, but a little more difference would be preferred. (Annar!? Please. I can come up with a better name that isn't so similar myself.) Either place the setting in Arda directly or at least attempt a little more dissimilarity.

I'm grateful I lost interest about halfway through otherwise by the end I would have been too depressed to express in words. I certainly won't be finishing the series as this book has managed to cure me of any further curiosity.

Pretty Good - Jessica Magolnick - North Carolina
Took a little while to get here but was wonderful once it did. Great condition!

Holy cow - Noir - Golden State
I just couldn't believe that this book was that great. At first, I was disappointed that it was written in Hem's point of view and not Maerad. However, I was proven wrong. The way that the author wrote this, I just couldn't put the book down till I was half way through. I was captivated by the voice and the very sad story near the end. I can't wait to get my hands on the fourth book of Pellinor.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Nov 08, 2010 14:15:06

Children's Books

Monday, November 8, 2010