Thom reviewed Firestarter by Tara Sim
Review of 'Firestarter' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
A conclusion that had to collect too many threads, introducing another few along the way. For me this resulted in a series ending that was just okay.
Without spoilers, I can say that a lot of the directions this took felt very arbitrary - almost as if the author wrote herself into a corner, so to speak. I didn't have a good feel for the power of the main characters - could Danny control time threads or not? If blood was so powerful, why couldn't the villains exert the same sort of control? Just what were they trying to do with Big Ben - control it? Just what is the level of steampunk technology here? - it seems too modern at times. Another reviewer pointed out that the ending dragged a lot, and I agree.
Ending on a positive note, I still think the author's creation is really interesting. Time …
A conclusion that had to collect too many threads, introducing another few along the way. For me this resulted in a series ending that was just okay.
Without spoilers, I can say that a lot of the directions this took felt very arbitrary - almost as if the author wrote herself into a corner, so to speak. I didn't have a good feel for the power of the main characters - could Danny control time threads or not? If blood was so powerful, why couldn't the villains exert the same sort of control? Just what were they trying to do with Big Ben - control it? Just what is the level of steampunk technology here? - it seems too modern at times. Another reviewer pointed out that the ending dragged a lot, and I agree.
Ending on a positive note, I still think the author's creation is really interesting. Time is a heck of a tricky subject to factor into work, and Danny's fugue towards the end is well written. I wanted to see a bit more structure and a few less factions - and a lot less torture. I'm glad I read the series and want to try something else from this author. Overall series rating rounds to 3 stars - I liked it.