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This was a fairly quick read, centering around two main characters Ki & Vandien, who were reasonably well drawn. The story was interesting enough to encourage me to try the next in the series but I didn't find it particularly gripping.
Like it happened a long time ago with , I was smitten from the first pages by Megan Lindholm's flowing writing, even if her debut work isn't quite as chiseled as her later works, written under the pseudonym Robin Hobb.Although much of the story is rather slow paced (a thing that might bore some readers), it's a work of great beauty and tragedy, packed with emotions and emanating raw feelings, but also humour and wits. “And you might have asked. It would have cost you only a small bit of
Am having a bit of a Robin Hobb withdrawal, having now caught up with her newest series. So decided to try some of her books under the Megan Lindholm pseudonym. I liked this first entry into the Windsinger series and have already reserved the next book. The world-building is top-notch, and the characters and plot are involving.
2.5/5 There were way too many flashbacks for my liking and actually not that much happening BUT all that has to do with emotions and feelings was great, Lindholm/Hobb is definitely queen of my emotions
I love Robin Hobb, but I wouldn't recommend this as a first read for anyone new to her work. Compared to the rich characterisation and deftly interwoven plots of her work as Hobb, Lindholm, in this novel anyway, reads more like a writing workshop offering. The characters are flat, the drama seems contrived. The setting is interesting and well described, but the world doesn't feel as expansive and diverse as the six duchies and the cursed shores of her work as Hobb. I would recommend reading the
This mesmerizing tale of love, adventure and magic is beautifully written and a truly timeless classic. I was a huge fan of Robin Hobb’s work when she used to write novels as Megan Lindholm, such as ‘The Ki and Vandien Quartet’ which introduced me to a great writer. I certainly feel that Harpy’s Flight projects the qualities of a great fantasy writer and those raw traits that the author possessed before the creation of epics (such as the Farseer Trilogy in which Fitz Chivalry was born). This ric...
...Harpy's Flight is not Lindholm's best novel but it is still an impressive read. The emptiness Ki experiences after the loss of her family and the violence she unleashes on their killers is heartbreaking. Whatever the technical flaws of this novel, on an emotional level is works very well. It is very clear that there is a lot more to discover about this world in the later three volumes. I think I saw a few more imperfections in the novel the second time around but I am still glad to have my co...
Not as good as her books under Robin Hobb but still a very enjoyable and interesting read.
The book is ok, but nowhere near as brilliant as her other work, the Fitz/Fool novels etc. Still, worth reading while waiting for Fitz and the Fool Part 3 to come out.
I truly enjoyed this. The characters believable and the plot well-drawn. I started reading some Megan Lindholm (a.k.a.) Robin Hobb's short stories in a couple of anthologies and really enjoyed them. They led me to this book, and I'm glad the author has many titles to her name. Wonderful fantasy!
Re-read this novel a few years ago and still loved it. The beginning, where Ki is climbing up the cliff to exact vengeance on the harpies who murdered her family is absolutely stunning and gut wrenchingly emotional.
This is the debut of Megan Lindholm (best known as Robin Hobb). Although it’s a bit clumsy and doesn’t have the fluency her later books have, you can see Fitz’ world and Realms of the Elderlings series blooming from here.The style is the same – character driven stories, this one more introspective and descriptive than all others I read. I don’t think many will like it too much because of its slow pace, but I did – I missed her warm words. And by all means, it’s a truly sweet, tragic but also hop...
A rather interesting fantasy novel that is blessedly free of the tired Tolkien tropes that so bedeviled the genre until well into the '80s.Ki is a sympathetic, albeit not particularly likable, protagonist, who has a very well-established and consistent character that provides ample justification and explanation for her actions.Vandien is much more of a cipher until close to the end of the book—we are not entirely sure of his motivations and loyalties because we only see him through the lens of K...
I would never have picked this up were it not for Book Club as I've always avoided Fantasy. However, I have to say this wasn't as bad as I feared. Fantasy is often lumped in with Sci-Fi as a genre, but I didn't find this book confusing or annoying as I do with most Science Fiction. I understood what was going on most of the time (in stark contrast to Sci-Fi) and how the book was trying to portray Ki's new-found grief. Likening Sven's family's devotion to harpies to that of organised religion was...
The first chapter of this book gripped me. I love the creative freedom that Hobb has when she writes as Megan. I read this book before I read anything by her as Hobb and I enjoy both styles of writing although I find that as Hobb she is more restricted and rather depressing at the end of each trilogy.The fact that Ki isn't a young, doe-eyed thing as so many fantasy protagonists HAVE to be these days to be enjoyable. I feel that Hobb put a lot of her own pain, joy and experiences into this series...
Harpy's Flight was written before the books that Lindholm wrote as Robin Hobb. This is evident in several ways -- the quality of the writing and plotting, the less rich characterisation, the fact that some characters seem almost like test runs for later ones (Rhesus from this book for Restart in Liveships, for example). Her potential also shows in the brightly described world, in the descriptions of cultures and rites, in the quality of the writing and the way it can grip you even when the first...
Not impressed, I don't think I'll be continuing this series. It doesn't intrigue me. It reads fast, but I couldn't like the characters and I thought the storyline to be quite dull. I'll stick to reading the books Margaret Lindholm wrote under her pseudonym Robin Hobb.
Some would argue that this book by Megan Lindholm is not up to the standard of her work as Robin Hobb, and in some ways I agree. The world is not as fleshed out as it could be, but it still feels complete, with a lot of mystery and magic left to be explored. This is still, however, a gut-wrenching, emotionally charged story with characters that feel real and interesting, and that is what I love about Hobb. The world feels larger than the characters and the events they are involved in. There is a...
I love world-building, and this is an excellent world. Five sentient races, each of whom is very different from each other, with difficulties in reconciling such and working together.This book (while it read as a stand-alone, there are apparently others set in the world) focuses on the relationships between the humans and the harpies. Some humans hate them; some worship them. What happens when these collide? The harpies are well-drawn, though- and this might be a spoiler- in the end it looks lik...
Although I fiercely love Robin Hobb's books, it took me a long time to try a Megan Lindholm novel. I was surprised to discover that this was her first book, since so many elements of her writing as Robin Hobb seemed strongly present in this book (a visceral phsysicality, emotionally devastating, intense descriptions of cold and privation). This book only pales in comparison to the Farseer books. It's much better than most fantasy. I also like that it's short and wraps up the main conflict, even