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Who recommends: Julie, Preeti, Lynn, Danielle
Who discommends: Shelley
Sequel to MAGE HEART - I finished Jane Routley's trade pb, FIRE ANGELS. I liked it, but surprisingly enough (considering that this one actually had an HEA ending), not as much as MAGE HEART. Dion the Mage is a very engaging character. She's powerful, but also young and sometimes unsure and almost always horny. In this book she meets her big long lost family a guy to love.
The drawback to this story is that it tries for a grander scale. War between countries, reclaiming of homelands, etc. But all the political stuff felt very rushed and fast-paced. Not executed very successfuly. I liked the smaller and more exclusively personal story in MAGE HEART.--Preeti
After trying and trying I am going to admit I don't care for Jane Routley's books. Neither MAGEHEART nor FIRE ANGELS works for me - I kept trying to like them, because the premise is something I would normally find enthralling, but it is a no go for me.
It took me awhile to figure out why - I relate to books first throught the character and then to the rest of a work as a whole. I have to like or at least be able to accept the main characters to be truely caught by the book. Occasionally, my liking of the main characters will even result in my loving what I will freely admit is an otherwise horrible book, and it has also resulted in my not liking books others rave about (I have never cared for either EMMA or WUTHERING HEIGHTS - mainly because I find the protagonists so irritating that I am ready to throw the books across the room by page 75). The basic fact with Jane Routley's books - Dion is annoying (IMHO).--Shelley
Then I read MAGE HEART. Is this where I whine? I even have FIRE ANGELS and started into it but put it down again. We start MAGE HEART with a girl - okay, she's young, I'll forgive her - the only girl at Mage school, so I'm looking for feeling alone in the world, not sure of goals. And we want to emply her to use personal protection spell for the mistress of the reigning duke of the realm. And we have a bit of cultural prejudice - we have arrogant mages who want things their own way, we have a fairly naive girl who has very little aim in life and even less motivation.
Okay, she does change in the book but who was it that made the comment about FIRE ANGELS? I really didn't want to spend a lot of time with her. The writing was well done, but I was left with the sense - like with McIntyre's THE MOON AND THE SUN - that a mood was being woven that I somehow just missed. So I don't think I'm going to try FIRE ANGELS again.--Barbara
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