Review: Dragonwitch

Dragonwitch by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

 I had picked up this book a while back and tried to read it, but life happened and I had to put it down. I wish I had finished it sooner, because then I would have remembered more from Starflower, but oh well.

 I have one word for this book: haphazard. I wish I didn't have to say that about this book, seeing as the previous four in the series were well-done in terms of writing, story, and characters. However, I really struggled with Dragonwitch, and it didn't live up to the expectations I had gained from the four first entries of Goldstone Wood. As I normally do with my lengthier reviews, I'll break my review down into characters, plot, setting, and writing.

Characters

 Most of the characters in Dragonwitch came across to me as pretentious. I liked Alistair and Leta the most, and then it would be the Chronicler and Mouse. Eanrin...I just hate Eanrin, and I'll explain why a little later.

All the characters had a roundness to them, but most of their actions were heavily plot-driven. The Chronicler learns he's part of a huge prophecy, and even though he doesn't want to believe it, he goes along with it anyway. It does turn out well for him in the end, but for some reason his triumph didn't have much ring to it. Stengl tried to write it dramatically, but it didn't fit his character, and, like I mentioned before, was just pretentious when he started acting like a leader. He also had a lot of dues ex machina going for him towards the end with being able to suddenly wield Halisa. Part of the whole story was him getting over himself as a dwarf, but apparently he couldn't do it on his own and needed a magical, unexplained way to finish the job. Yes, I know he had some Faerie help, but that still doesn't explain what happened in the spoiler I mentioned.

 Alistair and Leta needed more of a spotlight. Once the story turned its focus onto the Chronicler, they seemed to fade into the background. Alistair's big shining moment was when he entered the cave with Asha to look for the Chronicler...and he had dues ex machina done on him too. I liked him, but I think he should have remained dead after the Black Dog attacked him and threw him down the pit. It would have given me greater catharsis as a reader.

 I really liked Leta's part of the story. She stayed behind at Castle Gaheris, which was overrun with goblins, and was forced by Corgar to read through the library. I found her part of the story, her trials and fears and triumphs, to be the most realistic in the entire story, and I found the trouble with the goblins more interesting than what Alistair and his crew were running into, although I thought the whole goddess-cult worshiping thing was interesting too.

 Mouse was...interesting, I guess, but also a little frustrating. I couldn't guess her intentions part of the time, but she was ripped between loyalty to friends and her religion. I felt that Stengl more brushed the surface of this struggle, though.

 Corgar was a wonderful villain. Though most of his kind may be perceived as stupid, he most certainly is not. He knows how to use words and actions to manipulate people, and while he is one of the villains, he has a bitter background. He's given a chance to find true beauty, but his hatred overwhelms any desire for beauty, and he remains a villain.

The Dragonwitch was the main villain. Like all the dragons in Goldstone Wood, she was very, very creepy. It looked like she was always on fire, and near the end of the story when she's blowing her fuse, persay, fire and lava is literally pouring out of her tortured humanoid body. Most of her story was told in excerpts at the start of each chapter, which I didn't like, but I'll get to that later.

Eanrin. The author gives a lot of unnecessary spotlight to this character, and it's very annoying. Not because she's trying to write about him, but because of his character traits. He is whiny, bigoted, and a total jerk. Once in awhile he imparts words of wisdom to other characters, but his flightiness overwhelms the miniscule part of his brain that's polite and reasonable. Eanrin complains about having to help fulfill prophecy while trying to save Imraldera, dragging Alistair, Mouse, and the Chronicler along. He's always calling them “mortal,” as if he constantly has to remind them that he's immortal. It got to the point where his character became not just cruelly condescending to the other characters, but to me as a reader as well.

 (I just want to insert something here as a writer. When you tell the reader that a character is something, like an immortal Faerie, you rarely have to repeat it throughout the rest of the story unless it's truly relevant to plot, character development, etc. Eanrin calling his companions “mortal” over and over is like him screaming out of the book “Look, stupid-head, I'm immortal! Immortal! IMMORTAL!!!” Suddenly, I don't enjoy the story so much anymore, and I wish Eanrin never had anymore POV.)

 This character's hypocrisy is rather overwhelming too. He actually explicitly states in narrative that he's trying to be a good/better person. He never acts like he's trying, though. He talks to and treats others like garbage, even Imraldera. I understand that he's supposed to be like a cat, but he doesn't act like a free cat; he acts like a housecat, stuck in perpetual kittenhood. I used to like Eanrin. I liked him in the first book, probably because he didn't talk so much and he wasn't a main focus. After Heartless, he became more and more annoying, and Dragonwitch tipped the scale for me. I hope Eanrin dies at some point in the Tales of Goldstone Wood series. I really do.

  Plot

 This is part of where the “haphazard” comes in. The plot is told through several POVs, and I think that ruined the structure of the story. There was too much to tell about each character, and it got crammed into this book, albeit a fairly long book.

 The main plot lines are that of the Chronicler, Leta, Alistair, and Mouse. Alistair's spotlight faded into the background, which is unfortunate, as I didn't have too much a care for the Chronicler. Leta remained separate from the other characters most of the time, and had a wonderful, coherent story going on. Mouse's story was the most incoherent of all of them, and Alistair's story was tied into hers with a terribly underdeveloped love story.

 There was tons of time jumping in the story, which also weakened the story's skeleton. We had the excerpts of the Dragonwitch's story at the beginning of most of the chapters. In the second part of the book, Mouse's story jumped all over the place between her serving in the Citadel and running from it. A lot of the time jumping was unnecessary in this part, and only served to make me somewhat confused.

 There were also very awkward plot reveals that I suppose were supposed to surprise the reader, but just gave me that “whatever” feeling. When we first meet Mouse, we're under the impression that she's a boy. There's no action, word, or impression beforehand that would have given any interesting clues to the reader. Then all of a sudden, Eanrin reveals she's a girl disguised as a boy, and Alistair's like, “Oh yeah, I knew that for a long time. Derp.” What bothered me about that particular reveal is that Mouse's narrative before that had been presented with the male pronouns (him, he, his). What's wrong with the character being acknowledged as a girl from the beginning, and still pretending to be a boy before revealing herself? Very awkward, very strange.

 Another plot reveal that I thought was needless was when, in the middle of Mouse's narrative, she recalls a conversation with the Speaker revealing that the Speaker wanted her to run off. What? Before this I understood Mouse had sneaked out of the Citadel without the Speaker's permission to find Etanun's heir. The reveal made absolutely no difference to the plot or characters and their reactions to her behavior. After Eanrin, Mouse was probably the most frustrating character not because of her traits, but because of the way her story was presented. Also, the author tried putting a love story in there between Mouse and Alistair, but it just didn't work because it was underdeveloped. The most coherent and cohesive part of the story was Leta's. It was very linear, even though it was broken throughout much of the book and didn't get enough spotlight. I don't mind a little time jumping in stories, but I prefer more of a linear timeline.

  Setting

I keep hoping that someday the author will put a map in her books. This book jumps between the North Country and the southern countries, miles and miles apart. The characters travel those distances quickly via the Wood, led by the ever bit-chomping Eanrin. I've always liked the world of Goldstone Wood, and Stengl does a good job describing it. I just wish there was a map or maps so I had more reference to the distances and such.

  Writing

 This is the part where I critique the author and editor as a fellow author and editor. Because of the nature of the book's plot lines and where they're placed, the writing was much more incoherent than in previous books.

 Part of it was the time jumping. Parts that jumped back and forth I think needed their own whole sections to create a linear story. Some stories do really well with time-jumping; Dragonwitch isn't one of them. The story excerpts at the chapter beginnings were interesting, but I believe they either needed their own whole part, put together in a single story, put together with the prologue, or removed altogether. It was awkward how they tied into the final deaths of Etanun and Hri Sora, and doing so made the narrative inconsistent. Besides, for those who have read Starflower, they would already have had a good idea of the Dragonwitch's background.

 Some of the description of the characters needed work. At the beginning of the story, I got the impression that the Chronicler was an old man. He spoke and acted like one. When Leta came along and started interacting with the Chronicler, I changed my mind and decided he must be more middle-aged. Then when Ferox is dying/dies, I suddenly learn the Chronicler is Alistair's age (late teenager/young adult). I don't know if this was supposed to be another intentional reveal, but it was bewildering.

 Besides the Chronicler, I wish the other characters had better physical descriptions as well, although Eanrin's fuzzygolddenglowing physical traits were described over and over and over and over and over again....

  Conclusion

 I hate to have to give a Goldstone Wood Tale such a low rating, but it's an honest rating from both a reader and a writer. Dragonwitch isn't Anne Elisabeth Stengl's best work. I did take a good message away from this book: whatever you believe doesn't change the truth of the matter. I look forward to reading Shadow Hand, as it jumps back into the “present” timeline that flows after Heartless, and I'm excited to read about Daylily. There's something about her stern personality and leadership tendencies that draws me to her character. In order, my favorite Goldstone so far books are: Heartless, Starflower, Moonblood, Veiled Rose, Dragonwitch.