3 stars. MC flaws don’t serve the story.
There are a lot of things I like about this book. The MC is a student in a magic school. There is a test that the students have to take that determines the type of magic they unlock called The Serpent Spire. Students enter this dangerous environment and have to battle their way out through puzzles and tests.
After the MC takes the test inside the Spire, he is given an Enchanter class. This effectively makes him a crafter – making things. His father is disappointed, because he won’t be on the front lines of battle. The MC’s class traditionally makes him a support character.
So far, so good. This story reminds me a bit of Harry Potter, except the students are older. The students are mid- to late-teens.
My problem starts with the MC who has a number of personality traits that pop up often. One is that he doesn’t like to be physically touched. Even a hug by his sister will cause some type of anxiety and so it takes a lot for him to even allow any other character to hold his hand or pat him on the back. I don’t see this as hugely interfering in the story except it comes up a few times throughout the first two books.
The book tries to explain this as stemming from abuse from his father when he was younger. I guess the character is on the austism spectrum.
What I don’t get is why the author chose to include this flaw. So far, two books in, it doesn’t serve the story in any way. It doesn’t seem to stop the character much from progressing nor help the character to progress. You can remove this whole element of the books and I don’t think the book would change at all.
I’m not a fiction author, so I don’t know how people say it’s supposed to be. But if you’re going to include anything significant in a story, it has to serve the story in some way. It has to be relevant to the characters motivations, or has to help/hinder the protagonist in the pursuit of his goal.
For instance, let’s say the character has red hair. And you keep mentioning the character’s red hair anytime something happens. If the character meets someone new, the first thing they say is “Oh you have red hair!”. Or if he looks in the mirror every day, cursing his red hair. But if that fact never plays any other part in the story? Then why include it?
The other personality trait seems to be that the MC is confused as to his sexuality. He finds himself “strangely attracted” to one of the other male characters, and it seems like it might be going somewhere, and then it doesn’t. And then he’s asked about another one of the female characters, and he’s unsure about his feelings towards her.
Again, how does this serve the story? How does it hold the character back, or push the character forward?
It seems unnecessary. And now you’ve got “oh no, this guy is here. am i attracted to him? or not? I don’t know! ah!” added to the mix. There’s no purpose for it.
Sure, all main characters have to have some type of 3D personality. Not everyone is just a character sheet and nothing else. Like real people, they can’t be stereotypical and perfect. But I think there were other ways to achieve this.
The point where I stopped reading was when the MC reconnected with the guy he was supposedly attracted to. The last time he saw this guy, he literally tried to kill him. He actually almost killed the MC. So the MC sulks about this for a few months, and the next time he sees him, he welcomes him back onto his team. Now he makes it clear that he doesn’t really trust the guy, but feels forced to accept him back to improve his chances of winning.
No, no, no, no. You tried to kill me and almost succeeded? No, we are not working together under any circumstances.
In fact, why is this secondary character still there? How did he not get kicked out of school and sent back to his home country. How is he not in jail? What was the punishment here by any authority?
Which then leads to the inevitable fact that there really is no authority. The kids of the school run the school. The teachers aren’t really helpful in any way. Like in Harry Potter, I guess. The story is focused on the kids, and they seem to do whatever they want without consequences. Another turn off for me.
The final thing that I didn’t like about the book was that most of the book seems to revolve around school. Going to school, getting good grades, taking tests, mock battles with other students, rooms with tiles that change color when you step on them… teachers, libraries, tests, tests and more tests. There is no real consequences for any battle and anyone hurt or killed was instantly restored. It’s so pointless to progressing the main story.
The main story is supposedly, what happened to his brother? But nothing in the first two books advance that story too much.
The series is supposed to be xianxia – a path to immortality – but I don’t see it.
Things I liked about the book series:
- Has similarities to Harry Potter, if you liked that, you might like this
- Main Character (MC) is driven by a lifelong desire to find his brother
- MC always tries to do the right thing
- Writing seems pretty good
- Pretty quickly gets into the action in Book 1
Things that took away from it:
- MC does absolutely nothing to make a single step towards his lifelong desire to find his brother
- Similar to Harry Potter, the students are trying to solve the mystery while the adults/teachers don’t contribute much
- The MC seems underpowered; not yet showing why he’s destined to be the best
- I don’t understand anyone’s motivations
- The magic is complicated
- Why do the days of the week have different names? Tashday, Kyrsday, Fersday, Tensday… why does this book include this weird system and how does it improve the book at all?
In the end, I gave this book multiple chances to listen to it, to try to get to a stable place with it. But I could not reach that point before ending. Some people love this series. But I cannot recommend starting it. Overly complicated, underpowered MC, lack of motivation for anyone to help him, and too many things in the story that don’t pay off. Sorry.
