dorinlazar's reviews
539 reviews

While people would usually expect from a book with this title a simple hack and slash space book, I knew from the start what I was getting into. And it surprised me.
The book surprised be with the clarity of though, with the complex moral issues that it tackles, with the alternative governance system that seems quite an interesting idea.
So you find plenty of mindful stuff in this book, as well as quite some good portion of bug squashing action. It really is an interesting mix which I recommend to anyone :)

It was definitely one of the weakest of the series of not the weakest: as style, it is quite childish, and it was (together with the next two books, if I recall correctly) meant as a children's book. I only recommend reading this book if you want to cover the whole HP universe, but it's definitely not the best book of the lot.

The style and the tone of Year 2 of 7 of Harry Potter universe is no different than that of year 1. Still written for infantile audiences, the tone is optimistic, the fight with evil is really short and the solutions are pulled out of a hat (literally).

One would be surprised at the evolution of Rowling's writing. The story gets some depth, and it's not as naive as the first two books; I am, however, disappointed to see that the most complex character of the series, prof. Snape, is still a caricature more than anything else. It's obvious that by this time, JKR didn't plan for the end very well, therefore the lack of depth in some important characters. It is interesting, however, to see the build-up of romantic relationships between the kids; unlike the Snape character, this seemed to be well thought in advance.

This book marks the beginning of the departure from the naive perspective of the first two books. There are consequences, there are tangible evils like the dementors. Some of the details left out from the previous books are explained, including the imprisonment of Hagrid.

I think this is a first step from children's books to young adult fantastic story. The change in tone is timid, and breakouts of naivety will baffle the young adult while the outburst of depth may be unnoticeable for children. But this is no longer a children's book, just a naive young adult story.

The fourth book in the legend of Drizzt should be the first book you read, because unlike the rest of the books the writing of The Crystal Shard is unimpressive to say the least. The author shows his great skill at following each details of a fight, but, besides the introductory 'book' (which is well written, and gives a good insight on style used for the rest of the Legend of Drizzt series) the rest of the text feels sloppy and naïve. However, it's a book that one must read; it is the proper introduction to Drizzt Do'Urden and Artemis Entreri, and a classic that spawned these wonderful characters cannot be skipped.