XLeptodactylous

Quite possibly the most infuriating book I have ever read. The storyline is immense and one of the most original I have ever come across, but the way it is written is pretty poor. There are a few typos, which I won't blame entirely on the author, but there are also grammatical errors and sentence structures that are a bit iffy (and I'm not talking about the way Spook speaks).

In terms of the storyline; such a wonderful thing to behold. Creative, indulgent, quite amazing. Such originality, it is a shame that it fell into the mind of someone who can't quite tell a story in as a captivating way as one would hope for. It seemed to drag on without much happening in stages, and at other it went too fast to even understand what was happening. The pace was off, though intriguing.

The characters were another problematic area. A mixed batch of unusual and quite annoying characters mixed up in one, some of whom were rather two-dimensional at points, and others just plain annoying. Personal preference, perhaps, but isn't that what reading is all about?

I don't dismiss this series completely. I would like to know what happens, if only to know. Sanderson reminds me of Ian Irvine slightly, with the way he writes, and I hope, like I found with Irvine's books, that they improve with each one of the series. I was disappointed slightly, because with such a brilliant storyline, you would think that perhaps more care could have been taken with everything else.

Tempted to give it three stars, but really it was too much of a disappointment for three. The book cover is enough to give it another star - but that hardly counts.