Author: Laura Gallego Garcia

Title: Memorias de Idhún. La Resistencia (Chronicles of Idhun - The Resistance ... or something like that.)

Published: 2004 (in FIN, 2010)

Translated into Finnish by: Satu Ekman

Translation title: Idhunin Kronikat - Vastarinta

 

6pm

I just started with the book, and already I'm feeling like, "Hmmm, I may not like this - but let's give it a chance."

Chronicles of Idhun is a story about a magical planet named Idhun that is overtaken by a wizard, Ashran. The new ruler killed the people who opposed him, as well as the planet's last dragons and unicorns. Some people of Idhun escaped to our Earth, but Ashran's minions are after them... But there is a resistance group, small but persistent, that tries to gather all the Idhunians together to conquer back their planet. The core of the resistance movement is the warrior prince Alsan and wizard Shal, both refugees from their home planet.

Two children of the Earth are drawn into this fight against Ashran, a mysterious school girl Victoria who wants to study magic, and a confused 13-year-old Jack who wishes to know why Ashran killed his parents.

 

The setting sounds interesting, and the cover looks awesome - and that's why I took the book from the library shelf. But when I proceeded through the very first pages, I was like "......No. No."

I'm not sure how this would look like in the original language, but in Finnish this looks very ... clumsy, perhaps. There are a lot of clichés, too many exclamation marks every now and then, and... nothing breathtakingly surprising. The story starts with Jack rushing back home from school, and all day long he has had this horrible thought that something bad is about to happen. When he comes home, his dog is not there to meet up with him at the gate, he finds his father dead in the living-room, and upstairs he meets this evil-looking man who has just killed his mother as well. Jack rushes back down and meets a boy of about his own age, a boy that he immediately doesn't like.

To start a fantasy book like this, it looks like a bit... rushy, I think. Someone may disagree, but this is humbly my opinion. And you also need to remember I've read hundreds of books by now, most of them fantasy, and I'm not usually judging fantasy novels like this from the very first pages.

Maybe I'm becoming too picky.

 

13.10.2010 9pm

This book is extraordinarly frustrating. There are very short parts that I enjoy, but then mostly this makes my face go like >____< you know. God, all the clichés and obvious events and characters.... Some parts even remind me of Twilight, like when Jack and Victoria are staring into each other's eyes and they feel a connection or something, OR after Victoria's been chased by Kirtash - a minion of Ashran - they huggle and it sounds like as if they weren't both under 14 but older.

Frustratiiiiiiiiiing.

 

17.10.2010 4pm

Ah, few more pages and I'm done with this book. I must say my feelings haven't changed much. This is both frustrating and interesting, and now I sort of realized why this is so frustrating: the author started this book when she was only fifteen, so that explains some of the childishness of it... It makes me wonder what people would think of my own novel (of ever published), so I'm sort of ashamed and then hoping I could fare better. Which, of course, is selfish, right? Hah. Anyway.

I still find the love-triangle drama of the book very very clichéish, but there has been few surprises me that pleased me. The truth about Victoria's grandmother, the truth about Victoria herself, and about Jack... Quite startling, though something that should've been obvious... but it wasn't, and that's awesome! You know. Heh.

I'll update this again, once I've truly finished with the book. But now, soon off for a walk with my grandmother... Autumn break starts next Friday, awesome!

 

27.10.2010 3pm

Ok, so I actually finished with this on 17th, but I've been so busy the last few days that I didn't have the time to come and update this blog, I'm sorry.

But anyway. I struggled through this book and I'm glad it's finally over. Such uninspiring book with almost no surprises. That's all I have to say, really.

 

Started: Oct 7, 2010

Finished: Oct 17, 2010

Recommended for:   Fans of the author's other works. Children or child-minded people. Romantics.