The Court of the Air

So Many Plot Twists the Characters Are Lost

I started this book but had to drop it within about 50 pages. I give the author credit for trying to be exciting, but there's a point where a plot twist every couple of pages just gets confusing and overwhelming. There are quite frankly too many cities, too many worlds, and they are all moving too quickly to get to know any of them or any of the characters. Since I'm a big fan of character growth and development, this just wasn't worth finishing for me. For those who want something a little more plot dense and interesting, I'd definitely recommend His Dark Materials over this any day. In fact, I think a lot of the ideas in this book are based off of that series.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Not unrewarding but a bit plain

Molly Templar is a spit-fire and an indomitable soul, it means little that she has been orphaned into poverty, forced to work under less than pleasant circumstances and is now being supervised by a greedy overseer named Beadle. Only her orphanage was not always such a dour place. For the early part of Molly¿s life the orphanage matron was a kind, selfless woman whose reforms straightened out the disadvantaged system of her charges lives. She was a beacon of hope and Molly is a product of this. Molly can read, she knows her history and is a quick thinker to all things, especially mechanical. Molly Templar is un-humbled by her lowly placement in life, having been taught to raise herself above the shambles and lost souls, making diamonds from the dust she was given. However knowledge does give her haughty pride and all the opinions a well educated street urchin could want. She has been dismissed from every position she has been assigned and really, no one believes she will amount to anything good since she cannot even hold down a job to feed herself. Still, Molly looks only ahead in just a few short months she too will be given the vote and her freedom from forced menial labors. And at first her next contract doesn¿t seem anything less than posh. Only things quickly dissolve from this placement. Molly witnesses a vile murder at her new employ and worse, the target of that killer appears to be her! She runs back to the only safety she has ever known, the orphanage. Only that safety is now a haunting desecration, the halls are empty save for ghosts. Everyone Molly has ever called friend has been murdered here or kidnapped! Worse, there is a killer on the loose and he¿s looking for Molly Templar. ~~~ Oliver Brooks grew up in the country, running errands for his reclusive uncle. He lives a life of ease, save for the constant requirement of his signature on a fey-registry and the suspicious avoidance of all around him. Oliver¿s parents died in a tragic accident, of which he was the only survivor. His parent¿s balloon crashed into a mystical curtain that kills all who enter its folds ¿ kills all, except for Oliver who 6 years after the accident wanders out of the curtain completely unscathed! No community can abide those touched by the fey those infected mutate, attain magical powers and twist into crazed things, go on rampages and must be controlled or locked away for the safety of all. Or even more insidious, they remain completely normal like good-natured Oliver Brooks, no doubt a ticking time-bomb waiting to obliterate his community. So Oliver is forced to sign the registry, watched and interrogated by a cruel fey-magisterial observer, a man bent on seeing the day Oliver finally snaps. Oliver tries to remain positive despite the ostracizing lot of his life and the haunting dreams of the Whisperer which plague him. If those dreams, a sure sign of the fey where known, he¿d be locked up! So when his uncle sends him to meet an old acquaintance of not only his but Oliver¿s parents, Oliver is keen to learn what secret business this man is on. That business turns tragic as this man is nothing he says he is a rouge and a spy and those hunting him have killed Oliver¿s uncle and framed him for the murder! Oliver is forced to flee with this strange emissary of The Court of the Air. Only who really wants Oliver Brooks dead, and why? ~~~ While I enjoyed reading this book, there are so many cheap angles that sometimes I wanted to put it down. Stephen Hunt is a creative and visual writer who I felt often cheapened up his story by adding literal names 'just because a character is blue or nasty doesn¿t mean you name them Mr. Blue or Mr. Nasty!'. He often gives his readers credit and hence, more interest in his story with arcane but fluid references, building complex and creative governmental and religious structures, adding color and mystery into each caste of his society both human and otherwise. The reader is given slight tutorials to follow

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Complicated

This is a very good book, not one you can easily read in small bits tho. The Characters and plot are developed in a very unique way. This author's writing style is different and takes some getting used to but the book is diffidently worth the effort.

depends on what you like

This book wasn't as easy for me to get into as I expected. Took awhile to get used to the world, and I wasn't as impressed. I loved the Steam Men and there part, but wasn't as crazy about the rest. I felt it was too surface and didn't really get into the characters although the outline of the characters was very interesting. The story was exciting, but I was able to put it down easy. Not sure if I will go back to the author or keep the book. Fun for readers of sci-fi and fantasy, but not the best ever.

the most unique book i have ever read

the cover got my attention, and the synopsis on the back made me interested. the story itself kept me turning each page. i loved it.

exciting fantasy thriller

Molly Templar is driving orphanage owner Beadle crazy because he wants to make a profit on her before she is freed next year but the teen has been fired four times in four months. Desperate the Beadle apprentices her to a major employer of women, Damson Emma Fairburn owner of Fairburn and Jarndyce brothel. At her new employment location, Molly sees a brutal murder that scares her she races back to the orphanage for safety, but instead finds a mass murder site every orphan and some of the adults are dead. Molly flees again, but knows she has no haven as she was the target in both places because she has information that several people are plotting against the state. --- Oliver Brooks was contented living with his merchant uncle until someone murdered his relative and framed the lad as the killer. Fey special agents try to kill Oliver to insure he cannot defend himself. A Court of the Air agent helps Oliver flee. When he and Molly meet, they team up to battle an ancient evil considered dead since it had not reappeared in a thousand years defeated back then this malevolence now has strong cold-blooded partners. --- THE COURT OF THE AIR places Charles Dickens like orphans in an exciting fantasy thriller. Readers will admire the unsinkable Molly who plans to make something of herself once she is freed of the Beadle Oliver is the naive one as his uncle somewhat pampered him. On the run on the ground and in the air, they make a dynamic duo whose allies would sacrifice either of them in a heartbeat if they did not need him for their cause, preventing the return of nasty ancient gods. This is a fun fast paced frenzy as Molly and Oliver quickly learn to depend on one another as the good guys and the bad guys could not care less about the mean only the end matters. --- Harriet Klausner

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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