Christian Nadeau

I thought this novel would end up on one of my mental “best of” lists when I first started reading. Nadeau's writing is as sharp as the daggers one of his characters expertly wields, and his fantasy world is inviting. He has a firm grasp of psychology, battle tactics (both small- and large-scale), diplomatic strategies, and so on – all the heavier concepts that give a fantasy novel depth.

Unfortunately, as the tale went on, I was wearied by the endless cast of characters. Every time I thought I had a handle on someone, we'd jump to another scene with a person I had only a dim memory of. It's reminiscent of the hefty number of viewpoints in the “Game of Thrones” series, but in GOT, we usually get beefy chapters with a lot happening, so the characters can develop in our minds. In “Seeds of Hatred,” things bounce around so much it's difficult to understand the characters. Oftentimes a character's section is superficial, with them having a largely uneventful conversation with an underling, or staring out of a window and plotting.

But, as my four star rating indicates, there's still a lot to like about this novel. The characters Nadeau spends the most time on are fantastic (the time spent, of course, having a lot to do with them being fantastic), such as Alex, Dorn, and Marac. All three of these characters seem to be one-dimensional at first, but they slowly evolve until they become realistic and memorable.

The characters of Elyas and Soren are worth mentioning, since they're important to the plot, but I found these two to be less interesting than the ones above. Elyas's transformation from bookworm to bloodsucking mage/shapeshifter/badass should've been a satisfying beginning to a revenge angle, and it has its macabre moments, but as he lost his basic humanity, so too did he lose my sympathy. Part of the problem is that he's mostly by himself in the latter part of the novel, and it's hard to develop someone when they don't have another character to play off of. Soren is too much of a bleeding heart, and, frankly, a wimp – I thought for sure his grizzled soldiers would turn on him, but they remain loyal, even though he's the least inspiring character in the novel.

The plot itself concerns the machinations of various factions, mainly the Brotherhood, the Lightbearers, the Darkbearers, and the Fey. If those weren't enough, there are disagreements within these groups, or outright schisms, and there are shadowy players pulling strings from afar, which means you can't paint any group with a broad brush. Oh, there's a group of disgruntled nobles as well...and the Lutherians, rebels who've broken away from the Brotherhood...and the mysterious Scions...and...you get the point. It's convoluted, and there's going to be a lot of fighting, backstabbing, shifting allegiances, and pure chaos as this multifaceted conflict develops.

But, again, the novel goes overboard, and gives us too many factions like it gives us too many characters. If you love convoluted stories, where you need an organizational chart to keep track of everyone, this novel will satisfy your craving for the labyrinthine. Myself, I prefer simpler fare.

If Nadeau trimmed down his tale, it'd be, as I said, a “best of.” The story as it is has plenty of action, some intriguing characters, strong prose, and enough moral ambiguity to make it more than a “defeat the Dark Lord” plot. If this author adopts a leaner, meaner writing style for subsequent books, I'll gladly read them.… (altro)