Reviews and Comments

I wasn't sure what to expect -- this isn't my normal type of book to read, but my grandmother's name was Ella, which is why I picked this up.

It became difficult to read around halfway through, when letters started to become scarce and the author needed to figure out how to get around that. There is some interesting foreshadowing around that time, but you need to wait until the end to see that come to fruition.

I'd not read any L.E. Modesitt before "Isolate", the first book in this series. I wasn't sure what to make of it -- it kept me interested enough to finish and then pick this one up.

Since then, I've read some of his other works, and my word, does he keep a slow, but steady, pace. Emphasis on slow, and on steady -- I never felt like we were stuck. We were always getting somewhere, but it was on the two lane state road through small towns, rather than on the six lane expressway.

That said, I'll read the next one when it comes out, if for no other reason than to finish the story with these characters in which I'm so invested. Sunk cost? Maybe, but there are worse things to do with my life than read.

I know, it's supposed to be a classic of American literature, but knowing the story (from movies and other synopses), I guess I expected a bit more character development and a lot less exposition about the whaling industry. I didn't need two dozen pages explaining why whales are actually fish and categorizing them. I did need a bit more about how Ahab came to be in the mental state he was in.

That said, when the denouement came, it came quickly and surprisingly so, which was awesome. I just wish I didn't have to wade through the intricacies of 19th century whaling to get there.