Not quite as good as the first one but still a great read. I can't wait to see where it goes next. ( )

I'm not too happy with this series. There are aspects to it that are very attractive and make me want to read all the way through to the end. I think the author has created a fascinating world filled with fascinating characters and stories. I just wish that he would get out of the way and let the characters and stories come through.

One problem is that there are plenty of hints that there is a lot more going on than meets the eye, but very few of these hints get born out into fulfilled promises. Another problem with this book (that I don't remember from book one [b:Lamentation|3531469|Lamentation (Psalms of Isaak, #1)|Ken Scholes|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312029311s/3531469.jpg|3573263]) is that the fascinating characters spend too much time ruminating, instead of being fascinating. This slows things down even more.

My biggest issue, and I'm still deciding if this is insurmountable, is that there are too many logic problems with the world. This is supposed to be a big world, with many different peoples and thousands of years of history. Yet, they all speak pretty much the same language, using the same stale metaphors in both speaking and the aforementioned ruminating, using the same stagnated (lack of) technology. This cannot be. With that much history, there must be scientific and technological breakthroughs every now and again. There must be bigger cultural differences than the ones we have been shown.

And maybe that's the problem. The author doesn't want to show us. But if there has been some sort of brake put on advancement, at least give us more than a hint of it. Show us the real consequences. Show us the rebels. Show us this big world you've invented. I'm getting impatient. ( )

This is the most frustrating series, I swear. The good stuff is so good! I feel like there's a lot of boring filler but everything goes (good) INSANE in the last 50 pages. I can't wait to read the next one, to which I'm sure I'll have the same reaction.

Btw, namedropping the title about 12 times: a little much. ( )

Lamentation, in my opinion, was a little rough to start off, but by the end you knew you had a decent tale you were dealing with. Certainly a good show for a debut. Canticle takes that precipice that Lamentation left off on and just hurls you into the stratosphere. It feels like you are constantly pumped up on scout magicks as the novel races across the landscape of the Nine Lands (and a glimpse beyond). Book two of the arc is largely a book of reveals, where our perception of the characters doesn't change much (much), but what we know of the world around them grows a lot. While its hard to say whether its critical to have read this book yet for its reveals versus the scope of the series, if you enjoyed Lamentation, really, how could you not read it? (plus, *I* gave it 4 stars. Surely that counts for something!) ( )

Hmmmm, I'm going to say good book but there were definitely parts that I did.not.like...at all! However, I can't get into those "parts" because it would give away too much of the book. When I finished, I understood why he wrote it this way.... ( )