Water Mirror Thoughts

Other than one voice of dissent (who is welcome to rebut this with his/her own contributions), everyone basically enjoyed The Water Mirror. I'll share a few of my thoughts (including some of the contributions from our discussion that have influenced me):

In general, this is a highly original book. It's not every day that you have an alternate Venice with huge-mouthed mermaids and a water goddess protecting the besieged city from the mummy armies of the Egyptian Empire. Not to mention the envoys from Hell who show up seeking alliances and have hidden schemes. Oh, and the flying stone lions. Lots of original elements all woven nicely together into a fleshed-out story. Yet still with a well-developed main character to center the tale. Very enjoyable.

The one aspect that annoyed me with it's fantasy cliche was that main character being "chosen" for great things from birth. I much more enjoy ordinary heroes, like the hobbits in Tolkien, who haven't been fated for greatness but instead find something special within themselves. Still, it's kind of intriguing since we don't know if she's been chosen by the Flowing Queen, Hell, or both.

This really shouldn't be called the first book in a series, but the first part of a longer book. There's not even an attempt at a resolution and the entire book is just the set-up for the bigger story to come. I want to read the rest of that story, but would have liked a bit more substance from this one.

Overall, though, I'm glad to have read it. Does anyone else have thoughts to share?

(And it looks like the second book--The Stone Light--is set to be released December 26.)