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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
dark
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
AWESOME!!! AMAZING!!! Incredible story telling, believable characters. Speaks to the child in you that used to play imaginary games of shape-shifting into animals. What I love is the final 5 pages. When the dust settles and you are thinking to yourself, "okay, what next?" Adrian just sets the next story up beautiful, making you want to buy the next book to find out more. Next stop... Waterstones.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Review first published on my blog The Fictional Reader
I’ll start by saying that there’s a theme for the books I’m reviewing today. I thought they were “meh”. They weren’t bad, not at all. But they weren’t great either. There was nothing special to grab my attention, to be honest.
This story had so much potential. The shifter clans of different animals are so intriguing! Especially the history. The tigers who used to rule the Northern Crown on the World, until the Wolves took over. There are different Wolf-clans, each with their own chieftain, but there is one ruling person in general. There are Snakes, Bears, Coyotes, etc. It’s really interesting, especially because they all have some traits we associate with those animals as well. I do think that a lot of the potential here wasn’t fulfilled.
I wasn’t really attached to any of the characters. I thought Broken Axe was really intriguing, and he’s the biggest reason I kept reading. Maniye wasn’t a bad or boring character, I just didn’t relate to her at all. Characters are incredibly important to me because when I don’t feel attached to them, I tend to not be captivated by the plot either. That was exactly the case here. I wasn’t captivated by the story. To be honest, I felt like there was no big plot-climax. You know what I mean? I didn’t feel like this story was building up to something, and it left me with one overall question: what was the point?
Like I said, I don’t think this is a bad book. I will definitely be trying some of the author’s other works because I’ve already enjoyed one other book by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Empire in Black and Gold. But I don’t think I’ll be continuing this series. This book has quite a high average rating on Goodreads though, so you may want to try it and decide for yourself.
I’ll start by saying that there’s a theme for the books I’m reviewing today. I thought they were “meh”. They weren’t bad, not at all. But they weren’t great either. There was nothing special to grab my attention, to be honest.
This story had so much potential. The shifter clans of different animals are so intriguing! Especially the history. The tigers who used to rule the Northern Crown on the World, until the Wolves took over. There are different Wolf-clans, each with their own chieftain, but there is one ruling person in general. There are Snakes, Bears, Coyotes, etc. It’s really interesting, especially because they all have some traits we associate with those animals as well. I do think that a lot of the potential here wasn’t fulfilled.
I wasn’t really attached to any of the characters. I thought Broken Axe was really intriguing, and he’s the biggest reason I kept reading. Maniye wasn’t a bad or boring character, I just didn’t relate to her at all. Characters are incredibly important to me because when I don’t feel attached to them, I tend to not be captivated by the plot either. That was exactly the case here. I wasn’t captivated by the story. To be honest, I felt like there was no big plot-climax. You know what I mean? I didn’t feel like this story was building up to something, and it left me with one overall question: what was the point?
Like I said, I don’t think this is a bad book. I will definitely be trying some of the author’s other works because I’ve already enjoyed one other book by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Empire in Black and Gold. But I don’t think I’ll be continuing this series. This book has quite a high average rating on Goodreads though, so you may want to try it and decide for yourself.
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“It made her beautiful, as fire was beautiful even as it destroyed.”
Okay, so, it took me a shamefully long time to finish this because of how much I was liking it when I started it in May. I would say overall it had a pretty slow pace which is why I had some trouble picking the book back up. I also feel like I still don’t have a super strong grasp on the world but other than that the world-building is really original and I am as always a sucker for a map at the start of a book. I don’t know if I’ll continue but if I do I’ll probably just listen to it on audio.
I feel like there was a good offset between Maniye knowing virtually nothing and the other characters being more fleshed out with deeper backstories. I think it would have been really slow without the multiple POV’s. The final battle scene was so good too.
My favorites were probably Broken Axe (I need him bad…why would they do my man like that come on dawg ) and Loud Thunder (in a your dad’s weird hermit friend you’re strangely enamoured with as a kid type of way) and his dogs (rip Matt, sadly only one of the dogs live in this one😢).
Okay, so, it took me a shamefully long time to finish this because of how much I was liking it when I started it in May. I would say overall it had a pretty slow pace which is why I had some trouble picking the book back up. I also feel like I still don’t have a super strong grasp on the world but other than that the world-building is really original and I am as always a sucker for a map at the start of a book. I don’t know if I’ll continue but if I do I’ll probably just listen to it on audio.
I feel like there was a good offset between Maniye knowing virtually nothing and the other characters being more fleshed out with deeper backstories. I think it would have been really slow without the multiple POV’s. The final battle scene was so good too.
My favorites were probably Broken Axe (I need him bad…
Good book. Got suckered in by the most beautiful book cover I've ever seen, but the story didn't disappoint mind. Lots of twists and turns and definitely good enough to purchase book two! 👍 thumbs up for this
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is one of my all time favourite books. I have been struggling to find a book I really cannot put down but this one drew me in and refused to let me go. The world building was incredible and I loved every page.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Rape, Violence