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mazzeroo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Cursing and Homophobia
Minor: Sexual content
chalkletters's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
medium-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? No
4.0
Growing up, one of the stories my mum would tell me was of Anne McCaffrey’s white dragon, a special dragon that hatched and imprinted on a young boy who hadn’t expected such an honour. It’s why, when I first encountered Norbert in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, I told Mum that she had to read it, because it had a dragon! I had that exact same feeling in The Black Coast, when an undergrown dragon is dropped (almost literally) into a character’s lap. Mum would’ve loved it.
Mike Brooks’ dragons are far more varied than most. Not only do the dragons come in different colours, but there are huge herbivores with tree-trunk legs and smaller carnivores with wicked razor claws, as well as the usual fire-breathing beasts of legend. This, and the fact they’re mostly feathered, suggests that ‘dragon’ might be an in-universe term for 'dinosaur’. (Which doesn’t make it any less magical that they can be tamed and ridden by humans.)
If you wanted to boil The Black Coast down to a ten-second elevator pitch, you could start with 'fantasy but with dinosaurs’, though it wouldn’t do the writing justice. Mike Brooks provides something for almost any kind of fantasy fan: there’s castles and honour for Robin Hobb fans, a criminal underworld for lovers of Locke Lamora and perspective-hopping plus a willingness to kill off important characters if you haven’t had enough of that in A Song of Ice and Fire.
Despite keeping a lot of different balls in the air, Mike Brooks manages to bring almost all the subplots to a satisfying place, while still leaving tantalising glimpses of what’s to come. The world and characters feel alive and the reader gets the sense that Mike Brooks knows what he’s building up to. The handling of perspective characters working against the heroes was particularly effective, with a special shoutout to Rikkut Fireheart for being extremely unpleasant, misguided but somehow still compelling.
I’d thoroughly recommend The Black Coast to fantasy fans, and will definitely be following up on the rest of the series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Animal death, Suicide, Death of parent, and Violence
Minor: Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, and Homophobia
oliverlang's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-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
5.0
I loved it! Immaculate world building. The nuances of cultural differences and language was spectacular. Everything from the description of the sky to being within the throws of battle was well written, descriptive and gripping. I'm really looking forward to reading the second and third books.
"It was a murky morning. The sun had probably just about hauled itself over the horizon behind the clouds that rolled in overnight, but at the moment was doing about as much work as the rest of Black Keep "
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, War, Grief, Sexual content, Confinement, Death, Biphobia, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Self harm
jupiter2932's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Homophobia
Moderate: Sexism
linguisticali's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
For the most part I really enjoyed this, despite its flaws. It was ambitious and I really wish it had been less so. Too many threads and too many POV characters for it to be coherent and satisfying, and there were a lot of scenes that could have been cut short or cut entirely. The language, gender and society stuff was interesting, but fantasy homophobia will never not be tedious. Memorable enough for 3.5 stars but I won't rush to pick up the sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content
annailles's review
adventurous
hopeful
fast-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? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Violence
Minor: Homophobia and Sexism
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