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alexiarightwritingwords's review against another edition
3.0
Hi! Welcome to my review of The Exalting by Dan Allen!
The spoiler-free review :
The Exalting follows two narratives, Dana and Jet.
Dana is a fierce, stubborn adept (able to urge animals to follow her will) who feels like she doesn’t belong in her city, Norr. When a harrowing series of events leads Dana to a man who risked his life to smuggle a bloodstone to Norr, her adventure begins. Bloodstones are forbidden in Norr but others are after her to kill her for the stone. We follow Dana as she travels with the stone, trying to find the right home for it and struggling to resist its power.
Jet is a Believer Marine, who joined the Believers after the enemy, ASP, murdered his mother. We follow his story as he and his team struggle to race ahead of ASP in order to save other worlds they intend to blow up.
All in all, this book pleasantly surprised me. If you’re looking for a book with fantastic world-building, this is the book for you! Dan Allen created a vivid world that’s as fascinating as our own. New creatures, new customs, new people- this book had it all.
The review full of spoilers:
Good underlying themes/messages :
-Dana resists giving in to ultimate power
-Dana does what’s right by returning the bloodstone to Shoul Falls even though she really wants to keep it for herself.
-Jet doesn’t give up; he keeps trying and coming up with new plans even though they face near impossible odds.
The themes I mentioned above were great in their own right but I feel like I’m stretching it a bit…? I didn’t really notice any other prominent themes.
Half a star for this catagory.
Fantastic Worldbuilding :
I’m glad I have a catagory for this because, WOW! Just by reading, you can tell the author did so much thinking and planning when it came to the world-building. There are new creatures that aren’t too weird for me to accept, people with a different physical build but not stereotypical, complex religions and cultures and I’m just sitting here like, WHAT!
The cultures are complex and interesting, their traditions are interesting and their taboos are fascinating. Dan Allen did a great job with his world-building!
A whole star for this catagory!
Realistic characters and growth:
Ah… We arrive at the catagory where most of my problems began.
I don’t know if you know this but there is nothing I hate more in a book than insta-love.
Nothing.
And when Dana met Ryke, that’s where it began to get a little insta-lovey.
And I don’t know if it’s just me but it felt like the story really glossed over the fact that Dana actually murdered a stranger. The death of the kazen is mentioned later in the story but it’s mentioned without any guilt.
And Dana is a strong, intelligent young woman. She has a brain but it bothered me immensely that she trusted strangers so easily and called them friends after such a short period of time.
Or maybe I’m just not the easily trusting type😂
On the other hand, I liked Jet. His troublemaker attitude and obvious crush on Monique made his chapters entertaining.
Half a star for this catagory.
Interesting story:
The story was interesting for me but Dana’s narrative just seemed like it stretched out forever. I feel like there could have been a few things skipped or made shorter.
I enjoyed Jet’s chapters the most. Some of his remarks made me smile and the characters in his story were entertaining.
Dana’s chapters were redeemed by the few plot twists the author threw in but they were far and few in between.
Half a star for this catagory.
Writing Style was beautiful/ Easy to read:
Dan Allen’s writing style wasn’t really beautiful or contained prose; it was more blunt and straight to the point.
Most times, I appreciate that because too much prose can be irritating but when scenes become emotional, straight-to-the-point writing makes the scene not as emotion-packed as it needed to be. There were a few scenes I felt were so much more emotional than I realized all because of the writing.
The writing style wasn’t bad; it just didn’t pack the emotional punch it the story needed.
Half a star for this catagory.
Overall:
3.5 stars out of 5
Really not bad for a first novel in a series. The ending leaves me wondering what’s going to happen next and I probably will want to read the next book.
Thank you for reading my review!
*I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The spoiler-free review :
The Exalting follows two narratives, Dana and Jet.
Dana is a fierce, stubborn adept (able to urge animals to follow her will) who feels like she doesn’t belong in her city, Norr. When a harrowing series of events leads Dana to a man who risked his life to smuggle a bloodstone to Norr, her adventure begins. Bloodstones are forbidden in Norr but others are after her to kill her for the stone. We follow Dana as she travels with the stone, trying to find the right home for it and struggling to resist its power.
Jet is a Believer Marine, who joined the Believers after the enemy, ASP, murdered his mother. We follow his story as he and his team struggle to race ahead of ASP in order to save other worlds they intend to blow up.
All in all, this book pleasantly surprised me. If you’re looking for a book with fantastic world-building, this is the book for you! Dan Allen created a vivid world that’s as fascinating as our own. New creatures, new customs, new people- this book had it all.
The review full of spoilers:
Spoiler
I warned you.Good underlying themes/messages :
-Dana resists giving in to ultimate power
-Dana does what’s right by returning the bloodstone to Shoul Falls even though she really wants to keep it for herself.
-Jet doesn’t give up; he keeps trying and coming up with new plans even though they face near impossible odds.
The themes I mentioned above were great in their own right but I feel like I’m stretching it a bit…? I didn’t really notice any other prominent themes.
Half a star for this catagory.
Fantastic Worldbuilding :
I’m glad I have a catagory for this because, WOW! Just by reading, you can tell the author did so much thinking and planning when it came to the world-building. There are new creatures that aren’t too weird for me to accept, people with a different physical build but not stereotypical, complex religions and cultures and I’m just sitting here like, WHAT!
The cultures are complex and interesting, their traditions are interesting and their taboos are fascinating. Dan Allen did a great job with his world-building!
A whole star for this catagory!
Realistic characters and growth:
Ah… We arrive at the catagory where most of my problems began.
I don’t know if you know this but there is nothing I hate more in a book than insta-love.
Nothing.
And when Dana met Ryke, that’s where it began to get a little insta-lovey.
And I don’t know if it’s just me but it felt like the story really glossed over the fact that Dana actually murdered a stranger. The death of the kazen is mentioned later in the story but it’s mentioned without any guilt.
And Dana is a strong, intelligent young woman. She has a brain but it bothered me immensely that she trusted strangers so easily and called them friends after such a short period of time.
Or maybe I’m just not the easily trusting type😂
On the other hand, I liked Jet. His troublemaker attitude and obvious crush on Monique made his chapters entertaining.
Half a star for this catagory.
Interesting story:
The story was interesting for me but Dana’s narrative just seemed like it stretched out forever. I feel like there could have been a few things skipped or made shorter.
I enjoyed Jet’s chapters the most. Some of his remarks made me smile and the characters in his story were entertaining.
Dana’s chapters were redeemed by the few plot twists the author threw in but they were far and few in between.
Half a star for this catagory.
Writing Style was beautiful/ Easy to read:
Dan Allen’s writing style wasn’t really beautiful or contained prose; it was more blunt and straight to the point.
Most times, I appreciate that because too much prose can be irritating but when scenes become emotional, straight-to-the-point writing makes the scene not as emotion-packed as it needed to be. There were a few scenes I felt were so much more emotional than I realized all because of the writing.
The writing style wasn’t bad; it just didn’t pack the emotional punch it the story needed.
Half a star for this catagory.
Overall:
3.5 stars out of 5
Really not bad for a first novel in a series. The ending leaves me wondering what’s going to happen next and I probably will want to read the next book.
Thank you for reading my review!
*I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
ericlklein's review against another edition
5.0
If you mix Piers Anthony's Apprentice Adapt series (not the sequel) with a touch of military sci-fi this is what you would get.
Great world(s) building, characters with believable and relatable motivations and actions.
The story mostly follows two very different people towards their inevitable meeting. The first is a young woman,Dana, who feels she doesn't belong where her powers are not only not appreciated, but feared. The second is Jet, a space marine. The story alternates between their two worlds at a pace that is easy to follow even as the character's lives seem to speed up.
I am glad I got a chance to read it and can't wait to see what else Dan comes up with for these characters and world.
Great world(s) building, characters with believable and relatable motivations and actions.
The story mostly follows two very different people towards their inevitable meeting. The first is a young woman,Dana, who feels she doesn't belong where her powers are not only not appreciated, but feared. The second is Jet, a space marine. The story alternates between their two worlds at a pace that is easy to follow even as the character's lives seem to speed up.
I am glad I got a chance to read it and can't wait to see what else Dan comes up with for these characters and world.
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