Reviews

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Wow. What a conclusion. This was a fantastic, if a little bloated, final entry littered with heartbreaks, excellent action scenes, and so many satisfying moments.

This book is all action, beginning to end. It is nicely sliced into three neat acts, with space given between the action scenes to breathe a little and feel the outcome with the characters. I feel like Gwynne using less POVs than his previous series really helped with this as well.

Although it didn’t have the slow detail that made the first book, A Time of Dread, great, I didn’t feel like the characters were at a standstill either. The characters all have defined arcs, and it was satisfying for me as a reader to see those arcs come to their conclusions.

The

deaths were extremely heartbreaking, especially Keld and Bleda. The grief felt for Keld spurred the other characters on and ran palpably through the rest of the book beautifully. Bleda’s death was so shocking coming after he succeeded in killing Jin. I definitely did not see it coming. It was wonderfully done.

The return of Asroth and Meical was brilliant. Because Asroth is given more time to grow in the Banished Lands during this series when compared to the last, his character felt a little less one-note. I still think for the baddest of bad guys he was far too lenient on some of the actions his captains took. Jin should’ve been gauntleted for her actions throughout the whole novel. Meical was brilliant, his whole redemption arc was perfectly done.

Gwynne’s villains really improved in this series as a whole in this series compared to his last. They felt three-dimensional in a way the villains in his last series did not. It made reading the villain POVs enjoyable and not a chore.

The areas where I feel this book falls a little short was near the end.

The first battle at Ripa quickly followed by the Order’s final stand seemed to cheapen them both. It felt like Gwynne only included the defeat at Ripa to justify the overwhelming victory he delivers for the good guys at the end. It felt a little unnecessary.

There are many little moments like this where there were so many little actions scenes that they did start to feel a little too much at points.

Gwynne also has so many little phrases he uses over and over. So many arrows and spears sprouting, unnecessary italicised naming of characters to really hammer in descriptions.

Overall, a very good book in a very good series. Very much enjoyed, and recommended.

motionsickgayboy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

3.5

itsfreelancer's review against another edition

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5.0

This is how I like my fantasy. lots of travelling and epic battles.

epaulsenernst's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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