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4.33 AVERAGE
4.33 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
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
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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
Probably more like 2 stars but there are redeeming qualities. Just didn’t feel connected to the characters or the world. I like the idea just not the execution
TL;DR - Glad I finished the series for sure. And it was a good ride from start to finish. Personally, there's quite a few things I would have liked done differently, but I think for a majority of readers it would be a worth it read.
Overall Rating
3.5/5
Spoilers / more detailed thoughts below:
My Rambling Thoughts about the Negatives of this book
1. North of the Boundary - until book 3, it’s clear that we’re supposed to be in the dark about which side is right. Is El trapped, or is it Shammeloth? But by making north of the boundary so bad, it becomes very clear early on that it is Shammeloth / the bad guy. Why not make the north a Utopia? Why not add more ambiguity to the characters, so Davian stops and actually for once has to really consider if Caeden is right or wrong?
2. I didn’t really get the morality discussions in the book. We end with - removing future sight means that effectively predestination and free will exist. Because you don’t know what the future is, you are making your choices freely. But because there is a divine plan, somehow even all your “free will choices” were actually just part of some grand design. The bad guys in this book were actively fighting this - they want a world where everyone is truly truly free to make their own choices. There is no grand design and everyone is allowed to operate as they so choose, rather than living in an invisible prison. But ultimately, it feels like a really big thought exercise that truly isn’t worth killing millions of people for. Why does it matter that you’re in a prison, if you can’t effectively tell you’re in a prison? The Venerate all have some personal tragedy that they’re not able to stop, and somehow they’re manipulated into seeing some higher power, who tells them that the only reason they experienced that tragedy is because it was pre-destined, and if they help him out, they’ll be able to undo it. But I didn’t really understand Raeleth’s arguments, or any of those other side points. “Do the right thing, the right way” is so pretentious, so ambiguous and so clearly disregarded again and again. All the stuff that is necessary to happen in the plot happens when they disregard that philosophy so I’m not sure what the moral takeaway was supposed to be
3. Second point on the same thing - this is all well and good for the Venerate. If I was immortal and thought everything I did was predestined, maybe I’d fight against it. But for a majority of the world, this is not an issue. It feels like at some point the Venerate lose that connection. Many of the mortals can’t see the future, can’t do anything to change it and simply exist in their day to day. So for the Venerate to just decide “we’re all in a prison and we need to do something about it” seems super messed up, especially considering how long they’ve had to consider it and how they did originally try to be good guys. Leaving their version of El trapped wouldn’t necessarily cause any harm, it just wouldn’t allow them to fix the tragedies in their past. Ironically, if they were all able to use their extended lifespans to grieve and move on, then the world would have been a better off, safer place?
4. Why does no one get any character development? Caeden changes a little, but we’ll talk about him next. Davian Wirr and Asha stay pretty consistent the whole time we see them. I would have loved a couple chapters at least of Asha being depressed about being a Shadow. I would love Wirr to have panic attacks and anxiety about using the Oathstone wrong. I want Davian to fight and rage against his future, rather than dreading but accepting it. All of these characters just accept pretty huge things and then never reexamine or consider them again.
5. Similar to the previous point - all 3 characters learn that Caeden is Tal’kamar at different times. All 3 react pretty much the same way - “that’s who he was but at least he’s trying to be different” but how do you guys know that? This dude kills whenever it’s convenient for him. It’s a very nice message, but not one that consistently makes sense in this narrative. I’ve talked about North of the boundary before. If Shammeloth hid his influence, allowed the North to be a utopia, we could have had a really nice plot where either Davian, Fessi or literally any other character goes “huh, what if Caeden was wrong?” All of these mortals just take his word at face value the entire series
6. I need to talk about this again real quick. Davian sees that Caeden kills him at the end of book 2. The Venerate, Caeden, everyone who knows what the Jha-Vett is all have aspirations of using it to change the past / future. Yet our main character just …. Accepts it. He fears it sure and Islington literally beats us over the head with “oh man im so scared to die” but never NEVER once does he even consider the possibility of changing it. All of our other characters are the same - just because other visions have come true, not a single one of them ever tries anything to change it. Asha gets a message from the future, and just … keeps it to herself? Changes absolutely nothing about what she does? The book exists in a time loop, and the characters literally never change it.
7. One final point. I would have loved to get a little more information on Negthalla. Even more than Caeden, she is truly the hero of this story in my opinion. Always working in the background, showing up with Deus Ex Machinas when needed and having her hands everywhere. I feel like her character would have been absolutely fantastic to explore more - a creature from the darklands, the one who created shapeshifting, and someone who has another beings memories and their love but a different personality. Just a chapter on WHY she still loved Tal’Kamar rather than it just being a given that she did. More thoughts on how she actually came from the Darklands and what that meant. Any sort of her character exploration - how she felt about the Lyth, the Shadows, being a shapeshifter etc would have been a great way to explore some more of the books themes.
I’m not going to talk about the goods in this book. There were a lot - a brief summary follows: 1. Good pacing / good blend of fighting and politics. We didn’t spend too much time on how xyz would react to this or that. The characters saw an issue, and moved on to a solution which was good.
2. We didn’t get the Brandon Sanderson treatment of having too many plots to resolve. While the big save from Nesk was annoying, I like that Islington clearly said he plans for that to be its own spinoff and I didn’t have to mentally track it while reading everything else.
3. It’s really cool to see time travel in a fantasy setting. The magic system was really well done, making a science out of magic
4. No useless frills or unnecessary gimmicks - no love triangles, no romantic jealousy, etc.
Overall Rating
3.5/5
Spoilers / more detailed thoughts below:
Spoiler
My Rambling Thoughts about the Negatives of this book
1. North of the Boundary - until book 3, it’s clear that we’re supposed to be in the dark about which side is right. Is El trapped, or is it Shammeloth? But by making north of the boundary so bad, it becomes very clear early on that it is Shammeloth / the bad guy. Why not make the north a Utopia? Why not add more ambiguity to the characters, so Davian stops and actually for once has to really consider if Caeden is right or wrong?
2. I didn’t really get the morality discussions in the book. We end with - removing future sight means that effectively predestination and free will exist. Because you don’t know what the future is, you are making your choices freely. But because there is a divine plan, somehow even all your “free will choices” were actually just part of some grand design. The bad guys in this book were actively fighting this - they want a world where everyone is truly truly free to make their own choices. There is no grand design and everyone is allowed to operate as they so choose, rather than living in an invisible prison. But ultimately, it feels like a really big thought exercise that truly isn’t worth killing millions of people for. Why does it matter that you’re in a prison, if you can’t effectively tell you’re in a prison? The Venerate all have some personal tragedy that they’re not able to stop, and somehow they’re manipulated into seeing some higher power, who tells them that the only reason they experienced that tragedy is because it was pre-destined, and if they help him out, they’ll be able to undo it. But I didn’t really understand Raeleth’s arguments, or any of those other side points. “Do the right thing, the right way” is so pretentious, so ambiguous and so clearly disregarded again and again. All the stuff that is necessary to happen in the plot happens when they disregard that philosophy so I’m not sure what the moral takeaway was supposed to be
3. Second point on the same thing - this is all well and good for the Venerate. If I was immortal and thought everything I did was predestined, maybe I’d fight against it. But for a majority of the world, this is not an issue. It feels like at some point the Venerate lose that connection. Many of the mortals can’t see the future, can’t do anything to change it and simply exist in their day to day. So for the Venerate to just decide “we’re all in a prison and we need to do something about it” seems super messed up, especially considering how long they’ve had to consider it and how they did originally try to be good guys. Leaving their version of El trapped wouldn’t necessarily cause any harm, it just wouldn’t allow them to fix the tragedies in their past. Ironically, if they were all able to use their extended lifespans to grieve and move on, then the world would have been a better off, safer place?
4. Why does no one get any character development? Caeden changes a little, but we’ll talk about him next. Davian Wirr and Asha stay pretty consistent the whole time we see them. I would have loved a couple chapters at least of Asha being depressed about being a Shadow. I would love Wirr to have panic attacks and anxiety about using the Oathstone wrong. I want Davian to fight and rage against his future, rather than dreading but accepting it. All of these characters just accept pretty huge things and then never reexamine or consider them again.
5. Similar to the previous point - all 3 characters learn that Caeden is Tal’kamar at different times. All 3 react pretty much the same way - “that’s who he was but at least he’s trying to be different” but how do you guys know that? This dude kills whenever it’s convenient for him. It’s a very nice message, but not one that consistently makes sense in this narrative. I’ve talked about North of the boundary before. If Shammeloth hid his influence, allowed the North to be a utopia, we could have had a really nice plot where either Davian, Fessi or literally any other character goes “huh, what if Caeden was wrong?” All of these mortals just take his word at face value the entire series
6. I need to talk about this again real quick. Davian sees that Caeden kills him at the end of book 2. The Venerate, Caeden, everyone who knows what the Jha-Vett is all have aspirations of using it to change the past / future. Yet our main character just …. Accepts it. He fears it sure and Islington literally beats us over the head with “oh man im so scared to die” but never NEVER once does he even consider the possibility of changing it. All of our other characters are the same - just because other visions have come true, not a single one of them ever tries anything to change it. Asha gets a message from the future, and just … keeps it to herself? Changes absolutely nothing about what she does? The book exists in a time loop, and the characters literally never change it.
7. One final point. I would have loved to get a little more information on Negthalla. Even more than Caeden, she is truly the hero of this story in my opinion. Always working in the background, showing up with Deus Ex Machinas when needed and having her hands everywhere. I feel like her character would have been absolutely fantastic to explore more - a creature from the darklands, the one who created shapeshifting, and someone who has another beings memories and their love but a different personality. Just a chapter on WHY she still loved Tal’Kamar rather than it just being a given that she did. More thoughts on how she actually came from the Darklands and what that meant. Any sort of her character exploration - how she felt about the Lyth, the Shadows, being a shapeshifter etc would have been a great way to explore some more of the books themes.
I’m not going to talk about the goods in this book. There were a lot - a brief summary follows: 1. Good pacing / good blend of fighting and politics. We didn’t spend too much time on how xyz would react to this or that. The characters saw an issue, and moved on to a solution which was good.
2. We didn’t get the Brandon Sanderson treatment of having too many plots to resolve. While the big save from Nesk was annoying, I like that Islington clearly said he plans for that to be its own spinoff and I didn’t have to mentally track it while reading everything else.
3. It’s really cool to see time travel in a fantasy setting. The magic system was really well done, making a science out of magic
4. No useless frills or unnecessary gimmicks - no love triangles, no romantic jealousy, etc.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-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
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I finally read the Licanius Trilogy this year after having the full set sitting unread on my shelf for months. While I wouldn’t call it a favorite, I did enjoy the experience — especially the final book.
I gave the first book 3 stars, the second 3.75, and the third 4.5 — the second half of the last book easily being the strongest section of the trilogy. It pulled everything together with a sense of weight and closure that made me appreciate the journey more in retrospect. But it also made the earlier books feel weaker by comparison. That final stretch was operating on a different level.
I liked the pacing throughout — it’s one of Islington’s strengths, and the books are easy to keep reading. But the worldbuilding was a weak spot. Political structures, faction dynamics, and especially the Tols often felt jumbled or unclear. I often felt like I was meant to pick things up without being given quite enough to work with, and much of what finally made sense only clicked into place partway through the last book. The recap sections at the start of books two and three helped — but the fact that they were so necessary wasn’t a great sign.
The cities built by the Builders should have felt distinct or atmospheric, but they barely left an impression. The setting overall came across as bland: descriptions weren’t vivid, and I never quite got a visual feel for the world. That’s something Islington improved noticeably in The Will of the Many, where the atmosphere really lands.
The deeper philosophical ideas — about belief, choice, and the nature of power — only show up late in the final book. They added depth and weight, but I wish they’d been seeded earlier. As it stands, they felt like a sharp shift rather than the culmination of a theme that had been building all along.
The magic system here was unique and interesting, but I would’ve liked more structure and clarity. It wasn’t confusing, exactly — just underexplained. Like the rest of the worldbuilding, it could’ve used more weight and texture to feel fully realized.
As for the characters: I liked all four main leads, though they didn’t change much over the course of the series. Davian, in particular, felt like someone who could do anything when he tried hard enough, which made his arc feel a little flat. Caeden’s storyline was more emotionally charged — the weight of his past constantly trailing him, forcing a reckoning between who he was and who he became. I liked Caeden and Davian’s dynamic, too — their relationship had a strong pull, and it took on several forms throughout the trilogy. But Caeden’s transformation happened mostly off-page. The year-long time jump between books two and three skipped the actual process of change, and even after learning the full truth of who he was, he didn’t feel much different from the teenager he’d been before — just a more resolute one.
Wirr was a perfect noble with endless understanding — he took everything in stride, even the weirdest stuff, and got on board really fast. That was strange to watch. I also didn’t like how his and Erran relationship was treated in the third book. I would have liked their conflict to at least have existed where we got to experience it.
I especially liked Asha — she was a badass, and I found her arc one of the most compelling. Nethgalla also stood out more than I expected. Islington’s female characters in general had a kind of sharpness and strength that made them fun to read. In contrast, his romantic arcs felt weak and underdeveloped — not offensive, just not meaningful.
I’m really looking forward to the Dezia and Aelric book, if and whenever it comes. I hope it brings the sharper writing style Islington has now and answers some of the questions left hanging. The way Dezia and Aelric dropped out of the story entirely, only to pop back in without any real explanation beyond “it’s a long story,” felt awkward and honestly kind of stupid. I’m still mad about it — and I hope he rights that wrong.
I’m giving the trilogy 4 stars overall. It wasn’t flawless, but it kept me reading, and the payoff in the third book made it feel worth the time.
I gave the first book 3 stars, the second 3.75, and the third 4.5 — the second half of the last book easily being the strongest section of the trilogy. It pulled everything together with a sense of weight and closure that made me appreciate the journey more in retrospect. But it also made the earlier books feel weaker by comparison. That final stretch was operating on a different level.
I liked the pacing throughout — it’s one of Islington’s strengths, and the books are easy to keep reading. But the worldbuilding was a weak spot. Political structures, faction dynamics, and especially the Tols often felt jumbled or unclear. I often felt like I was meant to pick things up without being given quite enough to work with, and much of what finally made sense only clicked into place partway through the last book. The recap sections at the start of books two and three helped — but the fact that they were so necessary wasn’t a great sign.
The cities built by the Builders should have felt distinct or atmospheric, but they barely left an impression. The setting overall came across as bland: descriptions weren’t vivid, and I never quite got a visual feel for the world. That’s something Islington improved noticeably in The Will of the Many, where the atmosphere really lands.
The deeper philosophical ideas — about belief, choice, and the nature of power — only show up late in the final book. They added depth and weight, but I wish they’d been seeded earlier. As it stands, they felt like a sharp shift rather than the culmination of a theme that had been building all along.
The magic system here was unique and interesting, but I would’ve liked more structure and clarity. It wasn’t confusing, exactly — just underexplained. Like the rest of the worldbuilding, it could’ve used more weight and texture to feel fully realized.
As for the characters: I liked all four main leads, though they didn’t change much over the course of the series. Davian, in particular, felt like someone who could do anything when he tried hard enough, which made his arc feel a little flat. Caeden’s storyline was more emotionally charged — the weight of his past constantly trailing him, forcing a reckoning between who he was and who he became. I liked Caeden and Davian’s dynamic, too — their relationship had a strong pull, and it took on several forms throughout the trilogy. But Caeden’s transformation happened mostly off-page. The year-long time jump between books two and three skipped the actual process of change, and even after learning the full truth of who he was, he didn’t feel much different from the teenager he’d been before — just a more resolute one.
Wirr was a perfect noble with endless understanding — he took everything in stride, even the weirdest stuff, and got on board really fast. That was strange to watch. I also didn’t like how his and Erran relationship was treated in the third book. I would have liked their conflict to at least have existed where we got to experience it.
I especially liked Asha — she was a badass, and I found her arc one of the most compelling. Nethgalla also stood out more than I expected. Islington’s female characters in general had a kind of sharpness and strength that made them fun to read. In contrast, his romantic arcs felt weak and underdeveloped — not offensive, just not meaningful.
I’m really looking forward to the Dezia and Aelric book, if and whenever it comes. I hope it brings the sharper writing style Islington has now and answers some of the questions left hanging. The way Dezia and Aelric dropped out of the story entirely, only to pop back in without any real explanation beyond “it’s a long story,” felt awkward and honestly kind of stupid. I’m still mad about it — and I hope he rights that wrong.
I’m giving the trilogy 4 stars overall. It wasn’t flawless, but it kept me reading, and the payoff in the third book made it feel worth the time.