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julieabe89's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
4.0
Holy crap! This book was intense. I need The Night Voice ASAP to find out how this giant epic wraps up. It's been such a ride!
puppy_eyes's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed the fresh setting of the desert/middle-east inspired atmosphere. The intrigue of palace drama, the 'who is it' kind of villain, etc. It's fun trying to figure out who the bad guy is when it could literally be anyone.
I found myself wanting to see more of the side characters and engage in their private lives along with the main story. The prince, his story is interesting.
Everyone in the main party has a reason to hate each other, so there's a tense dynamic that includes a lot of pride and arrogance. Someone said the characters are too set in their ways, and that's a good way of looking at it. Sometimes we need an outsider's view to help drive on, and Ghassan is interesting enough to pull it off, even if he's not 100% trustworthy. You can't expect someone to just open up to anyone though, to be fair. I quite like him, he's powerful, knows what he's doing, smart and tactical, though he can be secretly cruel when looking down on someone else. (Like Wynn).
Magiere hates Chane, Chap doesn't trust Brot'an's motives, Osha is mad at Wynn for liking Chane more, Wayfarer is mad at Osha for staying behind for Wynn, and Shade is mad at Chap for abandoning her. It's a real drama-made situation, and I love it. The team has to work together if they want to overcome the next big bad for the orbs.
I will say that the first half of the book seemed to drag on, I didn't think anything was happening. And the scene involving the next orb was slightly underwhelming, though disturbing. On one hand, it feels too easy, but on the other, they're growing with experience and learning to work as a team (and around Magiere's nature). So it's not exactly far-fetched, I just like action.
But the book is written so well, that I literally enjoy just hearing the words in my mind. And as always, the epilogue makes me eagerly look forward to the next one~! I wish we had more information about the characters, their birthdays and profiles, things like that, more pictures, just for fun~!
I found myself wanting to see more of the side characters and engage in their private lives along with the main story. The prince, his story is interesting.
Everyone in the main party has a reason to hate each other, so there's a tense dynamic that includes a lot of pride and arrogance. Someone said the characters are too set in their ways, and that's a good way of looking at it. Sometimes we need an outsider's view to help drive on, and Ghassan is interesting enough to pull it off, even if he's not 100% trustworthy. You can't expect someone to just open up to anyone though, to be fair. I quite like him, he's powerful, knows what he's doing, smart and tactical, though he can be secretly cruel when looking down on someone else. (Like Wynn).
Magiere hates Chane, Chap doesn't trust Brot'an's motives, Osha is mad at Wynn for liking Chane more, Wayfarer is mad at Osha for staying behind for Wynn, and Shade is mad at Chap for abandoning her. It's a real drama-made situation, and I love it. The team has to work together if they want to overcome the next big bad for the orbs.
I will say that the first half of the book seemed to drag on, I didn't think anything was happening. And the scene involving the next orb was slightly underwhelming, though disturbing. On one hand, it feels too easy, but on the other, they're growing with experience and learning to work as a team (and around Magiere's nature). So it's not exactly far-fetched, I just like action.
But the book is written so well, that I literally enjoy just hearing the words in my mind. And as always, the epilogue makes me eagerly look forward to the next one~! I wish we had more information about the characters, their birthdays and profiles, things like that, more pictures, just for fun~!
ghostlydreamer's review against another edition
5.0
Part of me probably rated this book five stars because I loved the cover. I mean, look. This is a fourteen part series, and MOST of the covers are pitiful excuses for photomanipulation, and sometimes the characters didn't even look like the characters they were supposed to be. So when I saw this one, I was pretty happy because it didn't look cheap or cheesy or outright bad. And actually, I quite liked this book too. I read it in practically no time at all. And yes, it is one of the shorter installments in the series, but clearly I enjoyed it when I gave it five stars.
While a lot of the details are lost, I do remember Leesil and Magiere being imprisoned. If I remember correctly, as a result of this, much of the book came from Wynn's perspective because it was up to her to get the others out. I've made it no secret that Wynn isn't my favorite among our characters, and that reading from her perspective was a bit tedious in the grand scheme of things. But I wasn't mad at it. Wynn might annoy me, but she's also loyal to her friends, and they've certainly come a long way since the beginning.
I think the main thing I remember though, was that feeling I got when I was about halfway through, thinking to myself, "How the hell is this series supposed to wrap itself up in just one more book?" I retained that feeling throughout the rest of this book and well into the next, because it seemed like so much was going on that it couldn't POSSIBLY wrap itself up in under 500 pages for the next installment. Nevertheless, this made me eager to continue. As reluctant as I was to finish the series (because as flawed as it is, I adored every minute of it and was not ready to let go of the characters despite being desperate to see the ending), I jumped immediately into the final book after this one. I specifically recall sitting on my bedroom floor one night, setting this book down, and snatching the next one from the shelf, mourning the fact that I could not start it right then. So if anything stands out about this book, it's THAT feeling.
While a lot of the details are lost, I do remember Leesil and Magiere being imprisoned. If I remember correctly, as a result of this, much of the book came from Wynn's perspective because it was up to her to get the others out. I've made it no secret that Wynn isn't my favorite among our characters, and that reading from her perspective was a bit tedious in the grand scheme of things. But I wasn't mad at it. Wynn might annoy me, but she's also loyal to her friends, and they've certainly come a long way since the beginning.
I think the main thing I remember though, was that feeling I got when I was about halfway through, thinking to myself, "How the hell is this series supposed to wrap itself up in just one more book?" I retained that feeling throughout the rest of this book and well into the next, because it seemed like so much was going on that it couldn't POSSIBLY wrap itself up in under 500 pages for the next installment. Nevertheless, this made me eager to continue. As reluctant as I was to finish the series (because as flawed as it is, I adored every minute of it and was not ready to let go of the characters despite being desperate to see the ending), I jumped immediately into the final book after this one. I specifically recall sitting on my bedroom floor one night, setting this book down, and snatching the next one from the shelf, mourning the fact that I could not start it right then. So if anything stands out about this book, it's THAT feeling.
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