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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
dark
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:
Complicated
DNF'd, not for me. Reading about a sixteen year old fmc having an explicit sex scene with an older man, written by a male author gave me the ick.
Should have read the reviews before I started this book.
Should have read the reviews before I started this book.
truly cannot explain how much this is everything i want in a fantasy novel and then some. the assassins, the secret guild, the murders, the information, the schooling, the BETRAYALS, the steamy sex scenes, the talking shadow cat. it’s fucking everything.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A friend of a friend had been raving to me about this whenever I even mentioned the possibility that I might be getting back into reading. Well, now I actually am getting back into reading, I thought I might as well give it a go.
I'll admit, this was slow to get into. I still haven't readjusted to the higher investment of reading compared to films, and this took the better part of 150 pages to even remotely grab my interest. For all I know that's not even that long, but it felt it. Some of that may have been due to preconcieved notions; I'm not big on training arcs, so wasn't exactly expecting much from the experience of reading this. Indeed, I was only able to get into this at all in part due to the well-characterised and distinctive other acolytes and Shahiids of the Red Church which helped give it layers of complexity and more things to care about than just the main linear storyline, and in part because of a turning point where it demostrates how diverges from the typical training arc in its complete unabashed cruelty. After that happened, things sped up exponentially, and I ended up reading the last 200-ish pages in a day. By far the highlight is the incitement of the climax, a brilliantly-executed twist that caught me completely off-guard and left me genuinely heartbroken at the loss of Tric, which says a lot about his characterisation in the Red Church considering I found him an annoyance throughout the first act. That moment alone almost made me want to give this a 5.
That said, there's definitely some ways I felt a little underwhelmed; for starters, in the handling of the revenge element. The best revenge stories spend plenty of time establishing the characters and their relationships prior to, or separate from, the actions that cause them to develop their bloodlust. I find it hard to care that much for the tortured protagonist if we don't truly know what was taken from them and who they (and their loved ones) were. This is one of those where that is unfortunately absent, and as such I didn't totally connect with Mia's rage. If anything I connected more with the rage at Ashlinn later on, and Remus almost felt like a side project in the last leg.
The other thing dragging it down a bit is the Whisperwastes, which I found very tonally out of place. For all its billing as fantasy, this is one of those fantasies which is ultimately a dark story of the people inhabiting that world which happens to use the language of fantasy, and as such the sand krakens felt like they belonged more in a Potter-esque world than the R.R.Martin-esque world they actually do reside in. That contributed to the first leg of the book feeling like a chore, and made it very difficult for me to take the climax seriously (though that was also perhaps not helped by one of the villains who appears in that climax sharing a name with a type of biscuit, but that's at least not intentional, heh). Between that, the unexpectedly shortened journey to get to Remus by way of Remus essentially coming to her instead, and the revenge plot being splintered across two enemies instead of the previous focus on the one, I did feel this went out with a bit of a whimper.
Still, for all my complains, I did really enjoyed this in the end. It's got a great character roster, and when it peaks, it's a monstrous peak.
I'll admit, this was slow to get into. I still haven't readjusted to the higher investment of reading compared to films, and this took the better part of 150 pages to even remotely grab my interest. For all I know that's not even that long, but it felt it. Some of that may have been due to preconcieved notions; I'm not big on training arcs, so wasn't exactly expecting much from the experience of reading this. Indeed, I was only able to get into this at all in part due to the well-characterised and distinctive other acolytes and Shahiids of the Red Church which helped give it layers of complexity and more things to care about than just the main linear storyline, and in part because of a turning point where it demostrates how diverges from the typical training arc in its complete unabashed cruelty. After that happened, things sped up exponentially, and I ended up reading the last 200-ish pages in a day. By far the highlight is the incitement of the climax, a brilliantly-executed twist that caught me completely off-guard and left me genuinely heartbroken at the loss of Tric, which says a lot about his characterisation in the Red Church considering I found him an annoyance throughout the first act. That moment alone almost made me want to give this a 5.
That said, there's definitely some ways I felt a little underwhelmed; for starters, in the handling of the revenge element. The best revenge stories spend plenty of time establishing the characters and their relationships prior to, or separate from, the actions that cause them to develop their bloodlust. I find it hard to care that much for the tortured protagonist if we don't truly know what was taken from them and who they (and their loved ones) were. This is one of those where that is unfortunately absent, and as such I didn't totally connect with Mia's rage. If anything I connected more with the rage at Ashlinn later on, and Remus almost felt like a side project in the last leg.
The other thing dragging it down a bit is the Whisperwastes, which I found very tonally out of place. For all its billing as fantasy, this is one of those fantasies which is ultimately a dark story of the people inhabiting that world which happens to use the language of fantasy, and as such the sand krakens felt like they belonged more in a Potter-esque world than the R.R.Martin-esque world they actually do reside in. That contributed to the first leg of the book feeling like a chore, and made it very difficult for me to take the climax seriously (though that was also perhaps not helped by one of the villains who appears in that climax sharing a name with a type of biscuit, but that's at least not intentional, heh). Between that, the unexpectedly shortened journey to get to Remus by way of Remus essentially coming to her instead, and the revenge plot being splintered across two enemies instead of the previous focus on the one, I did feel this went out with a bit of a whimper.
Still, for all my complains, I did really enjoyed this in the end. It's got a great character roster, and when it peaks, it's a monstrous peak.
No I’m not reading this book- started and did not vibe plus Cindy told me no and I listen to the queen ✨
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
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes