Reviews

The Samsara Crucible by Lorne Ryburn

akazen's review against another edition

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3.0

I won't lie to anyone, this book was incredibly boring compared to the last installation; it felt lost, going around in circles and taking us to irrelevant places/with no actual necessity or greater value added to the story. This book felt a decent bit like filler. I liked some of the character development so don't get me wrong, but the plot moved along so incredibly slowly in this decent sized book.

The Ascendant realm is interesting but it's just felt incredibly lackluster compared to the last three books, the author is incredibly capable at world-building and magic design but this book didn't have any of those aspects. We meet some new characters whom I feel mediocre about, they just aren't that interesting IMO (not bad but yeah just uninteresting) .

This book wasn't bad though and there were some interesting parts i.e mc character growth and the person alongside him as well. Just well... the rest is lacklustre. Will give the next one a try and decide from there.

3.25*

emintham's review

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adventurous medium-paced

3.5

antilegomena's review

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adventurous emotional lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Very wish washy, our author. Can't quite seem to settle on a path forward after getting our hero to this point, and the back and forth of it makes an unfortunate amount of the book feel somewhat pointless. I understand that serial fiction means you don't have as much time to plan ahead, but once you start down a road please stick to it.

All that said, we've entered a fun new setting, and the supporting cast has been shaken up in a way that is smart when telling a long story. Hopefully we've finished the necessary setup with this book to follow through with some stronger purpose in the next one.