Reviews

Die dunklen Pfade der Magie by Sara Riffel, A.K. Larkwood

Only show reviews with written explanations

vermilionred's review against another edition

5.0

I really liked Csorwe as a protagonist. I liked that she genuinely wasn't observant, I liked her contrast with Tal, I liked that she clearly didn't really have the context to understand just how weird her life was. I liked Oranna, and I liked Shuthmili and I liked that Csorwe didn't have any wordliness at all to take a step back from anything, and so just went all in on everything. Setting was also very cool.

caitamber24's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

colleen_corleone's review against another edition

Go to review page

I do not care about Csorwe and her would-be paramour. This is officially too boring to waste any more of my time.

Csorwe had SO MANY opportunities to kill the bad guy and never took them. Why? Because of a pretty girl.

She got magicked because she stopped to chat instead of being AN ASSASSIN like we're repeatedly told she is. I stopped where she had the drop on Oranna AGAIN and didn't take it.

I'm over books telling me someone has impressive qualities and showing the opposite. She's an assassin and a spy. She's a shadow! She's obvious and clumsy. For someone who has been murdering and getting away without her likeness all over space, she leaves a fuckload of witnesses.

The story we follow for the majority of the book makes it seem like this is her first day on the job without a minder to catch all her mistakes.

Tal is useless. He's literally here to make trouble for Csorwe. He serves no other purpose in the narrative than for any plan she actually successfully executes to fail spectacularly because of his involvement.

There's zero relationship building with Belthandros once we leave "book 1". Larkwood stretches the, "he saved my life that one time," out for the entirety of the rest of the story. They never truly talk to each other again.

There are 5 hours left, and I could NOT give less of a shit about Oranna, The Unspoken God, Shuthmili, Sethennai, or Csorwe.

corbs919's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

landofkait's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging 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

This was a story about relationships—Csowre’s familial ones and her romantic one. I really enjoyed her POV and found her to be an interesting narrator. The story could have been broken up, I think, as there were two distinct quests, but overall it flowed nicely and I found myself wanting to keep reading to find out what would happen next.

midici's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

*3.5 stars, spoilers*

The gorgeous cover artwork is what caught my eye first. Second, the realization that the main character is an orc (technically 'Oshaaru' in this world) which I thought would be a interesting change from most fantasy books. Third - I love books that start with maps but I did not understand what I was looking at on my first glance. It was pieces of a map? Being put together? But no, it was much better than that - in this book there are multiple worlds connected by Gates and travel between worlds (and through the Maze of dead worlds that lies between) is super common. The strange map at the beginning is actually bits and pieces of maps from different worlds connected through Gates!

One of the reasons this isn't quite a 4 star book for me is that it seems like the author has such a rich and interesting world to play with and I feel like I barely scratched the surface of it. I would have loved to take more time fleshing out the worlds Csorwe went to.

Other species included elves (Tlaanthothe) and Qarzashi. The magic system it sets up is interesting. All mages gain magic from a god, and thus are bound to that god's power. So followers of the Unspoken one have necromantic abilities that other mages would not have. But travel away from your patron - say into a different world - and maybe you don't have access to your power without help and preparation (a neat limitation, I thought). Also the mages constantly reference that channeling divine power is draining and most mages burn out fairly young.

Plot-wise, I enjoyed it, mostly. Some parts were very vivid and fleshed out, and other aspects were very off-screen. Csorwe's transformation from pampered sacrifice to badass fighter happens almost completely off-screen and didn't feel quite genuine. That said, the interactions between characters really drove this novel. Csorwe's and Tal's deep, unending hatred of each other, complete with Tal's little notes telling her to go die in a sewer were hilarious. Csorwe's initial meeting with Shuthmili was basically a wonderful "oh no, she's hot" meet cute. The strange, dying worlds and lost gods were great.

I think the part that was the best was Csorwe's realization that Shuthmili was falling into the same trap she was raised in, in which your world - its culture, people, and gods - are telling you that the only thing of value you have to offer is your death, and in your death providing power to other people. The importance of freedom of choice, of deciding for yourself what is worth living for, or dying for, was something the pair of them had to work towards together; which I loved.

I did not realize this was part of a series until I actually got to the end, so I guess I'll have to go look up the sequel sometime soon.