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4.61 AVERAGE
4.61 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
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
Big fat 5 bro to the LONGEST book I think I’ve ever read
What people have said about this book was why I decided to start the series. I gave the first book a 3.5 and lemme tell you it’s worth it to read this book. So many satisfying convergences
What people have said about this book was why I decided to start the series. I gave the first book a 3.5 and lemme tell you it’s worth it to read this book. So many satisfying convergences
4.00/5.00
"Pain is the path to strength, Arden"
"Just know one thing, my boy. The path you are on will bring death beyond your wildest nightmares. I say this not to steer you from it, but to steel you for it."
"I am done mourning. By Achyron and Neron, by blade and by blood, House Deringal will follow you, Alina Ateres. Freedom or a funeral pyre, I won't stop until I have one of them."
Of War and Ruin, is the very best of epic fantasy. This book is an outstanding mix of numerous epic battles, emotional character moments, delightfully gray good vs evil themes, a sprawling fantasy world and best of all, dragons. I don't think we will ever see a better use of dragons than Of War and Ruin. There are so many moments, where I wanted to scream and cheer and roar at the events. So many moments of jaw dropping plot developments. So many moments of sobbing and crying. It is truly a book of war and ruin.
A couple of complaints I have on this book. Most importantly, at many times during this story, I feel the heavy hand of Ryan Cahill. Significant moments sometimes feel like they're... forced. The plot armor for some characters is a little too thick. Secondly the World building could use more original ideas.
"Will you allow the shadow to take our world?"
"No"
"Will you allow The Great Deceiver to twist the minds of our people?"
"No"
"Then once more I ask you to follow me into the fires of battle. Once more, I ask you to live and die by my side. For Achyon!"
"For Achyon!"
The PLOT of this book is probably the most impressive plot I have read in any book. Ryan Cahill somehow weaves together 12 different plot threads and brings all of the threads to a satisfying conclusion. There are so many jaw dropping plot twists and perfectly written foreshadowing moments.
The WORLD of The Bound and the Broken is truly expansive and brilliantly crafted. I love how Ryan Cahill will state that something happened and provide some context, and then come back again later in the book/series to give more context that develops the world. The numerous magic systems, the gods, the conflicts and the historical complexity is truly impressive. But there are many less than original elements in this world. The dragons, elves, dwarves, wyrms, wheel of time style magic, GoT/Dune style warring houses, and of course the druids. All of these magical races have been done before, and have been done really well. It often feels like Ryan Cahill lifted all the tropes he likes and weaved it into one story. A big part of worldbuilding is character voice. The way people talk and behave being influenced from their culture is the epitome of cultural worldbuilding. I find character voices in this series to be very plain and generic. Its like they are all the same culture, despite being different races.
Another problem is the less than stellar THEMATIC ELEMENTS used in this series. A conflict focused story on the shades of gray between good and evil is a great choice. The elements of found family and love and sacrifice is well implemented in this story. But there needs to be something more, something that really identifies this story as something more than dragon-rider action fantasy. There is certainly more room for this series to grow.
Ryan Cahill's CHARACTERS are very well designed and consistent. Many of the characters feel real and some of the decisions they make have that inevitable and foreboding quality that I love so much. Calen, Dayne, Farda, Aeson, Erik and Tivar stand out so well. As a small
minor complaint, I fail to see distinct character voices. Now this is hard to do in a series that is more plot and world focused and when we have dozens of characters, but one can still inject a cultural voice to characters.
"I am the battering ram."
Cahill's PROSE is super competent and easy to read. Cahill's dialogue is doing everything it needs to do and is sometimes exceptionally good at evoking emotions, but could be a lot better. There is a lot of repetitive quality to the prose that can be improved. For example, the intimacy of Calen-Valerys bond is repeated so many times!
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
Who knew 1400 pages could go by so quickly 🤯 This story did not lag one bit and sucked me in completely. Of War and Ruin is a phenomenal “mid-season finale” and what seems like a simple cut and dry story has become SO much more. I can’t even predict what is coming in the next two books!!
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
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:
No
adventurous
emotional
funny
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:
N/A
This was the longest book I’ve ever read, in terms of page count 🤣
It flowed beautifully and it didn’t feel like there was sections just for the sake of a page count. I genuinely loved it. It’s my favourite of the series so far. Ryan Cahill has become my favourite author now by a wide margin.
The world he has created I belive is every bit as good as GRR Martins ASOIAF.
My favourite character has to be Vaeril or Dayne. What Belina and Dayne have in terms of chemistry is amazing.
The epilogue in this one is great and I can’t wait for my pre order of ‘Of Empire and Dust to arrive.
It flowed beautifully and it didn’t feel like there was sections just for the sake of a page count. I genuinely loved it. It’s my favourite of the series so far. Ryan Cahill has become my favourite author now by a wide margin.
The world he has created I belive is every bit as good as GRR Martins ASOIAF.
My favourite character has to be Vaeril or Dayne. What Belina and Dayne have in terms of chemistry is amazing.
The epilogue in this one is great and I can’t wait for my pre order of ‘Of Empire and Dust to arrive.