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bibalibz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
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? Yes
5.0
It's an incredible read and fast-paced without feeling like it's rushing. I became emotionnally invested in all of the characters in one way or another, even the protagonist Kellen, who is fairly unlikeable through most of the book (for good reason, you'll see). I wish I had Ferius' confidence.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, and Fatphobia
tianabooks's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-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
3.75
An interesting new fantasy world to explore, with fascinating lore revolving around magic, the significance of its absence, the lengths people will go to protect secrets, and the ability to continue fighting against all odds.
This book started slowly and it took me a bit to warm up to these characters and the context. Now mind you, this was mostly because apart from 3 characters (and two animals), everyone else was such a horrible person. These characters did vile things đ© There is some animal cruelty in this by the way, which can be distressing to read about.
I have to admit I loved the tarot cards displayed and explored throughout the book and I enjoyed seeing our main character become more familiar with them and their significance. The way the characters used the cards was SO cool letâs be fair.
A solid first book in this fantasy series! Iâm intrigued enough to continue reading đ€
This book started slowly and it took me a bit to warm up to these characters and the context. Now mind you, this was mostly because apart from 3 characters (and two animals), everyone else was such a horrible person. These characters did vile things đ© There is some animal cruelty in this by the way, which can be distressing to read about.
I have to admit I loved the tarot cards displayed and explored throughout the book and I enjoyed seeing our main character become more familiar with them and their significance. The way the characters used the cards was SO cool letâs be fair.
A solid first book in this fantasy series! Iâm intrigued enough to continue reading đ€
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Blood
Minor: Slavery
jaedia's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Xenophobia, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, and War
clairew97's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
chloe927lou's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Hate crime, Slavery, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
rachelcoffeehaven's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty
Moderate: Violence and Abandonment
jayecard's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
TL;DR: A fun story that in comparison to my expectations had less actual con game, and more we live in a society (but in a good way). Characters good, gonna see how this continues.
I thoroughly enjoyed this first part of the series, and I will certainly read book 2.
It's not exactly what I expected: I thought I was getting a story about a smart con-artist, which this story has some of, but at its heart, this is a true underdog story. Not just because the main character is an underdog, but it centrally thematizes the power structure that put him in this position - and what he's going to do with it.
Kellen gets nothing. Not even the power of friendship. All he has are some tricks and innovation. And he has to work with that, as he unravels the secrets of his world. This is the concept that the story never betrays, and that's why I liked it so much.
The story is a quick and entertaining read with a surprising depth (and darkness) to its setting. I liked the characters, Kellen is a cool guy and Ferius Parfax is the most fun mentor character I've seen in a long time. It has a cool card motive (a trope I'm weak for) that it uses in a smart way in one scene in particular. I'm gonna hold off on final judgement until I've read more of the series, but so far, I think I might have stumbled over a real undiscovered gem.
I thoroughly enjoyed this first part of the series, and I will certainly read book 2.
It's not exactly what I expected: I thought I was getting a story about a smart con-artist, which this story has some of, but at its heart, this is a true underdog story. Not just because the main character is an underdog, but it centrally thematizes the power structure that put him in this position - and what he's going to do with it.
Kellen gets nothing. Not even the power of friendship. All he has are some tricks and innovation. And he has to work with that, as he unravels the secrets of his world. This is the concept that the story never betrays, and that's why I liked it so much.
The story is a quick and entertaining read with a surprising depth (and darkness) to its setting. I liked the characters, Kellen is a cool guy and Ferius Parfax is the most fun mentor character I've seen in a long time. It has a cool card motive (a trope I'm weak for) that it uses in a smart way in one scene in particular. I'm gonna hold off on final judgement until I've read more of the series, but so far, I think I might have stumbled over a real undiscovered gem.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Genocide and Colonisation
bluejayreads's review against another edition
adventurous
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This review is hard to write because is the kind of book I call a Perfectly Enjoyable Reading Experience. It was entertaining, I very much enjoyed it while reading, but itâs not particularly memorable and I donât feel much of a need to continue the series.
Which is a bit amusing, because this book was trying to have big things to say. This society is stratified into an upper class of people who can do magic and an underclass of people who canât. The âexileâ Kellen is facing is not being thrown out of the city and whatnot, itâs being relegated to second-class citizen and having no options but menial labor or being a servant, probably to his definitely-magical sister. Considering some events that I canât mention because spoilers, there was definitely an anti-classism message here. It just didnât come up until almost the very end and thus got overshadowed by Kellenâs magic struggles.
I am still not sure what the setting was supposed to be. The title of the book, which made me think of a play on âgunslinger,â and Ferius Parfaxâs entire character had a very strong Wild West vibe. But the rest of the setting seemed to be Generic Magical City with that roughly-1800s-but-magic-instead-of-tech thing that I think of as generic fantasy. There were interesting details, but I was very confused about what the big picture was supposed to look like.
And you know, after all that criticism, Iâm going to come back and say that I really enjoyed the read. Kellen had definite character growth, putting together all the puzzle pieces of information he discovered was fun, and I loved his efforts to succeed with brains and wit since magic didnât seem to be coming to his rescue. If youâre at all trope-savvy youâll see the reason for his magic issues coming from a long way off, but I was pleasantly surprised to be surprised by some of the details.
The ending wrapped up well enough, and Iâm not enamored with this story enough to keep going. There was some wasted potential, especially in regards to magic-less people being a societal underclass, but for as much as I love absurdly powerful characters I also love characters with no power who succeed by cunning and trickery, and so I thoroughly enjoyed Kellen. Though itâs not particularly memorable after I finished it and itâs definitely not making any top books lists for me, it was a perfectly enjoyable read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Torture, Violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Body horror, Slavery, and Medical trauma
Minor: Genocide, Sexism, and Vomit
pinksystem's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Torture
Moderate: Violence, Medical trauma, and Abandonment
Minor: Genocide and War
chloehey's review against another edition
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I wanted to like this, but it disappointed me to so much. I saw a grand story full of intrigue and interesting plot points and character dynamics. But sadly I dreamed to big, and I got.... not what I wanted. And it pains me to give this 2 stars, it really was written well! But- it wasn't planned well. The question the back of the book asks (who and why is Ferius Parfax) isn't answered- or even focused on. Kellen is a nice character, but he, and everyone else is underwritten. This is a personal thing, and since it is a thing prominent in other cultures I understand why it happens. But names written with apostrophes (i.e.Ke'Heops, Jan'Tep Sha'Tep,) bug me, my eyes snag on them and it pulls me out of reading. There are many, and they bugged me everytime.
So intro to Kellen, bravely stomping onto the dueling ground to fight this "big bad" while all his "buddies" tell him to stop. Interesting. Okay, so he tricks Tennat into hurting himself, nice, Shalla does her bit of Drama, Kellen is dying. And he stays fully conscious-yet dying- for quite a while while we get a little peek into how the magic is done. Someone mutters about linking hearts- oh- but they are too weak. ENTER Ferius Parfax! The random cow-boy-woman(yes- I think she'd like that description. She's not your regular cowgirl) And she does uhhh.... CPR! with some magic powder thrown in. Hilarious, yet I thought she was going to link her heart to his and he'd have to be her sidekick. Much more interesting than her flitting in and out of the story at random moments, only there for a funny joke (and they were okay funny- but not the best, they were slightly sexist and of course very arrogant.)
The talking beasts Kellen made friends with were interesting, I liked how they were written. The magic was intriguing, but in the end nothing was tied together in a satisfying way.
So intro to Kellen, bravely stomping onto the dueling ground to fight this "big bad" while all his "buddies" tell him to stop. Interesting. Okay, so he tricks Tennat into hurting himself, nice, Shalla does her bit of Drama, Kellen is dying. And he stays fully conscious-yet dying- for quite a while while we get a little peek into how the magic is done. Someone mutters about linking hearts- oh- but they are too weak. ENTER Ferius Parfax! The random cow-boy-woman(yes- I think she'd like that description. She's not your regular cowgirl) And she does uhhh.... CPR! with some magic powder thrown in. Hilarious, yet I thought she was going to link her heart to his and he'd have to be her sidekick. Much more interesting than her flitting in and out of the story at random moments, only there for a funny joke (and they were okay funny- but not the best, they were slightly sexist and of course very arrogant.)
The talking beasts Kellen made friends with were interesting, I liked how they were written. The magic was intriguing, but in the end nothing was tied together in a satisfying way.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Sexism and Vomit