You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
This is a solid second-world fantasy which left me wanting to read more by the author.
There are three POV characters. The plot of the book is set in motion by the death of the emperor, their father.
Kaden, the oldest and with the golden eyes that denote him as a rightful heir, has been sent off to the distant mountains to learn from the aescetic monks there. He lives in the cold with little to eat and is given onerous and dull tasks. You wouldn't think this would be the best training for an emperor, or maybe you would?
Valyn, the second son, is being raised to be his brother's blade. He is training with the Kettral, commandos who ride in on GIANT EAGLE-BIRDS to kill, steal, whatever the emperor needs. He is bad-ass.
Adare is the sister to these two young men and she's the reason the book didn't get 5 stars. While Adare possesses golden eyes, she's female and therefore out of the running for emperor. She has remained at court and is learning the economics of the realm. It seems like Adare should understand court politics and intrigue better than she does and I was frustrated with her. Maybe she should have been sent somewhere to toughen up like the emperor did for his two sons.
Anyway, there's a lot of original ideas here- blind giant poisonous cave lizards that possess magic eggs, a monastic order dedicated to hunting terrifying ancient gods who may no longer exist (but we know they do, of course they do!), a whole theology of new gods that can bestow powers upon their priests. It's all great fun to explore. I do wish there had been a clear way given to pronounce all the main characters' names. A-darr-ay? A-dare?
So, while I didn't care much for Adare I did like Kaden and Valyn, inscrutable brutality and all, and am interested in their next adventures. I can say, having read SkullSworn, that the author improves with his female characters.
There are three POV characters. The plot of the book is set in motion by the death of the emperor, their father.
Kaden, the oldest and with the golden eyes that denote him as a rightful heir, has been sent off to the distant mountains to learn from the aescetic monks there. He lives in the cold with little to eat and is given onerous and dull tasks. You wouldn't think this would be the best training for an emperor, or maybe you would?
Valyn, the second son, is being raised to be his brother's blade. He is training with the Kettral, commandos who ride in on GIANT EAGLE-BIRDS to kill, steal, whatever the emperor needs. He is bad-ass.
Adare is the sister to these two young men and she's the reason the book didn't get 5 stars. While Adare possesses golden eyes, she's female and therefore out of the running for emperor. She has remained at court and is learning the economics of the realm. It seems like Adare should understand court politics and intrigue better than she does and I was frustrated with her. Maybe she should have been sent somewhere to toughen up like the emperor did for his two sons.
Anyway, there's a lot of original ideas here- blind giant poisonous cave lizards that possess magic eggs, a monastic order dedicated to hunting terrifying ancient gods who may no longer exist (but we know they do, of course they do!), a whole theology of new gods that can bestow powers upon their priests. It's all great fun to explore. I do wish there had been a clear way given to pronounce all the main characters' names. A-darr-ay? A-dare?
So, while I didn't care much for Adare I did like Kaden and Valyn, inscrutable brutality and all, and am interested in their next adventures. I can say, having read SkullSworn, that the author improves with his female characters.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
A really fun book! Easy to read but not boring or predictable.
DNF 29%. Dark fantasy, I feel, needs better writing than average and a more socially aware person. Because otherwise it’s just the same tired posturing to make it “dark”. More often it seems like short hand for the writer to put in content that isn’t pertinent to the plot, but signals their perception of “realism” and the crueler aspects of life. Of course this just means sexual assault and violence against women are normalized but it’s okay because it’s daaaark.
As such, dark fantasy is just trite to me. And this is sadly no different.
The setup is somewhat interesting, with the death of the emperor and the children trying to unmask assassins. But in reality it’s mostly military fiction, something I don’t get on with either, usually, and so coupled with the, you’re being trained to be a Real warrior/man stuff, I’m just not finding anything to like about this one.
The only dark fantasy I’ve been impressed with are the Second Apocalypse books, which have the “dark” outlook and tropes, but use them as an allegory to communicate that misogyny (literally) destroys the world.
Meanwhile in this book during a 2v2 training exercise, in which platoons are watching, a woman is tricked into falling and the rival thinks it’s funny to make her mad by sexually assaulting her, which nobody does anything about except her sparring partner and narrator, who is made to feel bad because he can’t get to her and save her and he failed.
Aren’t we passed this yet? I sure am.
As such, dark fantasy is just trite to me. And this is sadly no different.
The setup is somewhat interesting, with the death of the emperor and the children trying to unmask assassins. But in reality it’s mostly military fiction, something I don’t get on with either, usually, and so coupled with the, you’re being trained to be a Real warrior/man stuff, I’m just not finding anything to like about this one.
The only dark fantasy I’ve been impressed with are the Second Apocalypse books, which have the “dark” outlook and tropes, but use them as an allegory to communicate that misogyny (literally) destroys the world.
Meanwhile in this book during a 2v2 training exercise, in which platoons are watching, a woman is tricked into falling and the rival thinks it’s funny to make her mad by sexually assaulting her, which nobody does anything about except her sparring partner and narrator, who is made to feel bad because he can’t get to her and save her and he failed.
Aren’t we passed this yet? I sure am.
I don't get how this book manages to get a 4.2 star average here on Goodreads. It makes me feel like I must have missed something crucial, something colossal, something so amazing that makes this book shine and stand out from the crowd. The main reason I even picked it up was because of the Goodreads 4+ stars rating, that, and the pretty cover.
I really tried to like this book, I tried searching for deeper meanings, to find something in the characters and/or their relationships that made it all worthwhile. Unfortunately this book let me down.
The story during the first 75% is slow, and I mean REALLY slow. Nothing much happens, some basic story lines get set up, something about a conspiracy, but for the most part, it reads more like a day-to-day diary of 2 guys that are not in a very exciting place. The Kettral, at least, add a little bit of flavor to the story, but the chapters where we follow Kaden are just plain boring.
During the last quarter of the book the pace finally starts to pick up, but it never really gets going, and before you know it, it's over and it leaves you with a feeling of 'is that it?'. The ending does not redeem the excrutiating pace of the first 3/4 of the story.
The characters are pretty flat and non-interesting and they didn't appeal to me at all. They feel like they could get a lot of depth, but it's just out of their reach.
The writing style was adequate, but nothing that really jumps out.
Overall, the 2-star rating of 'it was ok', pretty much sums it up for me. I might pick up the sequel when it comes out, but I might just as well not. Time will tell.
I really tried to like this book, I tried searching for deeper meanings, to find something in the characters and/or their relationships that made it all worthwhile. Unfortunately this book let me down.
The story during the first 75% is slow, and I mean REALLY slow. Nothing much happens, some basic story lines get set up, something about a conspiracy, but for the most part, it reads more like a day-to-day diary of 2 guys that are not in a very exciting place. The Kettral, at least, add a little bit of flavor to the story, but the chapters where we follow Kaden are just plain boring.
During the last quarter of the book the pace finally starts to pick up, but it never really gets going, and before you know it, it's over and it leaves you with a feeling of 'is that it?'. The ending does not redeem the excrutiating pace of the first 3/4 of the story.
The characters are pretty flat and non-interesting and they didn't appeal to me at all. They feel like they could get a lot of depth, but it's just out of their reach.
The writing style was adequate, but nothing that really jumps out.
Overall, the 2-star rating of 'it was ok', pretty much sums it up for me. I might pick up the sequel when it comes out, but I might just as well not. Time will tell.
I'm always excited to find a good new epic fantasy series. This book kept me engaged throughout, and while I didn't really feel a huge connection with any of the characters, I will definitely keep reading the series.
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
Not a terrible book or anything, but once I got to about the halfway point and my favorite character was fridged, I pretty much knew I wasn't going to like it much. Still, I finished it just in case there was something really impressive in the latter half to turn my feelings around. There wasn't; the book overall was just sort of average for me.
(There were few nice surviving secondary characters, but none of the mains were very interesting...the one POV female character got almost no screentime, anyway. Nor did I have any reason to think the surviving secondary female characters I liked will live very long in the sequels. Also, a lot of the "twists" were things I'd seen coming a long way off, and much of the worldbuilding and overall plot were made up of things I'd seen used better elsewhere. The prose, too, was just okay.)
(There were few nice surviving secondary characters, but none of the mains were very interesting...the one POV female character got almost no screentime, anyway. Nor did I have any reason to think the surviving secondary female characters I liked will live very long in the sequels. Also, a lot of the "twists" were things I'd seen coming a long way off, and much of the worldbuilding and overall plot were made up of things I'd seen used better elsewhere. The prose, too, was just okay.)