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_viv_'s review
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
[Review originally from my Goodreads]
Amazing...but a few minor issues.
This book follows five POVs that follow seemingly five different, unconnected stories. As the book continues we see where they cross paths and how their stories are all connected. Now I absolutely love this concept and the fact that this was a character driven novel (my personal favorite way to tell a story), but I found that there were so many POVs everything got convoluted.
When we are first thrown into the story it was hard to make attachments to the characters because we knew very little about them before skipping off to the next person. I swear it took be till 40% through this book until I could get everyone's names straight. Let alone tell you anything meaningful about their personalities. The dispersion of POVs is unequal and irregular. Sometimes they'd be a long chapter for Character A often, but Character B would be neglected in the process. Another reason I found it hard to connect with the characters in the beginning.
That being said, this was such I fun ride for me once I got acquainted with the characters. You can tell that the author put a lot of thought behind them and their emotions/pasts/reactions and how all these factors fed into each other. Despite it being disorienting in the beginning I found that I knew exactly how each character would reaction in any situation by the end. This was honestly some of the best character-building I've ever seen.
I found that the cultures and world building was amazingly well thought out too. The way different cultures interacted with each other was interesting and kept my attention. Its best reflected through the characters' POVs (as each of them come from different places and/or cultures) since their viewpoints differ tremendously (going into the emotions/pasts/reactions of character building again).
Which is honestly not something you'd think to mention in a review but I've read so many books were the cultural background of characters in fantasy world didn't effect their opinions at all. Which is honestly so confusing.
Overall a fun read that takes up a lot of attention. I'd put this book aside for a time when you can get in depth with complicated characters and world. Its definitely not a "no plot only vibes" character driven book, so if you're looking for that I'd turn your attention elsewhere
Amazing...but a few minor issues.
This book follows five POVs that follow seemingly five different, unconnected stories. As the book continues we see where they cross paths and how their stories are all connected. Now I absolutely love this concept and the fact that this was a character driven novel (my personal favorite way to tell a story), but I found that there were so many POVs everything got convoluted.
When we are first thrown into the story it was hard to make attachments to the characters because we knew very little about them before skipping off to the next person. I swear it took be till 40% through this book until I could get everyone's names straight. Let alone tell you anything meaningful about their personalities. The dispersion of POVs is unequal and irregular. Sometimes they'd be a long chapter for Character A often, but Character B would be neglected in the process. Another reason I found it hard to connect with the characters in the beginning.
That being said, this was such I fun ride for me once I got acquainted with the characters. You can tell that the author put a lot of thought behind them and their emotions/pasts/reactions and how all these factors fed into each other. Despite it being disorienting in the beginning I found that I knew exactly how each character would reaction in any situation by the end. This was honestly some of the best character-building I've ever seen.
I found that the cultures and world building was amazingly well thought out too. The way different cultures interacted with each other was interesting and kept my attention. Its best reflected through the characters' POVs (as each of them come from different places and/or cultures) since their viewpoints differ tremendously (going into the emotions/pasts/reactions of character building again).
Which is honestly not something you'd think to mention in a review but I've read so many books were the cultural background of characters in fantasy world didn't effect their opinions at all. Which is honestly so confusing.
Overall a fun read that takes up a lot of attention. I'd put this book aside for a time when you can get in depth with complicated characters and world. Its definitely not a "no plot only vibes" character driven book, so if you're looking for that I'd turn your attention elsewhere
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, Medical content, and Religious bigotry
fromjuliereads's review
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
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? Yes
5.0
You know, I was debating for a bit between a 4.5 and a 5 star rating and thought "screw it." This book was SO GOOD. I can't even tell you why I was thinking of a 4.5 because I basically have no notes?
The characters and plot are fantastic! I was on the edge of my seat, wanting to read so quickly to find out what would happen next or what twist was coming up. Sure I predicted one or 2 twists but GOODNESS I DID NOT PREDICT THEM ALL 😅 and these characters!? I already adore Jude, Anton, and Hassan! I have some mixed feelings about Ephyra and Beru but SO CURIOUS to see where their stories will go.
And the political and religious commentary!? *chef's kiss* Wow. I loved it. There is just enough political and religious/cult commentary that I was VERY intrigued and it played into the plot so beautifully. I cannot wait to see where this story goes next!
The characters and plot are fantastic! I was on the edge of my seat, wanting to read so quickly to find out what would happen next or what twist was coming up. Sure I predicted one or 2 twists but GOODNESS I DID NOT PREDICT THEM ALL 😅 and these characters!? I already adore Jude, Anton, and Hassan! I have some mixed feelings about Ephyra and Beru but SO CURIOUS to see where their stories will go.
And the political and religious commentary!? *chef's kiss* Wow. I loved it. There is just enough political and religious/cult commentary that I was VERY intrigued and it played into the plot so beautifully. I cannot wait to see where this story goes next!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Physical abuse, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Chronic illness, Death, Confinement, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Toxic friendship but also a toxic relationship between siblings - two sets of siblingskingrosereads's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
A compelling epic political YA fantasy about prophecies and the end of the world told through multiple POVs.
The end of the world is nigh. Magically gifted people called the Graced have dominated the upper and ruling classes for several millennia. It’s also been a hundred years since a Prophet lived. Now, a militant group known as the Witnesses led by the Hierophant are planning to eradicate the world of the Graced. The Last Prophet has been found and the Keeper of the Word must protect them. The final prophecy spoken a hundred years ago speaks of three harbingers and they will either bring about or stop the Age of Darkness.
It’s quite ambitious to start off a series with multiple POVs. It’s difficult to get a reader invested into any of the characters when the time is split between 5 of them and then the side characters that interact with each of them. The timelines also got a little confusing towards the end, it was hard to pinpoint whether or not the different POVs were happening around the same time or several days/weeks apart.
I found that I didn’t really care for the characters for majority of the book. It took until about 70% of the way for me to care about Anton. The information dump was also very daunting. I get this is only a trilogy, but there was just so much information being thrown at me. The concept was interesting enough, but it took nearly until the halfway point for me to even care about what was going to happen.
I love politically driven fantasies with multiple POVs and little to no romantic subplot, I also really like YA fantasies, but this one was difficult to say engaged with. I love the concept of it, and maybe in the future I’ll read the next two books, but I’m not rushing to them any time soon.
The end of the world is nigh. Magically gifted people called the Graced have dominated the upper and ruling classes for several millennia. It’s also been a hundred years since a Prophet lived. Now, a militant group known as the Witnesses led by the Hierophant are planning to eradicate the world of the Graced. The Last Prophet has been found and the Keeper of the Word must protect them. The final prophecy spoken a hundred years ago speaks of three harbingers and they will either bring about or stop the Age of Darkness.
It’s quite ambitious to start off a series with multiple POVs. It’s difficult to get a reader invested into any of the characters when the time is split between 5 of them and then the side characters that interact with each of them. The timelines also got a little confusing towards the end, it was hard to pinpoint whether or not the different POVs were happening around the same time or several days/weeks apart.
I found that I didn’t really care for the characters for majority of the book. It took until about 70% of the way for me to care about Anton. The information dump was also very daunting. I get this is only a trilogy, but there was just so much information being thrown at me. The concept was interesting enough, but it took nearly until the halfway point for me to even care about what was going to happen.
I love politically driven fantasies with multiple POVs and little to no romantic subplot, I also really like YA fantasies, but this one was difficult to say engaged with. I love the concept of it, and maybe in the future I’ll read the next two books, but I’m not rushing to them any time soon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Xenophobia
Moderate: Murder, Death of parent, Torture, Child death, War, and Child abuse
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