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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
cranereader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
starlessnights's review against another edition
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Religious bigotry
bookcaptivated's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
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? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse and Confinement
Minor: Child death, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts
malloryfitz's review
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
sabrina0105's review
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
(Scroll for TLDR)... Wow! Okay. First things first--did I enjoy this book? Yes. The setting and plot is interesting right away: there's hints of greco-roman inspiration and it's set in a completely different world with Prophets and people who have special abilities by birth. The story is told from the POV of 5 different characters. The good thing is, the author seemed to do really well at this and I didn't get lost and the plot didn't get jumbled around despite the change in POV from chapter to chapter. There were a LOT of plot twists, some that I saw coming but some that I was just as surprised as the characters were lmao. I found that very refreshing.
Did I know the entire time that I was enjoying this book? Not so much. Let's get that out of the way. I did end up liking this book and I am going to excitedly continue the series, but there were a couple of issues that made me question my stance on the book, particularly in the beginning.
Some of the characters were particularly more likable than the others, in my opinion, Jude and Anton, and even Hassan at the beginning but that dwindled off later. For a while, the characters seemed pretty one-dimensional. One of the issues I had with the book was that each of the characters had their own conflicts that their own personal little plots centered around, but when we reached those climaxes, it seemed lackluster and underwhelming. These events seem arguably important, but we don't really get to see much inner monologue from the characters aside from a couple of basic descriptive sentences. This is probably because of the multiple POVs and being written in 3rd person, but this lowkey annoyed me to the point where I considered rating this 3 stars and getting the sequel on loan.
BUT it gets better. If you have the patience to stick with it through the first 150-200 pages, the pace REALLY starts to pick up. I didn't find myself attached to any of the characters during the first half of the book but by the end, I had a favorite (Jude). There's a lot more action and the action seems more meaningful, and it immerses the reader a lot more. It was enough to bring this rating up to 4 stars.
I saw another review that worded this perfectly. This book is essentially an introduction to the story Katy Rose Pool is trying to tell. I think if I went in knowing that, probably would have had a more open mind.
TLDR; I ended up liking this book. You probably will too
Did I know the entire time that I was enjoying this book? Not so much. Let's get that out of the way. I did end up liking this book and I am going to excitedly continue the series, but there were a couple of issues that made me question my stance on the book, particularly in the beginning.
Some of the characters were particularly more likable than the others, in my opinion, Jude and Anton, and even Hassan at the beginning but that dwindled off later. For a while, the characters seemed pretty one-dimensional. One of the issues I had with the book was that each of the characters had their own conflicts that their own personal little plots centered around, but when we reached those climaxes, it seemed lackluster and underwhelming. These events seem arguably important, but we don't really get to see much inner monologue from the characters aside from a couple of basic descriptive sentences. This is probably because of the multiple POVs and being written in 3rd person, but this lowkey annoyed me to the point where I considered rating this 3 stars and getting the sequel on loan.
BUT it gets better. If you have the patience to stick with it through the first 150-200 pages, the pace REALLY starts to pick up. I didn't find myself attached to any of the characters during the first half of the book but by the end, I had a favorite (Jude). There's a lot more action and the action seems more meaningful, and it immerses the reader a lot more. It was enough to bring this rating up to 4 stars.
I saw another review that worded this perfectly. This book is essentially an introduction to the story Katy Rose Pool is trying to tell. I think if I went in knowing that, probably would have had a more open mind.
TLDR; I ended up liking this book. You probably will too
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Death
Minor: Sexual content and Vomit
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