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stormbornarchive's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I have been looking forward to reading this since the cover blew me away and the praises I’ve heard from people, saying that this is a good read for fans who like Indiana Jones and Uncharted. The synopsis was also very enticing and the whole concept matched all of the things that I’ve been looking for in a book. All the more I got so hyped when this was chosen as a buddy read for the month. However, I’m not gonna lie… I felt that it was too overhyped, and I ended up expecting too much.
The story follows Lukan Gardova, a treasure hunter with a penchant for finding trouble. He’s thrust into a quest filled with ancient relics, dangerous creatures, and a conspiracy that threatens the merchant city of Saphrona. Alongside him is Flea, a street-smart urchin with a sharp tongue and even sharper instincts.
While I liked the mystery aspect, I had the biggest problem with Lukan. His arrogance and bad decisions were frustrating, and his convenient escapes made the stakes feel low. However, Flea’s sass and cleverness redeemed a lot for me. The world-building of Saphrona, the arena scenes, the monsters, and the big reveal at the end gave it that promised “Indiana Jones”-like adventure vibe.
I’m still on the fence about continuing with the series (once it’s published), but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt because the good parts outweighed the bad. For now, I give this 3.5 stars out of 5.
The story follows Lukan Gardova, a treasure hunter with a penchant for finding trouble. He’s thrust into a quest filled with ancient relics, dangerous creatures, and a conspiracy that threatens the merchant city of Saphrona. Alongside him is Flea, a street-smart urchin with a sharp tongue and even sharper instincts.
While I liked the mystery aspect, I had the biggest problem with Lukan. His arrogance and bad decisions were frustrating, and his convenient escapes made the stakes feel low. However, Flea’s sass and cleverness redeemed a lot for me. The world-building of Saphrona, the arena scenes, the monsters, and the big reveal at the end gave it that promised “Indiana Jones”-like adventure vibe.
I’m still on the fence about continuing with the series (once it’s published), but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt because the good parts outweighed the bad. For now, I give this 3.5 stars out of 5.
max_wave's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jilly89's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
emaj's review against another edition
3.0
Read via Physical Copy
The book was fun, and I use that word as both a positive and negative.
The book was fun, and I use that word as both a positive and negative.
fuyukko's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
4.0
For a debut novel, I would say it's decent. I like the characters, especially Flea, and the plot was a fun read. It's nothing ground breaking but a decent fantasy plot nonetheless.
It kind of felt like watching a bunch of idiots, led by a bigger idiot, do things that end up blowing up in their face. In a good way. The book tries to be mysterious but honestly I think it should do it in an ironic way. It'll be way funnier and more entertaining.
My only complain is how anti climactic the ending was. There was so much build up for the exchange with the Faceless and confronting Marquetta but the payoff wasn't that great. The convenient plot points that was just pointing Lukan in the right direction was also slightly off putting.
The character writing could use a bit of work, everyone felt a little one dimensional and Lukan felt like he was constantly protected by plot armour. His actions never really amounted to much consequence, which made things a bit frustrating.
Ashra, Flea and Lukan going to the next location is giving off family vacation vibes and I'm here for it.
It kind of felt like watching a bunch of idiots, led by a bigger idiot, do things that end up blowing up in their face. In a good way. The book tries to be mysterious but honestly I think it should do it in an ironic way. It'll be way funnier and more entertaining.
My only complain is how anti climactic the ending was. There was so much build up for the exchange with the Faceless and confronting Marquetta but the payoff wasn't that great. The convenient plot points that was just pointing Lukan in the right direction was also slightly off putting.
The character writing could use a bit of work, everyone felt a little one dimensional and Lukan felt like he was constantly protected by plot armour. His actions never really amounted to much consequence, which made things a bit frustrating.
Ashra, Flea and Lukan going to the next location is giving off family vacation vibes and I'm here for it.
zeph1337's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I listened to this book as part of a buddy read and the general reception within that group felt mostly negative. And yes this book certainly has some big issues but overall I found the experience to be quite enjoyable.
The main character of this story is a disgraced noble archetype and he is also pretty much drinking all the time. He does make for a frustrating protagonist who comes off as not very smart at all, making dumb decisions etc. and I get how this can feel very off putting in general. But as this book progressed and once you lean into it, I kind of liked how this was used as a storytelling device.
There is a lot of convenient storytelling and there are definitely some glaring plot holes. But on the other hand as our MC is getting railroaded through this story while he only prevails due to determinism and a big amount of sheer luck, you kind of just have to be entertained as this planless chaotic spectacle unfolds in front of you!
It also helps that at parts this book can also be quite funny. A lot of it comes from the MCs sidekick the 11 year old girl and gutter rat Flea. She is just a delight throughout this book and honestly with her street smarts it feels like she has more to teach our MC than the other way around. Otherwise it was so and so and the character front. Some of the side characters were entertaining but also mainly used to move the plot along and the villains kind of felt like bland mustache twirling caricatures.
The book tries really hard to be mysterious but honestly it just fails at that. I didn’t find any of the Mysteries to be particularly compelling.
The prose is pretty simple and probably subpar by most standards and it also felt repetitive at times but I didn’t mind it a lot and honestly for a first book of this author it is more than adequate.
The audiobook experience was very good. The narrator Brenock O’Connor does a fine job. I feel like he is not that great at doing distinct voices but in general his voice feels very fitting to the story and he does a good job conveying emotions. And the distinct voices thing is also not a big issue since the simplicity and straightforwardness of the story make it easy to follow along and just makes it very fitting for the medium.
I plan to continue with this series once the next audiobook comes out.
I plan to continue with this series once the next audiobook comes out.
bdeleon's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
dhariniparthasarathy's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5