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noshakira's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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? Yes
5.0
Excellent world-building and intricate storyline. The dual perspectives of the story adds a unique element. I ordered the second book when I was about halfway done with this one because I knew I'd love the remaining story.
The only difficulty is that some names can be hard to pronounce (as with most fantasy novels) and keep straight, as many are similar or characters go by multiple names for differing reasons, so it's easy to get confused and I'd have to continually remind myself who was who.
The only difficulty is that some names can be hard to pronounce (as with most fantasy novels) and keep straight, as many are similar or characters go by multiple names for differing reasons, so it's easy to get confused and I'd have to continually remind myself who was who.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Confinement, Murder, Death, Classism, Violence, and War
Moderate: Grief, Child abuse, Trafficking, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Incest, Infidelity, and Kidnapping
18soft_green's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I bring judgement and sorrow. There will be hints and some spoilers from events in the next few books of the series in this review.
First of all, I wanted, I sooo wanted to love this series. I am weak to the icky vibes these books emit. They’re like molasses cookies to me. When I first found this series I was so excited to read them that I bought the first four books. And then read the first one in, like, a week. There was some shit in there, I was honest with myself in that. But there are four more books. All of the bullshit could be redeemed in four books. Overwhelmed with all the events and emotions I had read and experienced from reading the first book, I took a break. Once my mental stability had returned, I dove into the second book. And hated what I was seeing. So I took another break. Then dove into the third. I was shocked. I was aghast. I flipped through it, skimming as fast as I could. Oh no, I jumped into the fourth, OH NO! I come to you, dear reader, exhausted yet filled with rage.
Lyons' writing is confusing (read deceitful). She is good at writing entertainingly and creatively and has interesting story ideas. But she doesn't tell us the story she promises. It's as if the story is just one short chapter away from getting to the good and promised part, but we never get there. Every time I arrived at a revealing and/or climatic scene it was as if someone had chewed it up before I got there. Meaning: the story stopped making sense because instead everything else that feels irrelevant got dumped into the scenes. Random as fuck characters would come along, weird magical shit from out of nowhere would join to explain the happenings in the most confusing way possible. Mind you, these characters or magical things were often not foreshadowed earlier in the story. These scenes were often the moments these persons or rituals were INTRODUCED. And if they had been earlier introduced they had almost nothing that was plot relevant leading back to them except another character with random stores of information. And NEVER did these random characters and situations tie into each other in any logical way! Patient reader, this happened all the time.
Narratively, I have two problems with the Chorus of Dragons series. Starting with the lighter of the two, what is with this magic system? Maybe it'd be more accurate to say systems? I love a good mind fuck but Lyons takes it to an extreme I didn't know was possible. She has wacky (in my opinion, stupid) ideas such as : putting the majority of the story arch inside a villain’s brain, doing soul and body switches, jumping into the afterlife, and making the most complicated family trees known to fiction. I hate it. Patient reader, I don’t hate creative story ideas. I hate how meticulous and detailed each of these plot devices and choices are. Oh and, Lyons starts every book with the characters rehashing what happened, instead of like, just following them through the story. I can only assume she does this so her meta commentary on the events and people fits inside the story HOWEVER sometimes the writing is flowery writing but according to the beginning of the chapters these are the exact words the characters are using while telling the events to someone else. I hate it! This is a me thing, I know that. I am bad a suspending my disbelief when it comes to these types of things (can you imagine how stressed the listener is when they just wanted the sequence of events and Kihrin (the main character) is describing how beautiful the sunset was and how horny he was for Teraeth?). The darker of the two: Lyons took it upon herself to discuss slavery in depth (her idea of it) but like, she's white. To be clear, I am also white, and I'm not saying that white people can't discuss slavery in a complex way in a story. Lyons just did it bad. Instead of taking an in depth, systemic, social perspective on the matter, Lyons decided to make the slavery discussion complex by describing how unpleasant it is to be a slave. So a side plot of the series is destroying slavery. I just feel like, when slavery is this prominent of a feature of a story and the characters decide to fight against the injustice of it, it shouldn't be a side gig. And there were these weird moments where we're in Kihrin's (the main character) pov and he's like, "Wow, this person was a slave and that's fucked up because slavery is painful and they're such a nice person." And that's not the profound statement the story acts like it is. And like I said earlier, Lyons didn’t pay narrative attention to the actual harm that slavery does to a culture but the story acts like she did. Like so many of her story plots, she made it a prominent part of the story then later said that with time and friendship the problem resolved itself. But Lyons, YOU SAID that this was a TRAUMATIC and COMPLICATED ISSUE YOURSELF!
Onto my next accusation:
I love Kihrin as a character, for the most part. He’s funny, traumatized, powerful, compassionate, loyal, intelligent, you know, a good character. In theory. He was written badly. Because the problem with this series was not the story, dearest reader. I have read stories where the shit is fucked up, the stakes are high, the characters complex, the romance potentially problematic, and yet, the books were so good. This series was not bad because the story was bad. It was fucked up because Lyons is fucked up. I cannot say if it is her personality that is questionable or just her writing, but let me tell you, my good readers, if you are a normal person with any bit of media literacy and political sensitivity, this series will tear your mind to pieces.
I confess, in my opinion, Lyons is just bad at letting her characters be relatable and complex. They feel like caricatures, ideas for characters, not someone you can talk with, they are someone that talks AT you. Her characters have traits, they have quirks, they even have different ways of talking. But they never have stripped-down, vulnerable moments where they become someone you feel close to. They stay in that sarcastic, motivated, before-you-learn-their-backstory stage throughout the whole series. In certain scenes Lyons pretended they were heartfelt moments, but in those moments the writing would feel like someone was grading Lyons on emotional writing. It felt, to me, like these were required bits of the story that Lyons didn't know how to write on her own so she followed a special format with suggested wording. Even if that isn't true the writing is bad, and I hated those scenes because it felt like it was trying so hard to be profound and vulnerable but Lyons was watching you while you read it and her eyes were pleading you to relate and care about her sexy, smart characters.
Onwards and upwards, Lyons is weird about sex. Everyone, all the time was horny and apparently everyone, all the time was also sexy. I am demisexual, I don’t experience sexual attraction often but when I do it’s nothing like how Lyons described. On top of that, Lyons took time to write that her characters were horny in the midst of survival. While running into a physical confrontation her character would think to themself, hmm, this other character is hot. I just feel like that not important for the readers to know. But every other moment in the story also let the reader know on a scale from one to ten (not literally) how horny the character was at the time. And just… why? It NEVER felt like normal hormones either. Lyons always made it weird, by mentioning some sort of kink or taboo. She also let us know how sexually attracted each character we read the POV was to many of the characters around them including characters you wouldn’t think were even options. It’s almost like she can't talk about sex in a normal way. I wonder if she has had kinky sex because the way she writes sex in general indicates that no, she has not. She writes of sexual encounters as if she is a fifteen-year-old set loose on the internet and just emotionally contained enough to know that there IS a line to toe but not exactly sure where that line is. Our lovely hero, Kihrin, he is barely fifteen at the start of the story and his kind of godmother, a brothel owner who knows her kind of godchild has just experienced trauma, encourages him to release his emotions ON HER EMPLOYEE! Later, when Kihrin has been displaced into the abusive arms of his father at the awkward age of sixteen, he falls victim to his not-stepmom and partakes in bondage play. At the time he HAD thought he was having sex with his stepmom but later found out he had sex with a shapeshifter. And then later he is extremely attracted to this guy named Teraeth and their slow-burn romance begins only for it to be revealed that Teraeth inhabits the BODY of Kihrin’s BIOLOGICAL COUSIN. No!!! That was my gay ship! Now it’s incest, Lyon’s how could you?! It was at this point that I first thought about giving up. The sex stuff is just so weird. I persisted. Lyons continues writing the characters’ slow burn romance.
There was a cliche soulmate thing revealed in the first book between Kihrin and a girl with red eyes. (That's creepy but okay) Her name is Janelle. In the second book, she and Kihrin hit it off. No, Lyons!! My problematic gay ship, YOUR problematic gay ship! Fear not, polyamory was encouraged in this series, the problematic gay ship was secure.
So here, I pause. Let’s take a moment to consider the themes of this story. We got mind games, weird family trees, and kind of incest but not quite incest. Clearly, incest is important to the story, yes? No. Incest is not in the story because Lyons has any commentary on it other than it's taboo and makes the story more. . . Gross. At any moment in the story, Lyons might spring incest on us. Teraeth, Kihrin’s slow-burn love interest, in soul, is NOT related to Kihrin. Reincarnation is something he experiences and because he is sexy, special demigod he gets to keep his memories of his past lives and his time in the afterlife. In this story, he is reincarnated into the body of Kihrin’s cousin. Lyons dares us to ask, if they got together, would that be incest? Personally, I think it would. Lyons says that we do not need to worry because Teraeth’s SOUL is not related to Kihrin’s soul. But I dare us to ask, can souls be related? And um, IF THEYRE NOT RELATED WHY ARE THEY STILL RELATED LYONS?!?! She was so careful to make sure we, the readers, her audience, KNOW that her characters, who are sexually and romantically interested in each other ARE TECHNICALLY RELATED! there is no plot-relevant reason for them to be related in the story. Lyons didn’t need to give us incest jump scares. This is a made up, fantasy story where Lyons can do anything she wants. For example, she can make dragons fall in love, she can make flying ships. But she, VERY METICULOUSLY(!) created weird incest situations. Are we exploring the trauma and ethics of incest in this series? Is there some emotional or political lesson to be learned in this story? No! The ONLY evident reason for there to be an INCEST romance is because Lyons thinks it’s, I don't know, edgy, hot, mature, sweet?
So that was fun, do you want to see how else the Chorus of Dragons series was queer-inclusive?
I’ll give you one guess.
WRONG!
It’s horses. Like this 🐎
We got trans representation by way of equines. How? So Janelle, our other love interest, isn’t a woman. She is a stallion. What, you ask. Yes, you see, in Janelle’s homeland, gender binaries were stored in the horse. A stallion was a masculine horse and a mare a feminine horse. Because Lyons, despite the hardship of being cis-gendered, was creative. Never mind that stallions are male horses and mares are female horses. It’s DIFFERENT from the human social gender binary system because Lyons said so. So Janelle's human culture determines their gender hierarchy based on the masculine-to-feminine binary - that humans have placed on horses - of horses. And Janelle, though not male (it is important to Lyons that we know that Janelle is a biological human female) was in her culture a stallion. So she had more political power than a mare (human) would. Janelle hated being called a woman, it was important to her that her partners recognized her as a masculine person and validated her gender as a stallion. But Kihrin and Teraeth didn’t. Not only did they see her as a woman but so did the general narrative of the story. Janelle was consistently referred to as a noblewoman, as on the feminine end of the cultural binary in almost all things. And when Janelle would take offense to this it was supposed to be funny.
So fuck non-binary people I guess.
And how else was the story transphobic? Kihrin, in the beginning of the story, was ashamed of being attracted to not only women. In the third book he had a small character growth moment where he said fuck it, and kissed Teraeth. It was cringy. But uh, he was already with Janelle at that point. And Janelle wasn’t ever a woman. So non-binary people’s experience of their own gender WAS NOT seen as valid. Got it Lyons.
Would never recommend. 2/5 because the writing was good sometimes.
First of all, I wanted, I sooo wanted to love this series. I am weak to the icky vibes these books emit. They’re like molasses cookies to me. When I first found this series I was so excited to read them that I bought the first four books. And then read the first one in, like, a week. There was some shit in there, I was honest with myself in that. But there are four more books. All of the bullshit could be redeemed in four books. Overwhelmed with all the events and emotions I had read and experienced from reading the first book, I took a break. Once my mental stability had returned, I dove into the second book. And hated what I was seeing. So I took another break. Then dove into the third. I was shocked. I was aghast. I flipped through it, skimming as fast as I could. Oh no, I jumped into the fourth, OH NO! I come to you, dear reader, exhausted yet filled with rage.
Lyons' writing is confusing (read deceitful). She is good at writing entertainingly and creatively and has interesting story ideas. But she doesn't tell us the story she promises. It's as if the story is just one short chapter away from getting to the good and promised part, but we never get there. Every time I arrived at a revealing and/or climatic scene it was as if someone had chewed it up before I got there. Meaning: the story stopped making sense because instead everything else that feels irrelevant got dumped into the scenes. Random as fuck characters would come along, weird magical shit from out of nowhere would join to explain the happenings in the most confusing way possible. Mind you, these characters or magical things were often not foreshadowed earlier in the story. These scenes were often the moments these persons or rituals were INTRODUCED. And if they had been earlier introduced they had almost nothing that was plot relevant leading back to them except another character with random stores of information. And NEVER did these random characters and situations tie into each other in any logical way! Patient reader, this happened all the time.
Narratively, I have two problems with the Chorus of Dragons series. Starting with the lighter of the two, what is with this magic system? Maybe it'd be more accurate to say systems? I love a good mind fuck but Lyons takes it to an extreme I didn't know was possible. She has wacky (in my opinion, stupid) ideas such as : putting the majority of the story arch inside a villain’s brain, doing soul and body switches, jumping into the afterlife, and making the most complicated family trees known to fiction. I hate it. Patient reader, I don’t hate creative story ideas. I hate how meticulous and detailed each of these plot devices and choices are. Oh and, Lyons starts every book with the characters rehashing what happened, instead of like, just following them through the story. I can only assume she does this so her meta commentary on the events and people fits inside the story HOWEVER sometimes the writing is flowery writing but according to the beginning of the chapters these are the exact words the characters are using while telling the events to someone else. I hate it! This is a me thing, I know that. I am bad a suspending my disbelief when it comes to these types of things (can you imagine how stressed the listener is when they just wanted the sequence of events and Kihrin (the main character) is describing how beautiful the sunset was and how horny he was for Teraeth?). The darker of the two: Lyons took it upon herself to discuss slavery in depth (her idea of it) but like, she's white. To be clear, I am also white, and I'm not saying that white people can't discuss slavery in a complex way in a story. Lyons just did it bad. Instead of taking an in depth, systemic, social perspective on the matter, Lyons decided to make the slavery discussion complex by describing how unpleasant it is to be a slave. So a side plot of the series is destroying slavery. I just feel like, when slavery is this prominent of a feature of a story and the characters decide to fight against the injustice of it, it shouldn't be a side gig. And there were these weird moments where we're in Kihrin's (the main character) pov and he's like, "Wow, this person was a slave and that's fucked up because slavery is painful and they're such a nice person." And that's not the profound statement the story acts like it is. And like I said earlier, Lyons didn’t pay narrative attention to the actual harm that slavery does to a culture but the story acts like she did. Like so many of her story plots, she made it a prominent part of the story then later said that with time and friendship the problem resolved itself. But Lyons, YOU SAID that this was a TRAUMATIC and COMPLICATED ISSUE YOURSELF!
Onto my next accusation:
I love Kihrin as a character, for the most part. He’s funny, traumatized, powerful, compassionate, loyal, intelligent, you know, a good character. In theory. He was written badly. Because the problem with this series was not the story, dearest reader. I have read stories where the shit is fucked up, the stakes are high, the characters complex, the romance potentially problematic, and yet, the books were so good. This series was not bad because the story was bad. It was fucked up because Lyons is fucked up. I cannot say if it is her personality that is questionable or just her writing, but let me tell you, my good readers, if you are a normal person with any bit of media literacy and political sensitivity, this series will tear your mind to pieces.
I confess, in my opinion, Lyons is just bad at letting her characters be relatable and complex. They feel like caricatures, ideas for characters, not someone you can talk with, they are someone that talks AT you. Her characters have traits, they have quirks, they even have different ways of talking. But they never have stripped-down, vulnerable moments where they become someone you feel close to. They stay in that sarcastic, motivated, before-you-learn-their-backstory stage throughout the whole series. In certain scenes Lyons pretended they were heartfelt moments, but in those moments the writing would feel like someone was grading Lyons on emotional writing. It felt, to me, like these were required bits of the story that Lyons didn't know how to write on her own so she followed a special format with suggested wording. Even if that isn't true the writing is bad, and I hated those scenes because it felt like it was trying so hard to be profound and vulnerable but Lyons was watching you while you read it and her eyes were pleading you to relate and care about her sexy, smart characters.
Onwards and upwards, Lyons is weird about sex. Everyone, all the time was horny and apparently everyone, all the time was also sexy. I am demisexual, I don’t experience sexual attraction often but when I do it’s nothing like how Lyons described. On top of that, Lyons took time to write that her characters were horny in the midst of survival. While running into a physical confrontation her character would think to themself, hmm, this other character is hot. I just feel like that not important for the readers to know. But every other moment in the story also let the reader know on a scale from one to ten (not literally) how horny the character was at the time. And just… why? It NEVER felt like normal hormones either. Lyons always made it weird, by mentioning some sort of kink or taboo. She also let us know how sexually attracted each character we read the POV was to many of the characters around them including characters you wouldn’t think were even options. It’s almost like she can't talk about sex in a normal way. I wonder if she has had kinky sex because the way she writes sex in general indicates that no, she has not. She writes of sexual encounters as if she is a fifteen-year-old set loose on the internet and just emotionally contained enough to know that there IS a line to toe but not exactly sure where that line is. Our lovely hero, Kihrin, he is barely fifteen at the start of the story and his kind of godmother, a brothel owner who knows her kind of godchild has just experienced trauma, encourages him to release his emotions ON HER EMPLOYEE! Later, when Kihrin has been displaced into the abusive arms of his father at the awkward age of sixteen, he falls victim to his not-stepmom and partakes in bondage play. At the time he HAD thought he was having sex with his stepmom but later found out he had sex with a shapeshifter. And then later he is extremely attracted to this guy named Teraeth and their slow-burn romance begins only for it to be revealed that Teraeth inhabits the BODY of Kihrin’s BIOLOGICAL COUSIN. No!!! That was my gay ship! Now it’s incest, Lyon’s how could you?! It was at this point that I first thought about giving up. The sex stuff is just so weird. I persisted. Lyons continues writing the characters’ slow burn romance.
There was a cliche soulmate thing revealed in the first book between Kihrin and a girl with red eyes. (That's creepy but okay) Her name is Janelle. In the second book, she and Kihrin hit it off. No, Lyons!! My problematic gay ship, YOUR problematic gay ship! Fear not, polyamory was encouraged in this series, the problematic gay ship was secure.
So here, I pause. Let’s take a moment to consider the themes of this story. We got mind games, weird family trees, and kind of incest but not quite incest. Clearly, incest is important to the story, yes? No. Incest is not in the story because Lyons has any commentary on it other than it's taboo and makes the story more. . . Gross. At any moment in the story, Lyons might spring incest on us. Teraeth, Kihrin’s slow-burn love interest, in soul, is NOT related to Kihrin. Reincarnation is something he experiences and because he is sexy, special demigod he gets to keep his memories of his past lives and his time in the afterlife. In this story, he is reincarnated into the body of Kihrin’s cousin. Lyons dares us to ask, if they got together, would that be incest? Personally, I think it would. Lyons says that we do not need to worry because Teraeth’s SOUL is not related to Kihrin’s soul. But I dare us to ask, can souls be related? And um, IF THEYRE NOT RELATED WHY ARE THEY STILL RELATED LYONS?!?! She was so careful to make sure we, the readers, her audience, KNOW that her characters, who are sexually and romantically interested in each other ARE TECHNICALLY RELATED! there is no plot-relevant reason for them to be related in the story. Lyons didn’t need to give us incest jump scares. This is a made up, fantasy story where Lyons can do anything she wants. For example, she can make dragons fall in love, she can make flying ships. But she, VERY METICULOUSLY(!) created weird incest situations. Are we exploring the trauma and ethics of incest in this series? Is there some emotional or political lesson to be learned in this story? No! The ONLY evident reason for there to be an INCEST romance is because Lyons thinks it’s, I don't know, edgy, hot, mature, sweet?
So that was fun, do you want to see how else the Chorus of Dragons series was queer-inclusive?
I’ll give you one guess.
WRONG!
It’s horses. Like this 🐎
We got trans representation by way of equines. How? So Janelle, our other love interest, isn’t a woman. She is a stallion. What, you ask. Yes, you see, in Janelle’s homeland, gender binaries were stored in the horse. A stallion was a masculine horse and a mare a feminine horse. Because Lyons, despite the hardship of being cis-gendered, was creative. Never mind that stallions are male horses and mares are female horses. It’s DIFFERENT from the human social gender binary system because Lyons said so. So Janelle's human culture determines their gender hierarchy based on the masculine-to-feminine binary - that humans have placed on horses - of horses. And Janelle, though not male (it is important to Lyons that we know that Janelle is a biological human female) was in her culture a stallion. So she had more political power than a mare (human) would. Janelle hated being called a woman, it was important to her that her partners recognized her as a masculine person and validated her gender as a stallion. But Kihrin and Teraeth didn’t. Not only did they see her as a woman but so did the general narrative of the story. Janelle was consistently referred to as a noblewoman, as on the feminine end of the cultural binary in almost all things. And when Janelle would take offense to this it was supposed to be funny.
So fuck non-binary people I guess.
And how else was the story transphobic? Kihrin, in the beginning of the story, was ashamed of being attracted to not only women. In the third book he had a small character growth moment where he said fuck it, and kissed Teraeth. It was cringy. But uh, he was already with Janelle at that point. And Janelle wasn’t ever a woman. So non-binary people’s experience of their own gender WAS NOT seen as valid. Got it Lyons.
Would never recommend. 2/5 because the writing was good sometimes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Classism, Bullying, Incest, and Homophobia
Moderate: Transphobia
Minor: Rape, Racial slurs, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Homophobia, Grief, and Misogyny
adragoninspace'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Murder, Trafficking, Body horror, Death of parent, Sexual content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual violence, and Vomit
ruthlessreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Lots of things I loved about this book, including the world building and the interesting magic system. However, I’m always filled with distaste when systems of slavery are present, regardless of whether or not the text condemns it (this one does condemn it). The plot of this book is largely dependent on these systems of slavery and it was hard to enjoy the book for that reason. I gave 2 stars purely for the talent of the writer, which shines through at every turn, and the quality of the actual syntax. That said, the content just didn’t do it for me and idk that I’d read another book by this author. Also, not nearly enough dragons for a book with a giant dragon on the front.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Classism, Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, and Cursing
Minor: Incest, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship
anni_swanilda's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Slavery, Torture, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Murder, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gore, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Kidnapping, Blood, Body horror, Alcohol, and Incest
Minor: Rape
andromeda_1998's review
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-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
4.0
This book took me a long time to read and the funny thing is that I didn’t mind. The book is written in a very cleaver way and I would really recommend it. But before you start reading it, beware! This is one of those books you need to finish before having an opinion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Colonisation, Confinement, Trafficking, Rape, Genocide, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Death, War, Mental illness, Gore, Violence, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Incest, Grief, and Gaslighting
anapthine's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I really didn't enjoy this book, especially due to its tone. It was so boring and had so much sexism. Women were essentially 'slaves' and were property of men. Most of the time I had no idea what was going on and none of the characters were that likeable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Deadnaming, Confinement, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Murder, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, War, Torture, Blood, Cursing, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Rape, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Bullying, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Misogyny
Moderate: Homophobia, Kidnapping, and Biphobia
Minor: Pedophilia and Pregnancy
lilifane's review
adventurous
dark
funny
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
5.0
I don't know what to say, this was the perfect read for me.
It's a story about a boy, Khirin, who grows up as a musician's son and thief. Until his insatiable curiosity and an enormous amount of luck (..not so sure if good or bad luck though..) turns his life upside down.
This book has all the things I love. Adventure, mystery, prophesies, incredible world building, political intrigue, conspiracies, secret identities, diversity, queer representation, magic, drama, a lot of humor and an endless amount of plot twists.
There are also things that might not be for everyone, but that I live for. Like the narrative structure. The story is told through 2 unreliable narrators (with hilarious narrative voices), they take turns telling each other parts of the story. It's ... complicated, you as the reader are thrown into a complex new world and have to figure out how it works on your own. (Although there is a glossary, I don't recommend reading it, there is not much help there but some spoilers if you check too early) Characters have epiphanies and strong reactions, and you just think "What the hell just happened? What is going on?" Eventually, you figure it out.... although it's difficult without drawing a chart of all the characters and their relationships to each other. It will be a messy one.
It's a dark story with lots of violence and death and torture and gore. But it's also one of the funniest books I've read in a while. It's a weird combination, but the humor took away lots of the darkness. Otherwise, it could have been a very depressing read. Instead, I had a great, enjoyable reading experience. The dialogues are to die for, very witty, I laughed out loud so many times. But I also got attached to several characters and got more emotional than I thought was possible.
Then there is the chosen one trope. I've become a little tired of it in the last few years. But the way this trope is handled here is very refreshing. And Khirin is such a fun chosen one to spend time with.
There are also short chapters. It was such a quick read and I literally couldn't put this book down. I love how, although it's so convoluted, everything fits together perfectly at the end. Every time I think about a tiny detail, it just makes sense. Every character's decision and reaction is logical or at least understandable from the character's point of view.
Oh, and there are footnotes. And they are everything! I was even sad there weren't more.
There was one thing that bothered me personally. Because I'm a huge fan of prophesies, I was a little disappointed that we don't actually get the full picture here. We just get bits and pieces of the prophecies and hints. But I really hope it's because there is more to come in the next few books.
Speaking of the next few books. I can't believe this is a debut novel. I can't believe this was published in 2019, and I haven't even heard of it until recently. I can't believe there are already 4 books out in the series, and the fifth and last one comes out next week?!
It's a story about a boy, Khirin, who grows up as a musician's son and thief. Until his insatiable curiosity and an enormous amount of luck (..not so sure if good or bad luck though..) turns his life upside down.
This book has all the things I love. Adventure, mystery, prophesies, incredible world building, political intrigue, conspiracies, secret identities, diversity, queer representation, magic, drama, a lot of humor and an endless amount of plot twists.
There are also things that might not be for everyone, but that I live for. Like the narrative structure. The story is told through 2 unreliable narrators (with hilarious narrative voices), they take turns telling each other parts of the story. It's ... complicated, you as the reader are thrown into a complex new world and have to figure out how it works on your own. (Although there is a glossary, I don't recommend reading it, there is not much help there but some spoilers if you check too early) Characters have epiphanies and strong reactions, and you just think "What the hell just happened? What is going on?" Eventually, you figure it out.... although it's difficult without drawing a chart of all the characters and their relationships to each other. It will be a messy one.
It's a dark story with lots of violence and death and torture and gore. But it's also one of the funniest books I've read in a while. It's a weird combination, but the humor took away lots of the darkness. Otherwise, it could have been a very depressing read. Instead, I had a great, enjoyable reading experience. The dialogues are to die for, very witty, I laughed out loud so many times. But I also got attached to several characters and got more emotional than I thought was possible.
Then there is the chosen one trope. I've become a little tired of it in the last few years. But the way this trope is handled here is very refreshing. And Khirin is such a fun chosen one to spend time with.
There are also short chapters. It was such a quick read and I literally couldn't put this book down. I love how, although it's so convoluted, everything fits together perfectly at the end. Every time I think about a tiny detail, it just makes sense. Every character's decision and reaction is logical or at least understandable from the character's point of view.
Oh, and there are footnotes. And they are everything! I was even sad there weren't more.
There was one thing that bothered me personally. Because I'm a huge fan of prophesies, I was a little disappointed that we don't actually get the full picture here. We just get bits and pieces of the prophecies and hints. But I really hope it's because there is more to come in the next few books.
Speaking of the next few books. I can't believe this is a debut novel. I can't believe this was published in 2019, and I haven't even heard of it until recently. I can't believe there are already 4 books out in the series, and the fifth and last one comes out next week?!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Torture, Violence, War, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, and Slavery
Minor: Rape, Incest, and Infidelity
wxrldwalker's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Look, I had no idea I would fall madly in love with Jenn Lyons' writing or this complicated yet amazing world she has created. I had no clue that a story about a boy who thought he was prophesised to be a hero (but is instead a villain) could be done so well and wouldn't take me months to finish!
Plot/ pacing:
The plot is quite confusing to explain, seeing as this is the first in a 5 book series! There's dragons, wealthy ruling houses, a FANTASTIC magic system, rich lore and history and a huge cast of characters. Basically, this is the story of Kihrin, a boy destined to destroy the world. He is initially an orphan who finds out who he really is after his curiosity gets the better of him. I think the way the story progresses was done so well. We have two stories taking place side by side; Kihrin's journey from a child to him coming to terms with his heritage- involving lots of political and family drama. And then there's Kihrin's story as he runs away from this situation and learns more about himself away from the people who claim to be his family…
I loved the action and drama! It was fast paced when it needed to be, and slowed down when it was necessary. I loved the ending, and I can't wait to pick up book 2 and see what happens next hehe.
Characters/ relationships:
We are following two POVs. One is Talon who is a shapeshifting jailer and is narrating the first half of Kihrin's story. And the second POV is Kihrin himself, who narrates his story from where Talon left off. I know, confusing right! So basically, at the beginning Kihrin is trapped by Talon and they are telling us about how they reached that point in time!
I really loved Kihrin- he's sassy and is strong but you really see how he develops from a child to who he is now. Also, damn I shipped him so hard with Teraeth. Like, I literally loved their banter. It was almost like a subtle, slow burn relationship where they really hate each other but then once they team up, they are able to 'tolerate' one another and I just loved them so much! Teraeth is quite broody and grumpy and those are the characters I love best! I also enjoyed Tyentso and her motherly treatment of Kihrin! The found family was so unexpected but I'm not complaining! Another relationship that I really enjoyed was Kihrin and his 'brother' Galen. They meet when they're teens and are told that they aren't friends because they must compete to be the next heir. But I loved their sibling wholesomeness! They're just enjoying running around the palace, finding hidden doors and theorising about their family history.
A new character was also introduced near the end and damn the chemistry between her and Kihrin!!! I need more of them insulting each other because damn I enjoyed that chapter SO MUCH.
Writing:
Oh my, where do I start? I was scared the writing was going to be dense and hard to read, but NOPE. It was straightforward, yet beautiful. It was complicated and yet me with my two and a half braincells enjoyed the heck out of it! I love love loved it! It was so well written! The glossary and family tree were so helpful :)
This book is quite chunky; the paperback is a whopping 685 pages and I think is the longest book I've read this year so far. Still, I believe it is one of my favourite epic fantasies of ALL TIME! HIGHLY RECOMMEND :D
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Violence
Minor: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Incest, Homophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic relationship
caseythereader's review
I realized I no longer had any idea who was who and how they were related to each other and that I no longer cared.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Incest
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