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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
2.25 stars
-The characters are all so boring. There’s no distinguishing personalities. Any of the characters could have died and I would not have cared one bit.
-something was off about the dialogue. It was too generic and bland.
-overexplaining in the narration; more telling rather than showing — very bland prose.
-predicable plot
-lack of world building (WoT and the Stormlight Archive have raised the bar so high, and when I saw some people comparing Islington to Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan, I had high expectations for this book, and unfortunately it didn’t deliver
-The characters are all so boring. There’s no distinguishing personalities. Any of the characters could have died and I would not have cared one bit.
-something was off about the dialogue. It was too generic and bland.
-overexplaining in the narration; more telling rather than showing — very bland prose.
-predicable plot
-lack of world building (WoT and the Stormlight Archive have raised the bar so high, and when I saw some people comparing Islington to Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan, I had high expectations for this book, and unfortunately it didn’t deliver
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I started reading this book a couple of years ago, but stopped at ~30%, because it felt frustratingly derivative of LOTR and The Wheel of Time. This time, I made sure to push through, and by the 60% mark I was thoroughly enjoying it.
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I feel like I can’t even properly review this book because there is so much that I still don’t know about what is going on. The plot twist at the end shocked me and made me go back and read the prologue again. I loved the characters in this book. I like how many of them are very flawed in ways that make you question if they are good people or not. The main them of this book is control and how much control you can and should have over someone and their actions. We see this in the tenets that now bind the gifted, and in Erran controlling Elocien. Also whether Tal’kamar not allowing himself to remember certain things can control the person “Caeden” will become.
The book makes you question if one can be controlled in moral ways. The people where given good reason to fear the gifted but does that really give them the right to control them?
There is also a discussion in the book regarding the god of the religion in this book El and whether his existence means free will does not exist or if god can exist while allowing free will. “We want to believe that free will means complete independence from the plans of our creator.”
All in all I really enjoyed this book and it seems like one that would be even better on a re-read once you have read the whole series and know the answers to all the mysteries. One thing I am really excited to find out is howDavian gets to be in the state he appears to Asha in.
The book makes you question if one can be controlled in moral ways. The people where given good reason to fear the gifted but does that really give them the right to control them?
There is also a discussion in the book regarding the god of the religion in this book El and whether his existence means free will does not exist or if god can exist while allowing free will. “We want to believe that free will means complete independence from the plans of our creator.”
All in all I really enjoyed this book and it seems like one that would be even better on a re-read once you have read the whole series and know the answers to all the mysteries. One thing I am really excited to find out is how
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
The world is interesting and varied, but the magic system was a bit too soft for me and I couldn't get into the characters enough to really get into the book
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
It read more young adult than I expected, maybe because of the limited scope of the plot and POVs. Very typical heroes journey.