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4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
sad
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
A GREAT Continuation of a Fantastic Series
After now spending a third book in The Bound and the Broken I do believe its safe to see why so many people love Cahill's world. This entry definitely grew the scope of the world in a pretty significant way. We've got new races, new locations, new character POVs and more! With over 800 pages, there was certainly going to be an epic tale unfolding here, and I believe it delivered on that front.
We continue to mostly the exploits of Calen and company, but thankfully Rist and Ella get their fair share of page time this go round. These POVs act as our lulls in the otherwise sine wave like pacing of the story. Calen, Dayne, and Kallinvar act as the peaks... and those peaks come quite often. So often in fact that it can be hard to take in what's happening. While that's not necessary a bad thing, it can make the interweave of the other stories feel a little less than thrilling and ultimately slows some of the pacing down at about the midway point. Despite this aspect I never had much of a qualm about hearing from those characters because I'm genuinely curious as to what their roles will be in the upcoming novels. That being said, Dahlen's POV remains the weakest, but thanks to Belina (who might be the best character in the series thus far), I'm still excited to see where that story unfolds.
As a result of so many new POVs, we get to see more of Epheria and while that is welcome, be prepared to have the map handy because I found myself getting quite lost as to who was where... especially in the middle section of this book as we bounced between characters. Again, this isn't a qualm as more of a warning to those who dive into this chonky boy of a book.
Overall, I'm still excited to dive further into the world and story that is unfolding, and once again, Of Darkness and Light is continuing to build to what I can only assume is a MASSIVE crescendo. Cahill's writing continues to be accessible and light-heated, specifically excelling the humor of some characters (insert another shameless plug for Belina here). I may need to brace myself for the third novel because if you thought this book was big... think again.
Now... before I go... Ryan, if you're seeing this... I need a Knights of Achyron specific novella please. That is all.
*UPDATE --> I've been thinking on this for months... it's a 5/5 now. The novellas have made me like this even more somehow.
After now spending a third book in The Bound and the Broken I do believe its safe to see why so many people love Cahill's world. This entry definitely grew the scope of the world in a pretty significant way. We've got new races, new locations, new character POVs and more! With over 800 pages, there was certainly going to be an epic tale unfolding here, and I believe it delivered on that front.
We continue to mostly the exploits of Calen and company, but thankfully Rist and Ella get their fair share of page time this go round. These POVs act as our lulls in the otherwise sine wave like pacing of the story. Calen, Dayne, and Kallinvar act as the peaks... and those peaks come quite often. So often in fact that it can be hard to take in what's happening. While that's not necessary a bad thing, it can make the interweave of the other stories feel a little less than thrilling and ultimately slows some of the pacing down at about the midway point. Despite this aspect I never had much of a qualm about hearing from those characters because I'm genuinely curious as to what their roles will be in the upcoming novels. That being said, Dahlen's POV remains the weakest, but thanks to Belina (who might be the best character in the series thus far), I'm still excited to see where that story unfolds.
As a result of so many new POVs, we get to see more of Epheria and while that is welcome, be prepared to have the map handy because I found myself getting quite lost as to who was where... especially in the middle section of this book as we bounced between characters. Again, this isn't a qualm as more of a warning to those who dive into this chonky boy of a book.
Overall, I'm still excited to dive further into the world and story that is unfolding, and once again, Of Darkness and Light is continuing to build to what I can only assume is a MASSIVE crescendo. Cahill's writing continues to be accessible and light-heated, specifically excelling the humor of some characters (insert another shameless plug for Belina here). I may need to brace myself for the third novel because if you thought this book was big... think again.
Now... before I go... Ryan, if you're seeing this... I need a Knights of Achyron specific novella please. That is all.
*UPDATE --> I've been thinking on this for months... it's a 5/5 now. The novellas have made me like this even more somehow.
adventurous
challenging
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
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
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:
No
I am so glad I finally got around to Of Darkness and Light, book two in The Bound and the Broken! Part of me wishes I would not have waited so long to read this after finishing Of Blood and Fire, but oh well. This was a really solid second book, but because I waited so long I did spend the first 150-200 pages being confused as to who some of the other characters were and getting reoriented with the story. The middle also felt a little dragged out at times, too. The ending, however, paid off big time and my jaw was on the floor during the last chapter. Cahill’s battle scenes are really well done and descriptive. I also liked the additional lore we got throughout this book. I love Calen and his relationship with Valerys, who is the best dragon ever. I am super excited to read the next novella and start book three!
Pro:
- The plot twist at the end
- I am actually loving the side characters a lot I wish they where the main characters at times
- The fighting scenes are pretty good
Con:
- Needs to be edited a bit more some unnecessary and repetitive dialogue.
- At times the writing and plot seems too tropey and not unique
- Too many pov and became confusing on who was who and their importance.
Other:
- I hope their is more character development for Farda and Ella in of War and Ruin.
- I also wish we had more character development for Rist this book. His POV seemed too short
I hope we get an explanation to Caleb’s Eyes. How being of the old Druid blood plays a role in his and Ella lives. I also hope Rist comes around to the truth of who he believes his mentors to be. Lastly, I knew Arden was the brother!!!!!
4.25 stars.
This is just fun, classic fantasy. Nothing you haven't seen before but nevertheless highly enjoyable.
A few minor gripes:
- author uses the phrase "weak smile" entirely too often, haha.
- these books are pretty safe. Nobody super important has died. People important to the main characters have died but nobody particularly important to the reader.
- tied to that are these situations in the book where there will be a group of 50 or so people and some gnarly shit goes down and like 40 people get snuffed but again, Nobody Important. It starts to stretch credulity.
Otherwise, these books have a lot of heart, are well-paced, and most importantly, fun.
This is just fun, classic fantasy. Nothing you haven't seen before but nevertheless highly enjoyable.
A few minor gripes:
- author uses the phrase "weak smile" entirely too often, haha.
- these books are pretty safe. Nobody super important has died. People important to the main characters have died but nobody particularly important to the reader.
- tied to that are these situations in the book where there will be a group of 50 or so people and some gnarly shit goes down and like 40 people get snuffed but again, Nobody Important. It starts to stretch credulity.
Otherwise, these books have a lot of heart, are well-paced, and most importantly, fun.
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
fast-paced