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vigneshs's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
It always feels wonderful when i read a self published book especially one with a unique story such as The Lost War.
The Lost War takes place in a Dark Fantasy world where the war has just finished and now is the time for cleanup and prepare for a possible new war looming on the horizon. The Land is filled with disease and demons where the characters has to travel from the capital city to another city far off to protect a queen of another country to potentially secure their alliance in the future war.
The book has equal importance to the characters and the world building with a nice pacing to support them. Each character represents something in this story and each of them bring a unique perspective to the issue at hand. I am very glad that i could read a book like this and after that climax, i really need book 2 soon.
The Lost War takes place in a Dark Fantasy world where the war has just finished and now is the time for cleanup and prepare for a possible new war looming on the horizon. The Land is filled with disease and demons where the characters has to travel from the capital city to another city far off to protect a queen of another country to potentially secure their alliance in the future war.
The book has equal importance to the characters and the world building with a nice pacing to support them. Each character represents something in this story and each of them bring a unique perspective to the issue at hand. I am very glad that i could read a book like this and after that climax, i really need book 2 soon.
zeddee's review
3.0
I almost put this book away. The beginning was very slow-paced, with the main character only having an overarching goal about one-third into the book. Before that, the main character is assigned a mission and it seemed like he didn't really want to do it, so he meandered about doing other stuff until he stumbled onto the main quest as it were.
While the reason for this is kind of explained at the end, it still made for a boring read. I can't help but think that maybe the book should have started at a later point in the story.
There were also some infodumps that didn't tie into the characters in any way, being just descriptions of things that happened in the past to a certain place. I personally can't recall any of the details of such infodumps. If the characters don't care about that information, I don't either.
The beginning of the book also employed this third-person omniscient style that made it hard for me to follow the story. I had to reread whole paragraphs at certain points because there were too many perspective shifts and I kind of lost track. For example, a paragraph would start off with character A doing something. Then later on in the same paragraph, character A would be referred to as "the archer". For a moment there I thought there were two archers, because who refers to themselves as "the archer"? But actually, the perspective had shifted to character B and it was B referring to A as "the archer".
But the fight scenes seemed to be written in third-person limited, which made them really easy to follow and totally engrossing for me. The latter half of the book also seemed to forgo perspective shifts in the same paragraph, so either I got used to it or the writing became more focused.
Overall, there were some grim and macabre moments that I totally enjoyed. The writing is solid; I only found one typo near the 36% mark ("Nowt") and a mistake near the end where the author used "his eyes turned black" when I think it was supposed to be "his vision turned black".
And while the premise revealed by the ending is quite interesting, I don't think this story is the best way to deal with the premise. Also, most of the revelation was told rather than shown. The weak ending, along with the weak beginning, make it hard for me to recommend this book.
While the reason for this is kind of explained at the end, it still made for a boring read. I can't help but think that maybe the book should have started at a later point in the story.
There were also some infodumps that didn't tie into the characters in any way, being just descriptions of things that happened in the past to a certain place. I personally can't recall any of the details of such infodumps. If the characters don't care about that information, I don't either.
The beginning of the book also employed this third-person omniscient style that made it hard for me to follow the story. I had to reread whole paragraphs at certain points because there were too many perspective shifts and I kind of lost track. For example, a paragraph would start off with character A doing something. Then later on in the same paragraph, character A would be referred to as "the archer". For a moment there I thought there were two archers, because who refers to themselves as "the archer"? But actually, the perspective had shifted to character B and it was B referring to A as "the archer".
But the fight scenes seemed to be written in third-person limited, which made them really easy to follow and totally engrossing for me. The latter half of the book also seemed to forgo perspective shifts in the same paragraph, so either I got used to it or the writing became more focused.
Overall, there were some grim and macabre moments that I totally enjoyed. The writing is solid; I only found one typo near the 36% mark ("Nowt") and a mistake near the end where the author used "his eyes turned black" when I think it was supposed to be "his vision turned black".
And while the premise revealed by the ending is quite interesting, I don't think this story is the best way to deal with the premise. Also, most of the revelation was told rather than shown. The weak ending, along with the weak beginning, make it hard for me to recommend this book.
steph_sosa's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
vikcs's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
fast-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? It's complicated
4.25
shaekin's review against another edition
4.0
My rating is probably closer to a 3.5. I liked the plot, but some of the execution felt choppy. Switching between characters wasn't incredibly clear, some of the foreshadowing was awkward, and I don't feel incredibly connected with any of the characters. However, some of the world building was very interesting, and there were numerous scenes that were incredibly well written. I'll probably pick up the next book in the series and give it a try.
leeleet's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
kitvaria_sarene's review against another edition
5.0
This was good fun! Felt quite a bit like the traditional quest sort of fantasy, which I have rarely read lately, so if was a really nice change on pace and style!
I love the magic in this, with different talents for air, or fire, or illusions... It's obviously not a new idea, but I haven't read it in newer books, so it didn't feel tropey anymore. I especially loved the Draoidh!
The characters were exactly my cup of tea, and their humour worked well for me. At times they are a bit too good and naive, but not so much that it would have bothered me.
There's a nice twist at the end, but I liked some earlier twist even a lot more. Won't say more about that to not spoil anything though!
So all in all a good mix of mystery, action, friendships and growing relations, twists and turns, a nice quest and a troop of characters that had me feel right at home.
Will definitely pick up more of this author!
I love the magic in this, with different talents for air, or fire, or illusions... It's obviously not a new idea, but I haven't read it in newer books, so it didn't feel tropey anymore. I especially loved the Draoidh!
The characters were exactly my cup of tea, and their humour worked well for me. At times they are a bit too good and naive, but not so much that it would have bothered me.
There's a nice twist at the end, but I liked some earlier twist even a lot more. Won't say more about that to not spoil anything though!
So all in all a good mix of mystery, action, friendships and growing relations, twists and turns, a nice quest and a troop of characters that had me feel right at home.
Will definitely pick up more of this author!
seanorrhea's review
3.0
So, first things first. This was a very interesting plot, the twist near the end felt just a BIT out of nowhere, but I'm sure on a reread (which I will do eventually I'm sure) I will be able to see it coming, but we shall see. My main issue with this book was the fact that the setting didn't work very well for me, which is why I am not going to mark it a whole star down, however, I had a hard time with some of the terminology, which I think was Welsh inspired (I may be wrong, but that is what it felt like) and I didn't connect super strongly to any character in particular.
The twist that this book seems to be known for, unlike a certain film director that everyone clowns on every time they are mentioned, was the major highlight of the book for me.
I am usually a plot driven reader, followed by character, but when the later is lacking, the former is just a d&d campaign that could have had some much more interesting characters involved.
I didn't love this, nor did I dislike this. So a 3/5 seems like a fair score. I'm looking forward to checking out more of Andersons books in the future.
Last thing, this ARC was given to me by netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. As always, thank you netgalley, and Orbit in this particular case for the review copy!
The twist that this book seems to be known for, unlike a certain film director that everyone clowns on every time they are mentioned, was the major highlight of the book for me.
I am usually a plot driven reader, followed by character, but when the later is lacking, the former is just a d&d campaign that could have had some much more interesting characters involved.
I didn't love this, nor did I dislike this. So a 3/5 seems like a fair score. I'm looking forward to checking out more of Andersons books in the future.
Last thing, this ARC was given to me by netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. As always, thank you netgalley, and Orbit in this particular case for the review copy!