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witchylevy's review
5.0
This started out a bit here-and-there and a bit confusing. But once you understand the story a bit, a few chapters in, you understand the prelude. I have to say this kept me on the edge of my seat. It hints at being post world war in the distant future. Makes me think maybe our world, with the supernatural as real as everything else. Prophecy has two children taken from their parents and raised to essentially save the world. One as the powerful one and one as the guardian. Can't wait to read more.
myaddiction's review
3.0
This book had up and down moments. Didn't like how the writer reduced Jade's presence. Will aim to read the next book in the series.
booksandladders's review
3.0
Pretty generic fantasy novel. There was nothing special about the characters and the "plot twists" were clearly laid out for the reader in advance. The writing wasn't that great, lots of overstated sentences and unnecessary punctuation. In my opinion there was too much "telling" and not enough showing. A lot of this story could have been extended to fully flesh out both the plot and the characters.
Like I said, the characters were so generic and boring. There was nothing that really distinguished one from the other except for their names.
Jade: Seemed interesting at first but then became the typical "I am an assassin that is clearly here as a love interest"
Jacob: Typical playboy sidekick who is still a good fighter and like a "brother" to the main character
Eric: So boring. For being the lead and the "Gate Keeper" (whatever that is -- there are so many prophecies and everyone knows them but the reader doesn't have a clue what is going on), he is actually not that interesting. The most exciting he got was having a one night stand with the enemy tbh. And that was like Chapter 2.
Morcel: What a waste of a character. Considering he is the first character we meet and he is barely in the novel at all, there is no point in even including him. It did nothing to either (a) move the plot forward, or (b) add complexity to another character.
The tone was really shaky and it was difficult sometimes to determine which "point of view" we were seeing the story from as it quickly shifted -- without warning, I might add -- from one character to another in the middle of a scene.
The world-building was horrendous. Like I don't need to know about the economic breakdown of each and every town that the characters go through. Saying "this town does trade" is enough for me (and most people) to realize that they have a solid economy in this town. It is really unnecessary to have any more description than that.
Also the descriptions of literally everything made me want to claw my eyes out. I get that you want to be descriptive and paint a picture for the reader but too much detail is not a good thing, trust me. You know what is?? Giving enough of a picture that the reader can imagine the rest.
Overall: 2.5/5 stars but rounded up for the star counter. I probably will finish this series only because I can't leave things unfinished but I am not looking forward to it, if I am being honest. It is too generic of a story that is basically a lot of other fantasy plot lines mixed together to create a big heaping mess. Honestly I could complain for a while about this one, but just read my status updates. There are some spoilers in there ish but it was frustrating.
Like I said, the characters were so generic and boring. There was nothing that really distinguished one from the other except for their names.
Jade: Seemed interesting at first but then became the typical "I am an assassin that is clearly here as a love interest"
Jacob: Typical playboy sidekick who is still a good fighter and like a "brother" to the main character
Eric: So boring. For being the lead and the "Gate Keeper" (whatever that is -- there are so many prophecies and everyone knows them but the reader doesn't have a clue what is going on), he is actually not that interesting. The most exciting he got was having a one night stand with the enemy tbh. And that was like Chapter 2.
Morcel: What a waste of a character. Considering he is the first character we meet and he is barely in the novel at all, there is no point in even including him. It did nothing to either (a) move the plot forward, or (b) add complexity to another character.
The tone was really shaky and it was difficult sometimes to determine which "point of view" we were seeing the story from as it quickly shifted -- without warning, I might add -- from one character to another in the middle of a scene.
The world-building was horrendous. Like I don't need to know about the economic breakdown of each and every town that the characters go through. Saying "this town does trade" is enough for me (and most people) to realize that they have a solid economy in this town. It is really unnecessary to have any more description than that.
Also the descriptions of literally everything made me want to claw my eyes out. I get that you want to be descriptive and paint a picture for the reader but too much detail is not a good thing, trust me. You know what is?? Giving enough of a picture that the reader can imagine the rest.
Overall: 2.5/5 stars but rounded up for the star counter. I probably will finish this series only because I can't leave things unfinished but I am not looking forward to it, if I am being honest. It is too generic of a story that is basically a lot of other fantasy plot lines mixed together to create a big heaping mess. Honestly I could complain for a while about this one, but just read my status updates. There are some spoilers in there ish but it was frustrating.
mrose21's review
1.0
Another one I do not remember haha.
If I've DNF, and rated it a 1 star I probably didn't like it (you know get that feeling!)
If I've DNF, and rated it a 1 star I probably didn't like it (you know get that feeling!)
expatamber's review
4.0
If you can make it past the half-way mark, you're home free. The writing is a little rough around the edges, but the story shines through in the end. I will definitely continue the series, especially since book #2 was only a dollar.
ley2003grad's review
1.0
This was hard to read and it seems real slow. I just couldn't finish it. I stopped after the second chapter, not being able to force myself to finish. I think the author needs to reorganize and then get it reedited. Something just isn't right here.
valie's review
1.0
Read this as part of the Fourteen Epic Fantasy bundle.
I was very disappointed in this book, especially after having paused the bundle to read the sequels to the previous book in the bundle, so good that it was.
The book has several major problems, the least of which being the highly cliche plot, storyline and characters.
The story could have been simple and OK and still be entertaining, but all the problems only made me wish it ended already so I could move on.
There's a lot of info dumping, especially about culture and society, but not once in the book did the reader get to read the so famous prophecy and truly understand what is going on.
The characters are inconsistent and I couldn't relate to a single one of them. They were poorly constructed, as was the world around them.
The group doesn't ever face any real threats, but act like they've been "going through hell" all the time. The bad guys are incompetent enough that it's easy to escape.
The MC spends over half the book denying he's the Chosen One, and nobody ever tells him what he's supposed to do, or how to do it, or how is he supposed to learn to use/control his famous powers, but in less than a week and only two attempts he has mastered his powers and can save the day quite easily.
Apart from all of that, the text is full of editing and writing problems almost to the point of being unreadable. Grammar, spelling and sentence structure made the text hard to flow and the constant and unannounced changes of POV made it very, very confusing.
I will not be reading any of the sequels.
I was very disappointed in this book, especially after having paused the bundle to read the sequels to the previous book in the bundle, so good that it was.
The book has several major problems, the least of which being the highly cliche plot, storyline and characters.
The story could have been simple and OK and still be entertaining, but all the problems only made me wish it ended already so I could move on.
There's a lot of info dumping, especially about culture and society, but not once in the book did the reader get to read the so famous prophecy and truly understand what is going on.
The characters are inconsistent and I couldn't relate to a single one of them. They were poorly constructed, as was the world around them.
The group doesn't ever face any real threats, but act like they've been "going through hell" all the time. The bad guys are incompetent enough that it's easy to escape.
The MC spends over half the book denying he's the Chosen One, and nobody ever tells him what he's supposed to do, or how to do it, or how is he supposed to learn to use/control his famous powers, but in less than a week and only two attempts he has mastered his powers and can save the day quite easily.
Apart from all of that, the text is full of editing and writing problems almost to the point of being unreadable. Grammar, spelling and sentence structure made the text hard to flow and the constant and unannounced changes of POV made it very, very confusing.
I will not be reading any of the sequels.
aprilreadsbooks's review
2.0
the plot and the story were fascinating, but the interplay between characters seemed forced. You could not see the connection between love interests, you were just told it was there and had to assume it must be very very subtle clues. If character developement and interplay wasn't as is, it would have been a 4/5.
amia's review
4.0
I enjoyed it very much and was surprised several times by the creativity of the author. Be prepared though for a very explicitly violent scene that might be very upsetting. I would not recommend for teenagers.
ragne's review
3.0
Not really sure if I liked it. I didn't expect much when I started reading it, but at the beginning, I was drawn in to the story. The language and the story fascinated me. However, it soon became predictable. I've read the story before. Man is born to save humankind, brought up by a man who turns out to not be his father. He's even a shy blacksmith, which just gave me the Wheel of Time-feeling way too much.
The first character we meet, a mercenary, is interesting, but we don't see him much during the rest of the book. The other characters are sort of bland. I didn't get get any feeling for them. The dialogues and other character interaction, just feels forced and hurried. There's just no time to get that sort of relationship in that short a time. Especially with that beginning. And the queen? My God! that's just not a probable character at all!
However, at times, the writing is brilliant. It's just that it's brilliant when it's got nothing to do with the characters, or when there's fighting scenes. And, of course, the spelling mistakes and the sometimes horrible grammar takes something away from that.
This was a free Kindle-edition, and I'm not sure I will bother to spend money on, or read at all, the next books. It's sad, because I think the author could have written a really good book. If he'd just taken the time to let the readers get to know the characters and the world, and if everything would happen in a more probable period of time.
The first character we meet, a mercenary, is interesting, but we don't see him much during the rest of the book. The other characters are sort of bland. I didn't get get any feeling for them. The dialogues and other character interaction, just feels forced and hurried. There's just no time to get that sort of relationship in that short a time. Especially with that beginning. And the queen? My God! that's just not a probable character at all!
However, at times, the writing is brilliant. It's just that it's brilliant when it's got nothing to do with the characters, or when there's fighting scenes. And, of course, the spelling mistakes and the sometimes horrible grammar takes something away from that.
This was a free Kindle-edition, and I'm not sure I will bother to spend money on, or read at all, the next books. It's sad, because I think the author could have written a really good book. If he'd just taken the time to let the readers get to know the characters and the world, and if everything would happen in a more probable period of time.