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4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
Right off the bat, I have to tell you that the grammar in this book is atrocious. There are misplaced modifiers everywhere, missing commas, run-ons, and the semi-colon is almost non-existent. I had to shut off the part of my brain that complains about bad grammar to get through this book. Even then, I wound up mentally correcting the grammar. That was how I got through it.
Beneath all of that, however, is a good story. It's a shame that it's buried because of bad editing. This book would've received five stars for me if not for the aforementioned problems.
Anthony Ryan spins an intriguing, compelling yarn. The writing is good; it's the grammar that gets me. I understand this was self-published, but I'd like to think that once a major publisher picked it up, surely someone would've taken a second look. This book would've been amazing otherwise.
I might read the second book, but perhaps not right away. I need a break--this book required more concentration than normal because I had to mentally "fix" things.
Beneath all of that, however, is a good story. It's a shame that it's buried because of bad editing. This book would've received five stars for me if not for the aforementioned problems.
Anthony Ryan spins an intriguing, compelling yarn. The writing is good; it's the grammar that gets me. I understand this was self-published, but I'd like to think that once a major publisher picked it up, surely someone would've taken a second look. This book would've been amazing otherwise.
I might read the second book, but perhaps not right away. I need a break--this book required more concentration than normal because I had to mentally "fix" things.
fast-paced
Man i did myself a disservice by listening to this one on audio. The narrator wasn't exactly bad, but there wasn't enough variance in his voice. There's a lot of characters, and a lot happening, and a lot of breaks that move the story between times and places. The narrator made it confusing at times as to which character was speaking or where the breaks were. The story therefore felt like it was jumping around a lot and I had to do a lot of rewinding to keep up.
As for the book itself, I found it an enjoyable read with likable characters. There was a lot of information and things were easy to miss though. I will probably continuing to the next one. I might do a reread first though via my kindle just to make sure I didn't miss anything.
As for the book itself, I found it an enjoyable read with likable characters. There was a lot of information and things were easy to miss though. I will probably continuing to the next one. I might do a reread first though via my kindle just to make sure I didn't miss anything.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
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
Truly excellent storytelling, descriptive worldbuilding, and fascinating religion and politics all wrapped up with excellent payoff. Easily a new favorite.
I apparently got the older, unedited version, so the poor sentence structure was distracting but the story was great.
Rating: 3.5 stars.
- Prose: Good. Easy flow, hard to put down, though the grammar (typos, run-on sentences) made the book a bit of a chore to read. Had to double-back several times to understand the gist of a sentence or paragraph.
- World-building: Also fine. A bit fuzzy to visualize, but perfectly serviceable.
- Protagonist: Very likable, though the slow pacing did make Vaelin's actions feel a tad relatively reactionary to me at times. His motivations were difficult to understand every once in a while, but Vaelin is an overall a self-aware guy, so such inconsistencies are forgiveable.
- Finale: The plot twist was kinda mind-twisting, so it made me want to read the next book straight away.
- Overall, very solid start. Gave this book 3.5 stars initially considering how the plot dragged at times and there were a lot of characters, mysteries, and references to keep track of without much payout, but a re-read bumped it up. Lots of tea left to stir in the next book, so that's fun.
Spoilers thoughts: PROS :)
-Great twist at the end. Yikes, that was chilling about Barkus (did NOT suspect him of all people). Tale of the Witch's boy was my favorite part of this book, so pretty happy that came back at the end.
- Also liked the retroactive elucidation of certain events. We pass some of the big moments very quickly, but then later chapters show what reallllly went down in fleshed out detail. Appreciated how this kept the reader in suspense and gave the book more unique structure.
- Also liked how Princess Lyra was the (potentially) the most badass character. Smartest, most cunning, and has the clearest pictures of the corrupt things that are going on in the realm, though this is admittedly a tad one-dimensional. But I liked her platonic thing with Vaelin; nice that she wasn't shoehorned into a romantic thing.
- King Janus seemed a bit one-dimensional (typical cunning bad guy), but Vaelin wonders at one point whether the King has a bigger plan that Vaelin can't see, so maybe the King will have something else up his sleeve? Maybe he's a good guy doing bad things for the greater good?
- Lastly, I most enjoyed the camaraderie and dialogue between the brothers. Didn't expect some of these characters to change in certain ways (i.e. Nortah not being a dick anymore lol), so such nuance was what I responded the most positively to in this book.
Spoilers thoughts: CONS :(
- Pacing dragged at times (a tad bloated) considering that we don't learn much by the end. The author could've rounded out the book by unraveling/addressing at least SOME of the mysteries (i.e. 7th order), tension (i.e. Vaelin finally meeting his father again), or implied history (i.e. between Frentis/Rensial, Caenis/Hutris, etc.) that he alludes to in passing because there were too many mysteries up in the air to keep track of by the end. Not to mention, the plot could've used some big reveals to break up the plodding menial stuff, and the pacing confused me as to these characters' ages - constantly wondering how old they are lol.
- We learn at the end that the war is over. Like, OVER over. Huh, that seemed easy. And King Janus is dead? I thought he was important? Well that's underwhelming.
- Still kinda confused about what Vaelin's blood-song is. I'm sure Vaelin is too, but would still like more clarification about what exactly his gift does and how it works.
- Not huge fan of the romance. I liked Sherin and how she became more chill after she gained confidence, but I would've liked more decisive chemistry between her and Vaelin before the romance kicked in. Kinda predictable from the start that it would end up this way b/t them.
- Oh, I also didn't like how Dentos' death was what spurred Vaelin and Sherin to have sex. Kinda weirded out by this. It also undermines the weight of Dentos' death upon Vaelin - should've shown the brothers having a funeral and mourning together or something, not the sex scene.
- Lastly, Vaelin is a very likable guy, but some of his decisions felt jarringly reactionary to me at times. The way that he tried to kill Nortah just because "it's the law," his dedication to the King or Order, his random quickness to anger, the way that he sidles up to the king with a request and comes away accepting his corrupt orders like it's nothing, his ease into leadership/war/killing, the way that he just falls for Sherin without much chemistry, his weird decision not to finish his blood song/masonry (also, I'm surprised that Vaelin wasn't more confused by his gift)...
***This is where the inconsistent pacing affects Vaelin's character. In many aspects, the author shows Vaelin being extremely self-aware (thanks to the slow plotting), but when it comes to the big character or plot moments, there isn't as much time dedicated to showing characters struggling to make critical decisions (i.e., Vaelin deciding to lead the bloody war against other cities despite being morally iffy about it) or mourning certain deaths (i.e. Dentos). There should have been more weight given to Vaelin's inner struggles and conflicts over his menial everyday actions, and this lack of balance was what kept me from truly understanding Vaelin's priorities, desires, and motivations. It's also what kept this book from being a strong 5 stars for me.
Residual thoughts...
- I wanna see more of Vaelin's family (his sis, father, step-mom). I mean, yeeesh let's get this party started already.
- Soooo was Barkus always being controlled by the demon thing? Really doubt it, so why did Vaelin kill him instead of trying to restrain/capture him? Hum. :/
- Ironic how Nortah grew to become my favorite character in the book. Weird. (But he's the most well-fleshed out imo, and his motivations are nuanced and clear, so it makes sense.)
- Caenis makes me nervous. Is he gonna become a religiously devoted soldier who can't listen to reason? Is he gonna turn into a bad-ish guy?
- lmao remembering that awkward scene where Vaelin asks a Sister to cure the prostitutes' camp of pox so his men can keep up their morales without fear of contamination. hahahaha
"He was right, Barkus. You shouldn't tell anyone. You rpobably shouldn't have told me."
"Why, going to kill me are you?"
Vaelin smiled grimly. "Well, not today."
- Prose: Good. Easy flow, hard to put down, though the grammar (typos, run-on sentences) made the book a bit of a chore to read. Had to double-back several times to understand the gist of a sentence or paragraph.
- World-building: Also fine. A bit fuzzy to visualize, but perfectly serviceable.
- Protagonist: Very likable, though the slow pacing did make Vaelin's actions feel a tad relatively reactionary to me at times. His motivations were difficult to understand every once in a while, but Vaelin is an overall a self-aware guy, so such inconsistencies are forgiveable.
- Finale: The plot twist was kinda mind-twisting, so it made me want to read the next book straight away.
- Overall, very solid start. Gave this book 3.5 stars initially considering how the plot dragged at times and there were a lot of characters, mysteries, and references to keep track of without much payout, but a re-read bumped it up. Lots of tea left to stir in the next book, so that's fun.
Spoilers thoughts: PROS :)
-Great twist at the end. Yikes, that was chilling about Barkus (did NOT suspect him of all people). Tale of the Witch's boy was my favorite part of this book, so pretty happy that came back at the end.
- Also liked the retroactive elucidation of certain events. We pass some of the big moments very quickly, but then later chapters show what reallllly went down in fleshed out detail. Appreciated how this kept the reader in suspense and gave the book more unique structure.
- Also liked how Princess Lyra was the (potentially) the most badass character. Smartest, most cunning, and has the clearest pictures of the corrupt things that are going on in the realm, though this is admittedly a tad one-dimensional. But I liked her platonic thing with Vaelin; nice that she wasn't shoehorned into a romantic thing.
- King Janus seemed a bit one-dimensional (typical cunning bad guy), but Vaelin wonders at one point whether the King has a bigger plan that Vaelin can't see, so maybe the King will have something else up his sleeve? Maybe he's a good guy doing bad things for the greater good?
- Lastly, I most enjoyed the camaraderie and dialogue between the brothers. Didn't expect some of these characters to change in certain ways (i.e. Nortah not being a dick anymore lol), so such nuance was what I responded the most positively to in this book.
Spoilers thoughts: CONS :(
- Pacing dragged at times (a tad bloated) considering that we don't learn much by the end. The author could've rounded out the book by unraveling/addressing at least SOME of the mysteries (i.e. 7th order), tension (i.e. Vaelin finally meeting his father again), or implied history (i.e. between Frentis/Rensial, Caenis/Hutris, etc.) that he alludes to in passing because there were too many mysteries up in the air to keep track of by the end. Not to mention, the plot could've used some big reveals to break up the plodding menial stuff, and the pacing confused me as to these characters' ages - constantly wondering how old they are lol.
- We learn at the end that the war is over. Like, OVER over. Huh, that seemed easy. And King Janus is dead? I thought he was important? Well that's underwhelming.
- Still kinda confused about what Vaelin's blood-song is. I'm sure Vaelin is too, but would still like more clarification about what exactly his gift does and how it works.
- Not huge fan of the romance. I liked Sherin and how she became more chill after she gained confidence, but I would've liked more decisive chemistry between her and Vaelin before the romance kicked in. Kinda predictable from the start that it would end up this way b/t them.
- Oh, I also didn't like how Dentos' death was what spurred Vaelin and Sherin to have sex. Kinda weirded out by this. It also undermines the weight of Dentos' death upon Vaelin - should've shown the brothers having a funeral and mourning together or something, not the sex scene.
- Lastly, Vaelin is a very likable guy, but some of his decisions felt jarringly reactionary to me at times. The way that he tried to kill Nortah just because "it's the law," his dedication to the King or Order, his random quickness to anger, the way that he sidles up to the king with a request and comes away accepting his corrupt orders like it's nothing, his ease into leadership/war/killing, the way that he just falls for Sherin without much chemistry, his weird decision not to finish his blood song/masonry (also, I'm surprised that Vaelin wasn't more confused by his gift)...
***This is where the inconsistent pacing affects Vaelin's character. In many aspects, the author shows Vaelin being extremely self-aware (thanks to the slow plotting), but when it comes to the big character or plot moments, there isn't as much time dedicated to showing characters struggling to make critical decisions (i.e., Vaelin deciding to lead the bloody war against other cities despite being morally iffy about it) or mourning certain deaths (i.e. Dentos). There should have been more weight given to Vaelin's inner struggles and conflicts over his menial everyday actions, and this lack of balance was what kept me from truly understanding Vaelin's priorities, desires, and motivations. It's also what kept this book from being a strong 5 stars for me.
Residual thoughts...
- I wanna see more of Vaelin's family (his sis, father, step-mom). I mean, yeeesh let's get this party started already.
- Soooo was Barkus always being controlled by the demon thing? Really doubt it, so why did Vaelin kill him instead of trying to restrain/capture him? Hum. :/
- Ironic how Nortah grew to become my favorite character in the book. Weird. (But he's the most well-fleshed out imo, and his motivations are nuanced and clear, so it makes sense.)
- Caenis makes me nervous. Is he gonna become a religiously devoted soldier who can't listen to reason? Is he gonna turn into a bad-ish guy?
- lmao remembering that awkward scene where Vaelin asks a Sister to cure the prostitutes' camp of pox so his men can keep up their morales without fear of contamination. hahahaha
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
I am forever searching for new author's that can fulfil my addiction for quality epic fantasy, unfortunately there are so few authors who have the ability to not only create a new world but also have the brilliance of bringing the characters and that world to life.
The greatest joy I have is finding a new author who has done just that. Mr Ryan (not his real name) has created a superb work of fantasy and I loved every minute of this book. Incredibly he had to publish the book himself.
I for one am completely biased against self published authors and have never read a book by one before. Thanks to the interview in fantasybookcritic and reading a few of the many review on amazon.com I decided to give this book a try. Now that biase has been well and truly put to bed, I hope this guy continue's to self publish and he deserves to be a continued success. Cannot wait for the next book.
The greatest joy I have is finding a new author who has done just that. Mr Ryan (not his real name) has created a superb work of fantasy and I loved every minute of this book. Incredibly he had to publish the book himself.
I for one am completely biased against self published authors and have never read a book by one before. Thanks to the interview in fantasybookcritic and reading a few of the many review on amazon.com I decided to give this book a try. Now that biase has been well and truly put to bed, I hope this guy continue's to self publish and he deserves to be a continued success. Cannot wait for the next book.