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3.1 AVERAGE
3.1 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Ugghhh, I wanted to like this SO MUCH MORE than I actually did. First, I am not a huge fan of Epic Fantasy, which this is, with all the cultures and people and politics and relationships and religion that goes with it. A lot of it felt needlessly confusing and just Too Much. I do really like the non-Western setting, and the powerful, smart heroine, but a lot of the world building just didn't do it for me.
The story started to really pick up towards the end, and was very action packed (FINALLY!), but then it ended on a MAJOR cliffhanger.
I think this a well written book, but it wasn't for me.
The story started to really pick up towards the end, and was very action packed (FINALLY!), but then it ended on a MAJOR cliffhanger.
I think this a well written book, but it wasn't for me.
DNF. Really struggled with this one, as I wanted to like it. But the characters just didn't engage me, and they didn't seem to behave or interact like actual human beings.
It also seemed way too much like a video game, with the various quests and challenges. Start by saving the slaves, rescuing the boy. Travel to city, get cloak (first enlist help of old lover, who is randomly running a bar, and somehow she knew that?).
The Bloodprint quest just boggled my mind with its various challenges. (A tower that destroys itself after you figure out the puzzle!) I kept putting the book aside, then forcing myself to come back to it. Eventually this just seemed to be a waste of time.
It also seemed way too much like a video game, with the various quests and challenges. Start by saving the slaves, rescuing the boy. Travel to city, get cloak (first enlist help of old lover, who is randomly running a bar, and somehow she knew that?).
The Bloodprint quest just boggled my mind with its various challenges. (A tower that destroys itself after you figure out the puzzle!) I kept putting the book aside, then forcing myself to come back to it. Eventually this just seemed to be a waste of time.
This was a painful slog, even though on the surface it was completely up my alley. I found the characters flat, the plot interesting but meandering, and the pacing absolutely terrible. I will not be wasting my time on the sequel. The best thing that could possibly happen in this series is its end.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to love this book but the pacing didn't work for me and while the world created was vivid there wasn't enough explanation to the worldbuilding. There was also a very problematic ableist trope used for one of the villain characters (see content warnings if you would like to know what it was) and this took the book down a star for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Torture, Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping
A generic fantasy novel with a South West Asian setting. Book burning and the oppression of women as per. Doesn't have an ending to be read as a standalone.
2 and a half stars rounded up.
2 and a half stars rounded up.
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Dnf @ 14%
Main character is interesting but I had a few issues
Mainly the info dumping. It oscillates between dropping loads of terms we have no idea what they mean, and hyper explaining random things. Half the time it’s not clear why I am meant to care about what is happening.
Character names are thrown around and I had no idea who was who either or their significance. I wish they’d spent a bit longer just introducing us to the world instead of info dumping. So I decided this wasn’t for me.
Main character is interesting but I had a few issues
Mainly the info dumping. It oscillates between dropping loads of terms we have no idea what they mean, and hyper explaining random things. Half the time it’s not clear why I am meant to care about what is happening.
Character names are thrown around and I had no idea who was who either or their significance. I wish they’d spent a bit longer just introducing us to the world instead of info dumping. So I decided this wasn’t for me.
Yeah, nah. Setting aside at page 72 (start of chapter 10) because I'm just not feeling it. There's a stark, pared-back quality to the prose, omniscient and almost fablesome, that reminds me of old-school sword-and-sorcery, but for me it lacks emotional immediacy. The parts of Arian's story I'm most interested in - her relationships, and the politics of the Companions and wider world - seem secondary concerns of the plot, and I'm not so interested in the questing into dangers to retrieve the McGuffin. But for a different reader, this might be just the ticket! Old-school style, new-world sensibilities.
I can’t decide if I want to rate it 2.5 or 3 stars... for the most part I found the book kind of confusing and it could have been a lot better if the world had been built better. I had no idea what was so important about the claim, and I found I didn’t really care? And I think the author did a lot of telling instead of showing... plus, I didn’t like that there were SO MANY different names for places and people. The author often would refer to it as one name, “but also known as”... (whatever it’s other name is). The book definitely had potential and I found towards the end it was picking up, but I was just a bit disappointed :/