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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Probably shouldn't write reviews in the middle of the night while severely sleep deprived but here we go!
Having found out who really killed her father, Adare flee from Annur in hopes to find allies and raise an army. Thing doesn’t go completely according to her plans but along the way she strikes friendship with two unlikely people. Then there’s the thing where she is believed to be a prophet, touched by the goddess Intarra herself. With the Sons of Flames at her side she marches back at Annur, learns that the Urghul, a people outside the empire is preparing an invasion and she has to join forces with the kenerang Il Tornja, the man who murdered her father.
Right after meeting each other Valyn and Kaden split up, Kaden to travel to the Ishien to learn more about the Csestriim and form an alliance with the monks, and Valyn to travel to Annur to talk to Adare and prepare for Kaden's safe return. They leave during bad circumstances and have no idea whether the other one made it out alive or not.
Kaden's travel to Ishien with Tan and Triste turned out to be a big mistake and he flees to Annur with Triste and a Csestriim. Valyn and his wing gets captured by the Urghul. Their leader tells Valyn about Il Tornja and that his people had a deal with Sanlitun about a peace treaty which Il Tornja wanted to break and has Valyn sort of joining his own forces to march against the kenerang.
And while Adare and Valyn are unknowingly marching against each other, Kaden has made it to Annur where he has his own plans for the unhewn throne and future of the whole empire.
A LOT more happened in this book compared to the first part. Still it felt slow and dragged on places. Even so, progress were made all the time (which can't be said about the first book where actual progress happened later in the book, but the first book focused much more on establishment and world building).
Of the three siblings, Kaden is so far the most likeable. I never really liked Valyn during the first book, even though in that one he had the best chapters. Sadly, he did not grow on me in this book. I like the members of his wings a lot though. And was very happy when Gwenna got her own chapters halfway through the book. And Pyrre is a gift from above. Wished Annick could have gotten more space. I had some difficulties with Adare, even though I in the beginning liked that she had more chapters. All went smooth in the beginning until she returned to Annur and swallowed Adiv’s lies. After that I felt I was starting to lose her.
Should be interesting to see how this all ends, with the three siblings having different goals in mind and all the different people having a brick in the game.
Having found out who really killed her father, Adare flee from Annur in hopes to find allies and raise an army. Thing doesn’t go completely according to her plans but along the way she strikes friendship with two unlikely people. Then there’s the thing where she is believed to be a prophet, touched by the goddess Intarra herself. With the Sons of Flames at her side she marches back at Annur, learns that the Urghul, a people outside the empire is preparing an invasion and she has to join forces with the kenerang Il Tornja, the man who murdered her father.
Right after meeting each other Valyn and Kaden split up, Kaden to travel to the Ishien to learn more about the Csestriim and form an alliance with the monks, and Valyn to travel to Annur to talk to Adare and prepare for Kaden's safe return. They leave during bad circumstances and have no idea whether the other one made it out alive or not.
Kaden's travel to Ishien with Tan and Triste turned out to be a big mistake and he flees to Annur with Triste and a Csestriim. Valyn and his wing gets captured by the Urghul. Their leader tells Valyn about Il Tornja and that his people had a deal with Sanlitun about a peace treaty which Il Tornja wanted to break and has Valyn sort of joining his own forces to march against the kenerang.
And while Adare and Valyn are unknowingly marching against each other, Kaden has made it to Annur where he has his own plans for the unhewn throne and future of the whole empire.
A LOT more happened in this book compared to the first part. Still it felt slow and dragged on places. Even so, progress were made all the time (which can't be said about the first book where actual progress happened later in the book, but the first book focused much more on establishment and world building).
Of the three siblings, Kaden is so far the most likeable. I never really liked Valyn during the first book, even though in that one he had the best chapters. Sadly, he did not grow on me in this book. I like the members of his wings a lot though. And was very happy when Gwenna got her own chapters halfway through the book. And Pyrre is a gift from above. Wished Annick could have gotten more space. I had some difficulties with Adare, even though I in the beginning liked that she had more chapters. All went smooth in the beginning until she returned to Annur and swallowed Adiv’s lies. After that I felt I was starting to lose her.
Should be interesting to see how this all ends, with the three siblings having different goals in mind and all the different people having a brick in the game.
adventurous
dark
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:
Complicated
Better. They're all still the worst batch of idiots, but it's better. Almost brilliant. When a goatfuck evolves so spectacularly into a preternatural clusterfuck, you just have to applaud the mastermind behind it.
2.5 out of 5 stars -- see this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.
Picking up where series-starter The Emperor’s Blades left off, siblings Adare, Valyn, and Kaden, continue their fight to save the Annurian Empire. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the first book, but any goodwill that carried over to book #2 quickly evaporated. Gone are the training sequences, monk wisdom, and black ops action scenes that made the first book so absorbing. There is more bloodshed, fighting, and military maneuvering here, and the scope has expanded to such a degree that more intimate, personal narratives are left in the dust.
I had seen some stellar reviews from people I trust, but this didn’t end up being for me. I don’t think I’ll finish the trilogy, but I am intrigued by Skullsworn, a prequel novel that focuses on Pyrre, an assassin that has been a fun side character in this series. I have faith in Brian Staveley as an author and I hope my dislike The Providence of Fire came more from the story evolving out of my comfort zone, than from the quality of the narrative he is telling.
Picking up where series-starter The Emperor’s Blades left off, siblings Adare, Valyn, and Kaden, continue their fight to save the Annurian Empire. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the first book, but any goodwill that carried over to book #2 quickly evaporated. Gone are the training sequences, monk wisdom, and black ops action scenes that made the first book so absorbing. There is more bloodshed, fighting, and military maneuvering here, and the scope has expanded to such a degree that more intimate, personal narratives are left in the dust.
I had seen some stellar reviews from people I trust, but this didn’t end up being for me. I don’t think I’ll finish the trilogy, but I am intrigued by Skullsworn, a prequel novel that focuses on Pyrre, an assassin that has been a fun side character in this series. I have faith in Brian Staveley as an author and I hope my dislike The Providence of Fire came more from the story evolving out of my comfort zone, than from the quality of the narrative he is telling.
Pretty weak. The first volume had some trope problems, and the protagonists were all stupid lucky. This one... it seemed like all the protagonists were just making the most ridiculous possible decisions and jumping to the most ridiculous conclusions, even in the face of someone going "wait, what are you doing!?" The author tried to set up reasonings, but it *felt* like the real reason was because in the second book of a series you're "supposed to" put all your main characters in difficult/untenable positions.
Decidedly "meh."
Decidedly "meh."