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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
Good epic fantasy
This has everything:
Magic
Political schemes
Bastard's sons
Magical mcguffins
Sword fights
Non human races
And of course ten different characters with almost the same name, but it is spelled slightly different.
It's a good book, it really is, but I had such a hard time remembering who was who, because of the similar names.
To be completely honest, I'm not a hundred percent sure that I actually know what happened. I can't summarize this book, because there are a bunch of historical stuff that are important to the plot but the explanations are to vague and there are a lot of people that are important but I don't really understand who they are and why are they so mad...
I do appreciate the treatment of gender and sexuality and I did understand enough to really care about the main character but is was so hard that I had to take of a star
This has everything:
Magic
Political schemes
Bastard's sons
Magical mcguffins
Sword fights
Non human races
And of course ten different characters with almost the same name, but it is spelled slightly different.
It's a good book, it really is, but I had such a hard time remembering who was who, because of the similar names.
To be completely honest, I'm not a hundred percent sure that I actually know what happened. I can't summarize this book, because there are a bunch of historical stuff that are important to the plot but the explanations are to vague and there are a lot of people that are important but I don't really understand who they are and why are they so mad...
I do appreciate the treatment of gender and sexuality and I did understand enough to really care about the main character but is was so hard that I had to take of a star
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Hard to get into the world and characters.
The audiobook is 27 hours long and I loved every second of it.
My only complaint is that the plot hinges on a series of events that happened in the past, which are presented in bits and pieces throughout the story. It's a lot of names and families and people related to each other (or pretending to be), and it can get a bit confusing. In any case, it wasn't bad enough to keep me from enjoying the book!
I adore Kihrin with my whole heart, and if my ship doesn't sail in the next book, I WILL cry.
My only complaint is that the plot hinges on a series of events that happened in the past, which are presented in bits and pieces throughout the story. It's a lot of names and families and people related to each other (or pretending to be), and it can get a bit confusing. In any case, it wasn't bad enough to keep me from enjoying the book!
I adore Kihrin with my whole heart, and if my ship doesn't sail in the next book, I WILL cry.
adventurous
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:
No
I've read other reviews for this book and whole I understand it may not be for everyone I had a fantastic time. Kihrin is a fun MC to follow and learn about his story and the way the narrative is presented makes it easy to follow along.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Incest, Racism, Rape
I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. This is the best book I have ever read. Forget 'best fantasy book' just--- just best book. End of.
I know that many criticise this book for the reason that it has a non-linear way of telling the story, but I think it adds to the mystery of the opening lines and the vaguely displayed data - While I was reading it, I found my ideas of the characters changing as the book progressed and more information was revealed. The whole story telling dynamic between the main character Kihrin and his cellholder Talon is a very interesting and also original in my opinion way of telling the story. The narrator, Thurvishar, was a character I found myself very invested in and I looked forward to reading his comments on the narrative, while he was also developed in the story itself. I found the attempts at comedy convincing and fun, and they made me like this character more.
As for the main character, the thematic of a character who is not really that powerful on his own but many people want him under their control because he is in possession of a powerful artifact was also interesting - Overall, the displays of power are limited to the ending of the story and, in part, I was pleased by this because it made getting there all the more worthwhile.
The lack of romance was appreciated. I feel like many fantasy stories lean a lot towards romance and while it's not necessarily a bad thing and some stories benefit from it, Ruin of Kings would have not found much success focusing too much on Romance when so much conflict and so much chaos was present and occuring at the same time. That being said, I like reading romance and I'm open to it as the series continues :D
In terms of lore, I was so happy to see a glossary of terms rather than have the narrator spill tons of trivia for extended periods of time to delay the story - While the narrator does at times mention some it's limited to a few lines and it's usually with a bit of pizzazz of characterisation and at times I'd go as far as to say it deepens the character (as we get to see his views and at times have his own backstory exposed, although it's mere subtext.) The idea of the royal families was clear and nicely developed in the story - The family that the main character is from makes a huge twist on the idea of healers, making them ruthless and cold people instead for the most part. The gods/goddesses and the history of the Known World was very appealing and interesting to me and I found myself wanting to know more.
In conclusion, although the plotline was messy, I enjoyed order within the chaos, and I found myself interested in most if not all of the characters equally. The conclusion of the book leaves a nice opening for more to ocurr, but if you don't want to commit, I think you can comfortably read Ruin of Kings and not move on to The Name of All Things in peace.
The low ratings in this book are practically bullshit, this book is incredibly good in so many ways and it excels at characters, story, lore and the way the story is told. Why the hell does ACOMAF have 4.80* and TROK 3.80*? Guess some things don't make sense. I was in love with this book, its writing style, its comedy paired with serious topics and so much more. The most perfect book I think I'll ever read.
[Note for me, I read this last year during fall I think, but I forgot exactly when. Maybe it was winter. Fuck it idk. I just want to put a date]
5 [ deserved ] stars.
I know that many criticise this book for the reason that it has a non-linear way of telling the story, but I think it adds to the mystery of the opening lines and the vaguely displayed data - While I was reading it, I found my ideas of the characters changing as the book progressed and more information was revealed. The whole story telling dynamic between the main character Kihrin and his cellholder Talon is a very interesting and also original in my opinion way of telling the story. The narrator, Thurvishar, was a character I found myself very invested in and I looked forward to reading his comments on the narrative, while he was also developed in the story itself. I found the attempts at comedy convincing and fun, and they made me like this character more.
As for the main character, the thematic of a character who is not really that powerful on his own but many people want him under their control because he is in possession of a powerful artifact was also interesting - Overall, the displays of power are limited to the ending of the story and, in part, I was pleased by this because it made getting there all the more worthwhile.
The lack of romance was appreciated. I feel like many fantasy stories lean a lot towards romance and while it's not necessarily a bad thing and some stories benefit from it, Ruin of Kings would have not found much success focusing too much on Romance when so much conflict and so much chaos was present and occuring at the same time. That being said, I like reading romance and I'm open to it as the series continues :D
In terms of lore, I was so happy to see a glossary of terms rather than have the narrator spill tons of trivia for extended periods of time to delay the story - While the narrator does at times mention some it's limited to a few lines and it's usually with a bit of pizzazz of characterisation and at times I'd go as far as to say it deepens the character (as we get to see his views and at times have his own backstory exposed, although it's mere subtext.) The idea of the royal families was clear and nicely developed in the story - The family that the main character is from makes a huge twist on the idea of healers, making them ruthless and cold people instead for the most part. The gods/goddesses and the history of the Known World was very appealing and interesting to me and I found myself wanting to know more.
In conclusion, although the plotline was messy, I enjoyed order within the chaos, and I found myself interested in most if not all of the characters equally. The conclusion of the book leaves a nice opening for more to ocurr, but if you don't want to commit, I think you can comfortably read Ruin of Kings and not move on to The Name of All Things in peace.
The low ratings in this book are practically bullshit, this book is incredibly good in so many ways and it excels at characters, story, lore and the way the story is told. Why the hell does ACOMAF have 4.80* and TROK 3.80*? Guess some things don't make sense. I was in love with this book, its writing style, its comedy paired with serious topics and so much more. The most perfect book I think I'll ever read.
[Note for me, I read this last year during fall I think, but I forgot exactly when. Maybe it was winter. Fuck it idk. I just want to put a date]
5 [ deserved ] stars.
I wish I liked this book more, I really do, but even though the plot was easily four stars the execution was worth one at best. First, the positives. I loved the political intrigue in this story, it was easily my favorite part of the plot. Other than that, there were strong magical elements and a few interesting characters that made the story interesting. But with that being said, the negatives really outweighed the positives for me.
I’m going to attempt to explain the format of this story, and it’s a doozy so bear with me. The story is essentially told in three parts. The first (and also last) is the one that takes place in the present, where the main character, Kihrin, is imprisoned and his captor, Talon, is guarding him. This story is told mostly in short interludes and footnotes until the last part of the book when the timeline returns to the present. But for most of the book (like the first 450 pages), it’s Kihrin and Talon telling Kihrin’s story of how he wound up there and the events that contributed to his imprisonment. Now here’s where it gets tricky. Kihrin and Talon are telling the same story in different parts, basically Kihrin’s life but two different parts of it that will eventually meet up. Since they are both telling this story, the format is that each part of the story is told in alternating chapters. And since it’s Kihrin’s life, his chapters are in the first person while Talon’s chapters are in the third person. Got it? Probably not because it’s so unnecessarily convoluted that it’s nearly impossible to find a rhythm and immerse yourself in the story. It really threw off the pacing and made the story more complicated than it needed to be.
Another thing that I didn’t like was that a lot of the characters had similar names or went by pseudonyms or had nicknames or a combination of the three. At certain points it was hard to keep track of who was actually in the scene, and the format didn’t help with that at all.
Had this story been written in a linear way, I probably would’ve liked it a lot more because I did like the plot. But I just can’t overlook the fact that it felt like a chore to read this at times because of the way that it was presented.
I’m going to attempt to explain the format of this story, and it’s a doozy so bear with me. The story is essentially told in three parts. The first (and also last) is the one that takes place in the present, where the main character, Kihrin, is imprisoned and his captor, Talon, is guarding him. This story is told mostly in short interludes and footnotes until the last part of the book when the timeline returns to the present. But for most of the book (like the first 450 pages), it’s Kihrin and Talon telling Kihrin’s story of how he wound up there and the events that contributed to his imprisonment. Now here’s where it gets tricky. Kihrin and Talon are telling the same story in different parts, basically Kihrin’s life but two different parts of it that will eventually meet up. Since they are both telling this story, the format is that each part of the story is told in alternating chapters. And since it’s Kihrin’s life, his chapters are in the first person while Talon’s chapters are in the third person. Got it? Probably not because it’s so unnecessarily convoluted that it’s nearly impossible to find a rhythm and immerse yourself in the story. It really threw off the pacing and made the story more complicated than it needed to be.
Another thing that I didn’t like was that a lot of the characters had similar names or went by pseudonyms or had nicknames or a combination of the three. At certain points it was hard to keep track of who was actually in the scene, and the format didn’t help with that at all.
Had this story been written in a linear way, I probably would’ve liked it a lot more because I did like the plot. But I just can’t overlook the fact that it felt like a chore to read this at times because of the way that it was presented.