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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
Excellent world-building and intricate storyline. The dual perspectives of the story adds a unique element. I ordered the second book when I was about halfway done with this one because I knew I'd love the remaining story.
The only difficulty is that some names can be hard to pronounce (as with most fantasy novels) and keep straight, as many are similar or characters go by multiple names for differing reasons, so it's easy to get confused and I'd have to continually remind myself who was who.
The only difficulty is that some names can be hard to pronounce (as with most fantasy novels) and keep straight, as many are similar or characters go by multiple names for differing reasons, so it's easy to get confused and I'd have to continually remind myself who was who.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Murder, War, Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a pretty quick read, it was engaging and had some very fun moments. I am interested in continuing the series but honestly I felt this book was a little messy in execution particularly in terms of the narrative framework.
So we have 2 POVs and we have the footnotes being added by the person chronicling the events that led up to an event at the end of the book, honestly the footnotes were fun for the most part especially when we see Thurvishar in the book and get to see him comment about how he was feeling/what he was thinking in the moment . I will say I think I would have preferred seeing the past storyline juxtaposed with the present, since they're all reincarnated individuals from that time period and this could have felt really full circle and made me feel closer to the characters and would have made the reveal of Kihrin being trapped in the demon Vol Garoth soooo good. The way we learn this in the book is momentarily shocking and does present some interesting complications for future books knowing we need to wrestle with that at some stage but it would have had more impact if we had seen him get to that point in his past life
What was slightly disappointing is how this doesnt really lean into exploration of the themes presented by the plot (ie being gaeshed we get that little conversation about options but that was annoying and it didnt go anywhere. I think we will probably move forward with the whole 'you'll never escape the sins of empire building' which im relatively excited to see) really because theres so much going on in terms of worldbuilding etc the book feels crammed with almost too much information and it lessened the impact of certain reveals.
Finally the writing, please lets start removing sentences! There were so many places where i would highlight a certain metaphor or simile or sentence that was just weird and where she says something in a way that is needlessly complicated.
For example, early on we are introduced to Teraeth and Khaemezra and when describing the way she looks we hear the following:
"If her son Teraeth was the colour of ink, she was the parchment upon which it had spilled"
Girl just say shes pale/white. I just think when using metaphor or similes you need to be intentional where you decide to use it and make an effort to make it sound interesting or add something to the scene. I get what shes trying to do, highlight the difference in skin colour between this woman and her son but there's better ways to word that. For me I just feel like you need to ask yourself why am I inserting a metaphor here? How does it strengthen what I'm trying to convey, does it add to the characterisation of these characters, does it make sense?
When compared to other bits of writing in the same book I know Lyons has better in her than the above and honestly we should have cut the sentence. And then for just general things that were not making sense to me - "Juval said, screaming even though his voice never rose above speaking level" SO WHAT ARE YOU SAYING TO ME RIGHT NOW, no need for it!
Also a shocking amount of reveals related to parentage, at a certain point i was like, i do not know these people so why do i care who their father or mother. When you constantly pull the rug under your readers with little groundwork laid for reveals, why should I care? Contrasted with the reveals like the demon being free because they could never have paid the cost of Kihrin's full soul, that was great but things like oh the real lady miya was Khariel's assassin dropped casually into conversation... what a way to make drama boring!
Overall more of a 2.5, some interesting elements but I think we packed so much of the worldbuilding and historical lessons in here that it made less time for it to be exploring themes or characters (with some exceptions) in any meaningful way.
So we have 2 POVs and we have the footnotes being added by the person chronicling the events that led up to an event at the end of the book, honestly the footnotes were fun for the most part especially when we
What was slightly disappointing is how this doesnt really lean into exploration of the themes presented by the plot (ie being gaeshed we get that little conversation about options but that was annoying and it didnt go anywhere. I think we will probably move forward with the whole 'you'll never escape the sins of empire building' which im relatively excited to see) really because theres so much going on in terms of worldbuilding etc the book feels crammed with almost too much information and it lessened the impact of certain reveals.
Finally the writing, please lets start removing sentences! There were so many places where i would highlight a certain metaphor or simile or sentence that was just weird and where she says something in a way that is needlessly complicated.
For example, early on we are introduced to Teraeth and Khaemezra and when describing the way she looks we hear the following:
"If her son Teraeth was the colour of ink, she was the parchment upon which it had spilled"
Girl just say shes pale/white. I just think when using metaphor or similes you need to be intentional where you decide to use it and make an effort to make it sound interesting or add something to the scene. I get what shes trying to do, highlight the difference in skin colour between this woman and her son but there's better ways to word that. For me I just feel like you need to ask yourself why am I inserting a metaphor here? How does it strengthen what I'm trying to convey, does it add to the characterisation of these characters, does it make sense?
When compared to other bits of writing in the same book I know Lyons has better in her than the above and honestly we should have cut the sentence. And then for just general things that were not making sense to me - "Juval said, screaming even though his voice never rose above speaking level" SO WHAT ARE YOU SAYING TO ME RIGHT NOW, no need for it!
Also a shocking amount of reveals related to
Overall more of a 2.5, some interesting elements but I think we packed so much of the worldbuilding and historical lessons in here that it made less time for it to be exploring themes or characters (with some exceptions) in any meaningful way.
Going to retry this book at a later time. I had a hard time understanding what was going on, and I just got bored with it.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Boring, the setup was confusing and the footnotes were weird. Also the writing felt oddly clumsy
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes