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4.41 AVERAGE
4.41 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked 4 better but this was still so good. I'm really impressed by how the author has written Hadrian through the series. He has done SUCH a good job of keeping him true to the heart of the character while still having him grow - a lot. You can see how his experiences and trauma and the simple fact of aging have changed him - but he's still Hadrian. Excellent!
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-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:
Yes
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
CR how could you do this to me..? This pain I feel. Since KoD. And you just stepped on it over and over again. What a book. It may be one of the weaker books in the series but the last 20% is what really did it for me. Just wow.
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was hoping that with the last 3 books of the Sun Eater series being great or amazing, Ashes of Man would continue that trend. Unfortunately, while still a good book, this one is closer to Empire of Silence for me.
The Cielcin are united and are ramping up their war with the Sollan Empire, and now they have the ability to track the Emperor and are hunting him down to kill him and win the war against humanity. Of course, it falls on Hadrian to track down the Emperor before the Cielcin do and rescue him.
The pacing in this book is slow to begin with. It mainly focuses on Hadrian coming to terms with what happened to himself and the Red Company in Kingdoms of Death. While I can appreciate the amount of depth this adds to Hadrian and Valka, it does seem to drag on a little too long. This is even more evident when the second half of the novel hits, which is basically a non-stop action escape sequence. I just wish the pendulum would swing back and forth throughout the entire novel instead of just one side per half.
The character work definitely gets stronger this time around. While Hadrian still dominates the narrative, Valka is practically a co-lead here and is easily my favorite character. However, I was pleasantly surprised by Lorian coming up with the surprise heartstring moment near the end. I was not expecting that, but it completely fit with the story, and it's a great moment.
As for the big "heartbreaking" moment that others have mentioned, I didn't like it, not because of what happened but because it felt cheap. I just finished Bloodchild by Anna Stephens right before this, and the heartbreaking moments there were gut-wrenching but felt earned. This felt a little too fridgey for me.
This is still a great sci-fi series, and one that I will follow until the end later this year. I just hope the quality of the next two books goes back up to Demon in White levels.
The Cielcin are united and are ramping up their war with the Sollan Empire, and now they have the ability to track the Emperor and are hunting him down to kill him and win the war against humanity. Of course, it falls on Hadrian to track down the Emperor before the Cielcin do and rescue him.
The pacing in this book is slow to begin with. It mainly focuses on Hadrian coming to terms with what happened to himself and the Red Company in Kingdoms of Death. While I can appreciate the amount of depth this adds to Hadrian and Valka, it does seem to drag on a little too long. This is even more evident when the second half of the novel hits, which is basically a non-stop action escape sequence. I just wish the pendulum would swing back and forth throughout the entire novel instead of just one side per half.
The character work definitely gets stronger this time around. While Hadrian still dominates the narrative, Valka is practically a co-lead here and is easily my favorite character. However, I was pleasantly surprised by Lorian coming up with the surprise heartstring moment near the end. I was not expecting that, but it completely fit with the story, and it's a great moment.
As for the big "heartbreaking" moment that others have mentioned, I didn't like it, not because of what happened but because it felt cheap. I just finished Bloodchild by Anna Stephens right before this, and the heartbreaking moments there were gut-wrenching but felt earned. This felt a little too fridgey for me.
This is still a great sci-fi series, and one that I will follow until the end later this year. I just hope the quality of the next two books goes back up to Demon in White levels.
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
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
dark
emotional
sad
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
I was struggling in what to rate this one.
At times, it felt like we were retreading waters, some of the old tropes coming up. That is bound to happen in such a magnificently epic series, focused really around a single character.
Another capture, another injury, more loss, all for an empire that does not seem to deserve him.
That ending though pulled it all together, I suspect people will have mixed feelings about it, but for me, it moved it up.
It has been rare that a (at this time 6) book series of this complexity and depth has held my attention the entire time, but this one has. I have been unable to put it down and do not care that I am not going to get any sleep, starting book 6 immediately.
At times, it felt like we were retreading waters, some of the old tropes coming up. That is bound to happen in such a magnificently epic series, focused really around a single character.
Another capture, another injury, more loss, all for an empire that does not seem to deserve him.
That ending though pulled it all together, I suspect people will have mixed feelings about it, but for me, it moved it up.
It has been rare that a (at this time 6) book series of this complexity and depth has held my attention the entire time, but this one has. I have been unable to put it down and do not care that I am not going to get any sleep, starting book 6 immediately.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes