Reviews

In the Shadow of Lightning by Brian McClellan

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miridion's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

arcanum21's review against another edition

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5.0

This was a really great read! A very interesting glass-based magic system with powerful rival family dynamics, conspiracies, epic battles, and interesting characters. Really enjoyed Demir – a brilliant but disgraced tactician and heir of a powerful family trying to avenge his murdered mother – and his perspective, although Thessa and Kizzie were really fun as well. Not a fan of how the romance unfolded (felt a bit forced), but otherwise it was an enjoyable time.

sheriff's review against another edition

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3.0

In the Shadow of Lighting was a good book, not great and I had some issues with it or things that didn't engage me, it was still a solid book. First the world seems interesting and magic system interesting. The characters felt okay, there to many instances where the characters were portrayed as deep or complex and that felt shallow or the writer trying to convince you that the pov characters are complex when there really not. The story was generic but had good pacing. My biggest complaint and SPOILERS: is the introduction of these alien monsters who are behind everything. This seemed to come out of left field and I felt if we just focused on the world and story beside these monsters it would be more engaging to me because the aliens did not catch my interest.

6.7/10

alexstinky's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense

5.0

lobsterjohn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.5

maya1watson's review against another edition

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4.5

Really enjoyed this one. I often have the issue with multiple POVs that some of the characters are just way more interesting than others, but I didn’t have that issue with this book. I thought all the main characters were interesting with fleshed out backstories and relationships. Demir is the classic likable, but flawed main character with rebellious tendencies. Ooh and quite a bit of queer representation without it being an issue in this world which was nice.
I hadn’t heard of the term military fantasy before reading this and while that wasn’t my favorite part of the book, there was enough other stuff going on that I didn’t mind.
I don’t know how I feel about this “monster” addition to the end of the book. It just didn’t feel integrated enough into the world, but hopefully the sequel will answer many of the questions this book left.