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bobbykarmakar's review against another edition
5.0
“This is the sort of thing I grew up with, Ash. To trick people, you prey on their worst fears by weaving a scenario just realistic enough to convince them. No matter what the emperor says, those who wish to see him guilty of this will.”
Having read Sea of Shadows and knowing how that ended, I was very eager to read this sequel and am so glad to see the story progress. Since this is also a trilogy, I’m now anticipating for the third and final book. Especially with that ending, AHH!!
The main reason why I love this book so much is because I needed an escape from the real world; seriously perfect timing! When I first encountered with Kelley’s work, they were her adult novels. I read some and will always fan for her as one of my absolute favourite authors. As well, being a past student of hers in the UofT Summer Writing School: Dark Fantasy class that I took a couple years ago, she used the world in Sea of Shadows when discussing world building. That is what primarily influenced me to pick up Sea of Shadows as my first taste of her writing in the YA category. Simply put, this is the great escape people need when they read fantasy. As for Kelley’s YA writing in general, I'm thrilled to have started with Age of Legends.
Having read Sea of Shadows and knowing how that ended, I was very eager to read this sequel and am so glad to see the story progress. Since this is also a trilogy, I’m now anticipating for the third and final book. Especially with that ending, AHH!!
The main reason why I love this book so much is because I needed an escape from the real world; seriously perfect timing! When I first encountered with Kelley’s work, they were her adult novels. I read some and will always fan for her as one of my absolute favourite authors. As well, being a past student of hers in the UofT Summer Writing School: Dark Fantasy class that I took a couple years ago, she used the world in Sea of Shadows when discussing world building. That is what primarily influenced me to pick up Sea of Shadows as my first taste of her writing in the YA category. Simply put, this is the great escape people need when they read fantasy. As for Kelley’s YA writing in general, I'm thrilled to have started with Age of Legends.
kyillme's review against another edition
3.0
Corny as hell? Yes. Super fun? Also yes. If you’re into the enemies-to-lovers trope you’re going to be able to predict every plot twist 50 pages before it happens, but I’m honestly not even mad about it. It’s just fun to read. Some of the tropes it played into were so predictable they had me laughing out loud .
Also, I’m like 99% sure this author used to write ATLA fanfiction. Maybe that’s a hot take, but ALL of Moria and Gavril’s will-they-won’t-they thing is very Katara/Zuko to me. Don’t get me wrong! I’m loving the whole misunderstood hot guy with the absolutely insufferable hard headed woman who is incapable of understanding nuance thing. The book is just so full of familiar cliches that I find it hard to believe it’s NOT adapted from an early ‘10s fanfic.
We also, predictably, get our Moria love triangle introduced in this book, since Gavril is ~eViL~ now. Tyrus is like a fly buzzing around my face — harmless, but fucking annoying. He’s written like he’s a dog. I couldn’t tell you one single thing about Tyrus that I couldn’t also say about a golden retriever. He just feels so utterly inconsequential that I think there is almost no chance he gets to the end of the series alive, let alone winds up as endgame with Moria. And I get that these characters are supposed to be 16 (which is WILD), but how is it possible that Moria and Ashyn don’t have a single brain cell between them? OBVIOUSLY we’re going down a double-agent route with Gavril and have been since book 1. How have I known the plot since two days ago and these girls can’t figure it out as it is actively happening in front of them?
Overall, this book just kinda feels like a filler that’s relying on cliches to keep its audience entertained — but boy does it work! There’s very little actual substance to this book, but it’s a fun way to get a little relationship development and angst in before we go hard into the final book. Personally, I would have gone much much harder into the angst aspect than the fanservice aspect and really pulled on some emotional heartstrings. We’ve still got one more book to make me feel something, though, so onward we trudge.
Spoiler
(I mean, the Moria-Gavril jail and arranged marriage plot? Come ON, dude, that’s some 2010 fanfiction shit.)Also, I’m like 99% sure this author used to write ATLA fanfiction. Maybe that’s a hot take, but ALL of Moria and Gavril’s will-they-won’t-they thing is very Katara/Zuko to me. Don’t get me wrong! I’m loving the whole misunderstood hot guy with the absolutely insufferable hard headed woman who is incapable of understanding nuance thing. The book is just so full of familiar cliches that I find it hard to believe it’s NOT adapted from an early ‘10s fanfic.
We also, predictably, get our Moria love triangle introduced in this book, since Gavril is ~eViL~ now. Tyrus is like a fly buzzing around my face — harmless, but fucking annoying. He’s written like he’s a dog. I couldn’t tell you one single thing about Tyrus that I couldn’t also say about a golden retriever. He just feels so utterly inconsequential that I think there is almost no chance he gets to the end of the series alive, let alone winds up as endgame with Moria. And I get that these characters are supposed to be 16 (which is WILD), but how is it possible that Moria and Ashyn don’t have a single brain cell between them? OBVIOUSLY we’re going down a double-agent route with Gavril and have been since book 1. How have I known the plot since two days ago and these girls can’t figure it out as it is actively happening in front of them?
Overall, this book just kinda feels like a filler that’s relying on cliches to keep its audience entertained — but boy does it work! There’s very little actual substance to this book, but it’s a fun way to get a little relationship development and angst in before we go hard into the final book. Personally, I would have gone much much harder into the angst aspect than the fanservice aspect and really pulled on some emotional heartstrings. We’ve still got one more book to make me feel something, though, so onward we trudge.
guylou's review against another edition
5.0
Another fantastic book by Kelley Armstrong!!! This is the second book of the Age of Legends series. Second books are often not as good as the first ones; Empire of Night did not follow this rule. The adventure continues for Moria and Ashyn and their entourage. New characters are introduced and some old ones shows different sides of themselves. The story has a steady flow of ups and downs; never a boring moment. The underlining love stories are a bit frustrating, but that would not be a good book if it was all easy peasy. Kelley Armstrong keeps you on your toes right to the end and now I can't wait for the next book to be available... oh the wait... I hate waiting... but I will because I need to find out what happens next.
katpop's review against another edition
5.0
I am really liking this series. I loved how this book picked up where the last one left off. These characters make be angry because my ship is going to be wrecked or something. I don't know. ugh. Anyway, if you have read the first book, continue with this one and then the final one. You may hate yourself afterward, but definitely in a good way.
joyousreads132's review against another edition
4.0
Oh wow. That ending… and the mother of all plot twists! I don’t even know when the next book will be out, but trust me when I say, I’ll be making another offering to the ARC-giving goddess to send a copy my way. There’s no date yet, so I’m guessing Kelley is still writing the third book. Empire of Night is much of the same, only she’s up the ante on this book.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
Prisoners of their discontent.
The children of Edgewood are still missing. While the twins are growing more impatient each day, the Emperor doesn’t seem all that in a rush to retrieve what’s left of their village. In the meantime, Moira’s pride is still smarting from the betrayal of who were once a trusted ally. There is no better motivation for revenge than an injured ego. When the Emperor finally sends them on a negotiation mission, things will go from bad to worst.
The tale of a two-faced warrior.
If you haven’t read Sea of Shadows, I should warn you that it ended with one of the boys betraying the twins. As in, he may or may not be involved in the massacre of their people – including, their father. Moira may have put her trust in the wrong place, but I can almost tell that her heart may have been broken because of this. She will not admit, though. She will not admit that she liked the boy a bit too much.
In the past, authors making their readers choose “teams” has been a source of my aggravation. And while I was tempted to do so in this instance, I got over myself. I think I mentioned it on my review of Sea of Shadows, that it’s not that important. Well, by the time I finished this book, it’d become one of the reasons why I can’t wait to read the third book. Not so much as to see who she chooses, but more to see how it will play out. Armstrong is wickedly brilliant…or brilliantly wicked. I had developed a distaste for this character after the first book and during the second. But, by the end of the second, I’m finally seeing his end game.
Upping the ante.
I often struggle with the middle book in a trilogy. While the plot tries its damnest to convince me of its importance and relevance to the series as a whole, it more often fails. It was not the case in this book, however. Armstrong used conflicts after conflicts to move the plot along. And much like the first book, there will be no down time here, folks. These books have been so much fun. I’m dying to see how it all ends, because that ending was so incredible…torturous, yes. But incredible, nonetheless.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
The children of Edgewood are still missing. While the twins are growing more impatient each day, the Emperor doesn’t seem all that in a rush to retrieve what’s left of their village. In the meantime, Moira’s pride is still smarting from the betrayal of who were once a trusted ally. There is no better motivation for revenge than an injured ego. When the Emperor finally sends them on a negotiation mission, things will go from bad to worst.
The tale of a two-faced warrior.
If you haven’t read Sea of Shadows, I should warn you that it ended with one of the boys betraying the twins. As in, he may or may not be involved in the massacre of their people – including, their father. Moira may have put her trust in the wrong place, but I can almost tell that her heart may have been broken because of this. She will not admit, though. She will not admit that she liked the boy a bit too much.
In the past, authors making their readers choose “teams” has been a source of my aggravation. And while I was tempted to do so in this instance, I got over myself. I think I mentioned it on my review of Sea of Shadows, that it’s not that important. Well, by the time I finished this book, it’d become one of the reasons why I can’t wait to read the third book. Not so much as to see who she chooses, but more to see how it will play out. Armstrong is wickedly brilliant…or brilliantly wicked. I had developed a distaste for this character after the first book and during the second. But, by the end of the second, I’m finally seeing his end game.
Upping the ante.
I often struggle with the middle book in a trilogy. While the plot tries its damnest to convince me of its importance and relevance to the series as a whole, it more often fails. It was not the case in this book, however. Armstrong used conflicts after conflicts to move the plot along. And much like the first book, there will be no down time here, folks. These books have been so much fun. I’m dying to see how it all ends, because that ending was so incredible…torturous, yes. But incredible, nonetheless.
thestoriedblog's review against another edition
4.0
Moria and Ashyn really irked my nerves in this book. To be fair, the choices of all the main characters irked me, but that’s typical since they are all still teenagers. There were a lot of moving parts in this middle installment, with quite a bit being implied as characters weave in and out of the girls POV. This hampered the storytelling for me since we are given so little information of what’s going on beyond what the girls are told or experience meaning a lot of exposition in certain parts. We do get to delve deeper into the politics and background between Kitsune and Emperor Tatsu’s rivalry, which I really enjoyed. I also enjoyed the tension in the relationships between Prince Tyrus and Moria as well as Ronan and Ashyn. The “will they, won’t they” is very age appropriate and frustrated me to no end, but that’s the point. Overall, an enjoyable middle chapter.
For more reviews, check out https://www.thestoriedblog.com/
For more reviews, check out https://www.thestoriedblog.com/
booksandladders's review against another edition
I'm not fooling myself anymore. There's no way I'm going to finish this one.
DNF @46%
Honestly, if I didn't already have this one purchased, I never would have picked it up. I was not a fan of [b:Sea of Shadows|17236366|Sea of Shadows (Age of Legends, #1)|Kelley Armstrong|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1371848637s/17236366.jpg|23755314] as I thought it was boring and not really a "Fantasy" novel. But I had already purchased this one and had heard from others that this one was so much better than the first, so I soldiered on. Except I was not impressed.
I thought this book was basically a carbon copy of the first (at least the first 46% followed a very similar path that the first 46% of the first book did). The relationships were nothing special and even the "new" ones felt just like the old ones. There was an addition of a love triangle for Moria and almost one for Ashyn, but instead Ashyn's was used as a way to show girls that sometimes boys can suck.
I'm still not really sure what the overall plot for this series is -- and honestly I'm surprised this was more than one book. To me, it felt like this could have been done all in one, a la [b:Soundless|24751478|Soundless|Richelle Mead|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1446266199s/24751478.jpg|44380622] (don't get me started on that one though). I think it is too drawn out which makes it seem like nothing is happening, although nothing is happening so there's also that.
I did like the relationships the two girls had as sisters but I think it wasn't highlighted enough and there was definitely some room for improvement in the pacing of this story. I really wanted to like this one and to continue with the series but I just can't bring myself to do so.
Books and Ladders | Queen of the Bookshelves | Books Are My Fandom | Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin'
DNF @46%
Honestly, if I didn't already have this one purchased, I never would have picked it up. I was not a fan of [b:Sea of Shadows|17236366|Sea of Shadows (Age of Legends, #1)|Kelley Armstrong|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1371848637s/17236366.jpg|23755314] as I thought it was boring and not really a "Fantasy" novel. But I had already purchased this one and had heard from others that this one was so much better than the first, so I soldiered on. Except I was not impressed.
I thought this book was basically a carbon copy of the first (at least the first 46% followed a very similar path that the first 46% of the first book did). The relationships were nothing special and even the "new" ones felt just like the old ones. There was an addition of a love triangle for Moria and almost one for Ashyn, but instead Ashyn's was used as a way to show girls that sometimes boys can suck.
I'm still not really sure what the overall plot for this series is -- and honestly I'm surprised this was more than one book. To me, it felt like this could have been done all in one, a la [b:Soundless|24751478|Soundless|Richelle Mead|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1446266199s/24751478.jpg|44380622] (don't get me started on that one though). I think it is too drawn out which makes it seem like nothing is happening, although nothing is happening so there's also that.
I did like the relationships the two girls had as sisters but I think it wasn't highlighted enough and there was definitely some room for improvement in the pacing of this story. I really wanted to like this one and to continue with the series but I just can't bring myself to do so.
Books and Ladders | Queen of the Bookshelves | Books Are My Fandom | Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin'
caszriel's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. Empire of Night was even better than Sea of Shadows; somehow, even more addictive and intoxicating.
Kelley Armstrong really is one of the best authors ever. I adore her writing, and I absolutely can't wait to read more from her as always. I have yet to read her Otherworld series, but I'm sure it'll be good.
I'm a mix of Ashyn and Moria, though definitely more Moria than Ashyn, although I share some of Ashyn's cautious traits. It seems that Kelley Armstrong has decided to start a love triangle on the Moria side of things, but at this point there is only one for Ashyn. I love how in the Age of Legends series, there hasn't really been any certain romance in it, but there's enough to keep me interested. I can't wait to see what happens in Forest of Ruin and how Kelley Armstrong plays everything out.
Kelley Armstrong really is one of the best authors ever. I adore her writing, and I absolutely can't wait to read more from her as always. I have yet to read her Otherworld series, but I'm sure it'll be good.
I'm a mix of Ashyn and Moria, though definitely more Moria than Ashyn, although I share some of Ashyn's cautious traits. It seems that Kelley Armstrong has decided to start a love triangle on the Moria side of things, but at this point there is only one for Ashyn. I love how in the Age of Legends series, there hasn't really been any certain romance in it, but there's enough to keep me interested. I can't wait to see what happens in Forest of Ruin and how Kelley Armstrong plays everything out.
norageissler's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0