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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
tense
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
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
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:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
No spoilers here: This book was so good. I loved the characters and their relationships, the skill-scaling, and the politics of the warring peoples in this story. If you like stories about an underdog, vengeance, classism/caste systems, and dragons, then this book is perfect.
I'm not the best at reading long fight scenes, especially with so many characters and battle strategy, but I was very invested in the fights later in the book when I understood the characters and the stakes better.
I read the e-book while listening to the audio book, and if you're an audio book listener this one is AMAZING. The narrator has a wonderful voice and I always knew which character was speaking. I also recommend the audio book to help you with the pronunciation of some of the military terminology.
I'm not the best at reading long fight scenes, especially with so many characters and battle strategy, but I was very invested in the fights later in the book when I understood the characters and the stakes better.
I read the e-book while listening to the audio book, and if you're an audio book listener this one is AMAZING. The narrator has a wonderful voice and I always knew which character was speaking. I also recommend the audio book to help you with the pronunciation of some of the military terminology.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Minor: Rape
In some fight scenes, the author describes the breaking of bones, ripping of skin, and other icky things that made me cringe. S/A is mentioned but not described.
dark
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:
Complicated
I really tried to love this book. Unfortunately it was a disappointment.
The beginning had me hooked : the world-building was well-thought and worked on, I liked the idea of colonizing a new land with dragons, and the Gifted mechanics had a lot of potential.
Sadly it quickly turned into a revengeful-teenage-boy-who-goes-to-sword-school type of story, letting the originality of the world-building go to waste for most of the book. I would still have found the book okay-ish if not for Tau, which is the less likeable main character I have seen in a while.
He is immature, reckless and selfish, and seems able to make only stupid decisions. The worst part is that the character development goes backward : he keeps getting more selfish and stubborn, even though he is gifted with side characters who have an irrational amount of patience with him.
The narration is very, very descriptive, to the point where the reader never gets to be personal with the characters. Maybe I could have sympathised with some of Tau’s decisions and behaviors if I had known how he felt at the moment ?
Thus a lot of aspects of the book seem unexploited. For example I could never determine if Tau even liked Zuri or if he only thought about her when he had nothing else to think about. His reaction at the end is so excessive compared to what happened in the whole book, I was like « Oh, I had no idea he liked her that much ».
He went to Isihogo multiple times and got to see demons even in the real world, but we don’t know if he was afraid, or anxious, or did he ever doubt his own sanity ? Those real-world demons were only described as « Tau saw a demon instead of XX’s face and had to blink it away ». Then proceed with the next sword fight without further consequences of Tau seeing demons.
The story is very linear and feels unfinished. Sword school takes a good 60% of the book and feels like a shounen manga : Tau gets stronger until he can face 10 enemies all by himself without breaking a sweat. The side characters are dull and are nothing more than Tau’s sidekicks, their only use is to emphasize Tau’s greatness. Tau doesn’t even seem to consider their feelings : he does not feel any remorse or guilt when he causes the whole scale to fail a skirmish because of his recklessness. No friendship or relationship is grown during those endless pages of sword training.
Poor Jabari never even gets a thought even on the brink of death.
Some parts of the school system feel irrational : why would the Chosen train fighters for years to have them kill each other in skirmishes when they are at war and vastly outnumbered by the hedeni ?
I found this book frustrating because in my opinion it is a waste of good ideas : a lot could have been done with the social system, the war with the hedeni, the Chosen’s past, their royalty, Isihogo, the demons, the dragons, etc. Instead we have another sword school book. The ending of this first volume lets me foresee nothing else than a full revenge series where Tau ends up killing the whole hedeni army by himself.
The beginning had me hooked : the world-building was well-thought and worked on, I liked the idea of colonizing a new land with dragons, and the Gifted mechanics had a lot of potential.
Sadly it quickly turned into a revengeful-teenage-boy-who-goes-to-sword-school type of story, letting the originality of the world-building go to waste for most of the book. I would still have found the book okay-ish if not for Tau, which is the less likeable main character I have seen in a while.
He is immature, reckless and selfish, and seems able to make only stupid decisions. The worst part is that the character development goes backward : he keeps getting more selfish and stubborn, even though he is gifted with side characters who have an irrational amount of patience with him.
The narration is very, very descriptive, to the point where the reader never gets to be personal with the characters. Maybe I could have sympathised with some of Tau’s decisions and behaviors if I had known how he felt at the moment ?
Thus a lot of aspects of the book seem unexploited. For example I could never determine if Tau even liked Zuri or if he only thought about her when he had nothing else to think about. His reaction at the end is so excessive compared to what happened in the whole book, I was like « Oh, I had no idea he liked her that much ».
He went to Isihogo multiple times and got to see demons even in the real world, but we don’t know if he was afraid, or anxious, or did he ever doubt his own sanity ? Those real-world demons were only described as « Tau saw a demon instead of XX’s face and had to blink it away ». Then proceed with the next sword fight without further consequences of Tau seeing demons.
The story is very linear and feels unfinished. Sword school takes a good 60% of the book and feels like a shounen manga : Tau gets stronger until he can face 10 enemies all by himself without breaking a sweat. The side characters are dull and are nothing more than Tau’s sidekicks, their only use is to emphasize Tau’s greatness. Tau doesn’t even seem to consider their feelings : he does not feel any remorse or guilt when he causes the whole scale to fail a skirmish because of his recklessness. No friendship or relationship is grown during those endless pages of sword training.
Poor Jabari never even gets a thought even on the brink of death.
Some parts of the school system feel irrational : why would the Chosen train fighters for years to have them kill each other in skirmishes when they are at war and vastly outnumbered by the hedeni ?
I found this book frustrating because in my opinion it is a waste of good ideas : a lot could have been done with the social system, the war with the hedeni, the Chosen’s past, their royalty, Isihogo, the demons, the dragons, etc. Instead we have another sword school book. The ending of this first volume lets me foresee nothing else than a full revenge series where Tau ends up killing the whole hedeni army by himself.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What!!! I haven’t felt this way since The Green Bone Saga, this was soo good ahhhh
Immediately going into book 2
Immediately going into book 2
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-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
I’m not sure how to rate this book. There were parts I liked and parts that were just boring. There were times that I forgot the main characters were still young by my way of thinking (part of that may have been the narrator’s voice).
Will I read the next one? Yes, probably, but I’m not going to run out to get it. Will I remember it in a year? Probably not. Will I recommend it to a friend? Maybe, if we are talking about BIPOC authors/diverse settings/BIPOC characters.
I do not think it is a bad book. I’m just not head over heals about it.
One more thing - it was the back cover that drew me in. And while accurate, the story was nothing like I imagined based on what the back cover told me. Nothing.
Will I read the next one? Yes, probably, but I’m not going to run out to get it. Will I remember it in a year? Probably not. Will I recommend it to a friend? Maybe, if we are talking about BIPOC authors/diverse settings/BIPOC characters.
I do not think it is a bad book. I’m just not head over heals about it.
One more thing - it was the back cover that drew me in. And while accurate, the story was nothing like I imagined based on what the back cover told me. Nothing.