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jameseckman's review against another edition
3.0
Appropriately named, the plot is a bit of a chaotic mess with cliffhangers and a whiff of plot driven magic. Make up for it the characters and background are interesting as well as the somewhat crazy magical world.
jonknightknighthunterbooks's review against another edition
4.0
From my FB: I've recently finished a trilogy that I've hugely enjoyed (to the extent of sacrificing sleep and reading by the page on my phone in snatched moments). I've seen it billed as 'epic fantasy without the boring bits' and I have to agree. It's paced like a thriller, but manages to pack in all the world building you'd expect from something moving at half the pace. Ever enjoyed tales (games/books) set in the ruins of a vast empire, full of un-recreatable marvels and dreadful horrors? The Great Way trilogy, as a whole, portrays the complete collapse of the civilisation that created wonders - and horrors. And it's great fun. Read it. (Sample chapters linked below.)
http://www.harryjconnolly.com/blog/index.php/the-way-into-chaos-post/
http://www.harryjconnolly.com/blog/index.php/the-way-into-chaos-post/
daveversace's review against another edition
4.0
Good, solid epic fantasy borrowing heavily from apocalyptic survival thrillers. The two POV characters are a landed knight who used to be a poor farmer, and a rebellious teenage noblewoman studying magic while serving as a hostage against the treachery of her family. Good stuff. Finished the first volume, rolled a straight into the second. What else is there to say? (Oh, it's also big, like a proper epic fantasy :) )
friendlymilk's review against another edition
5.0
Holy crap. This was awesome. Connolly has put thought into the setting--iron's rare, steel is a new technology, and bronze is the most common metal. Characters speak different languages. The spells the Peradaini have learned from the Evening People have impacted the empire's economy (for example, the rockbreaking spell means that iron has become more common within the last few generations). Also, as a short-sighted person myself, I was delighted to read a book where one of the main characters is short-sighted. I feel his pain.
It was exciting! And fast paced! And the invading monsters creeped me out so much. I'm going to have to put this next bit behind the spoiler tag.They call themselves The Blessing. The Blessing! Their bite blesses you. By turning you into one of them. They're intelligent, obviously, but at the same time so mindless. It's a virus that hijacks you and turns you into one of them. I'm so curious to find out what exactly their purpose is. Did the Evening People create them and they're called The Blessing because the Evening People think living without magic is a curse? Or that living with emotions is a curse?
SO creepy.
It was exciting! And fast paced! And the invading monsters creeped me out so much. I'm going to have to put this next bit behind the spoiler tag.
SO creepy.
rick's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars.
I was recently in a discussion sparked by a Guardian article on how epic fantasy needs to break out from its dependence on meganovels - thousand page volumes, often several of them, that at least partly are about being a tourist in the fantasy world. Well, if there's a book to point the way out of that, this is is that book.
It starts with a bang (hi, your festival has just been invaded....) and doesn't let up. We follow the characters from the moment of invasion on and there's simply no letup in moving the story forward. Things keep happening, character make choices then act on those choices and it's not always pretty. At no point is there some large 50 page info dump.... if it serves the story it's here, if not, it's somewhere in the trash, I suppose.
Far from hurting world building, this approach serves it. We get a real idea of the world in which things are happening, but none of our characters are omniscient so neither are we. There are lands beyond where the action takes place and we get brief descriptions of them, but that's all, because that's all the story at that point supports. The result of this is a well constructed, well written novel that drops us into a world right as something terrible happens and then follows authentic characters who each try to do their best by their own lights. This is a tight, well done fantasy novel that kept me up until 1am which is when my iPad battery died. I finished it this morning and bought the next book in the trilogy.
Do note that this is the first book of a completed trilogy. It does end on a cliffhanger but the rest of the series is out so you can keep reading.
I was recently in a discussion sparked by a Guardian article on how epic fantasy needs to break out from its dependence on meganovels - thousand page volumes, often several of them, that at least partly are about being a tourist in the fantasy world. Well, if there's a book to point the way out of that, this is is that book.
It starts with a bang (hi, your festival has just been invaded....) and doesn't let up. We follow the characters from the moment of invasion on and there's simply no letup in moving the story forward. Things keep happening, character make choices then act on those choices and it's not always pretty. At no point is there some large 50 page info dump.... if it serves the story it's here, if not, it's somewhere in the trash, I suppose.
Far from hurting world building, this approach serves it. We get a real idea of the world in which things are happening, but none of our characters are omniscient so neither are we. There are lands beyond where the action takes place and we get brief descriptions of them, but that's all, because that's all the story at that point supports. The result of this is a well constructed, well written novel that drops us into a world right as something terrible happens and then follows authentic characters who each try to do their best by their own lights. This is a tight, well done fantasy novel that kept me up until 1am which is when my iPad battery died. I finished it this morning and bought the next book in the trilogy.
Do note that this is the first book of a completed trilogy. It does end on a cliffhanger but the rest of the series is out so you can keep reading.
pieratcat's review against another edition
5.0
I read it in one night, couldn't put down. Ends on a massive cliffhanger, can't wait for book two. Great characters, especially Tyr Treygar. Never before have I identified with a hero of a fantasy book because of our shared short-sightedness.
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