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A review by freadomlibrary
Empire of Night by Kelley Armstrong
4.0
This review was originally posted at https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/
Check out my series review here: https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/series-review-age-of-legends-by-kelley-armstrong/
Critically
Plot – 4 out of 5 stars
This book picked up the pace a bit more and it’s much more action packed as well. Thankfully, there’s much more information on the world and how the empire they live in actually works. It’s still a bit confusing though with this second book, I’m definitely getting the hang of things. There’s more romance in this one, lots of twists and turns and monsters. It was definitely a lot more exciting than the first book.
Writing Style – 4 out of 5 stars
The writing style is, luckily, really easy to read and has a steady pace to go along with the plot. It’s really descriptive and detailed though it can still get kind of confusing sometimes. It’s really verbose and old fashioned. The characters voices sound much older than they are because of the way their empire is. However, the world building has definitely improved in this one and things make much more sense.
Characters – 3.5 out of 5 stars
This is still the section in which I’m struggling with the most in this series which sucks because characters are my favorite parts of books. Though it’s definitely improved from the first book as well.
Moria is really freaking angry in this book. The ending of the last book kind of shook her and she’s now questioning the things she thought were right. She’s hurt and she feels betrayed. However, she’s still smart and confident in who she is and the plot of this book pushes her to become much more open and honest.
While I’m not the biggest fan of Ashyn, I really like the development she had in this book. She’s much more confident and much more outgoing but without losing her personality and the person that she is. She’s still smart and is becoming much more aware of her surroundings but still can’t really fight and is overprotected by some of the male characters.
There are more side characters added in this book, much more than I was expecting, but at the same time, they’re all fleshed out much more than in the first book. I enjoyed that there was much more development for all of the characters.
Emotionally
While the first book in the series was disappointing, this second book improved on a lot of things that I had problems with in that one.
The plot is full of action. We follow Moria and Ashyn who, after sharing their hardships in Edgewood with the emperor, are frustrated with the lack of progress being made to save the children from their home. When they’re sent on a rescue mission, the journey ends up being much harder than they think. I definitely enjoyed this book much more than the first one. The plot has a lot more action and it’s more engaging, I wanted to continue reading and to find out what was happening. There is more traveling in this book as well and we get to see more of the world and the empire that all these characters are living in. I was still confused by a few things, it’s such a complicated world with so many different inspirations for it, but I still think that if helped the plot move much more progressively. In this book, one of the characters becomes a prisoner of the antagonist and it was really interesting to be able to see behind enemy lines. It helped shape the plot much better in my opinion because I could see both perspectives of this potential war that started brewing in the first book. The twins are separated and because of that, we see so much more than in the first book. The empire is vast and the people are very unique to each kind of region and that was also something that helped me understand the world better, to see all these different cultural traditions. However, I’m just not that invested in what happens next. The ending added a new dimension to the plot and to everything that was happening that feels too big to really be resolved in one book. I don’t really know how everything will be wrapped up and I feel like I might not enjoy it.
Moria had more of a spotlight in this book. Her point of view is the more precarious one. I really enjoy her character development. She’s just as harsh and as confrontational as she was in the first book but the things that happened then has affected her personality. She’s so much more mature and is managing to think beyond her emotions and learning to think ahead and strategize. Ashyn has also grown a lot after the events of the first books. She’s much more mature but in a much different way than her sister. Because they are separated, she can’t rely on Moria to help her out of things and she can’t feel threatened or overshadowed by her either. It gives her room to spread her wings and to learn a bit about defending herself and to trust her own instincts because there’s no one there to save her. I really like how even though she’s becoming more vocal and firm, she’s still shy and quiet, she’s grown but she’s not a different person.
I’ll talk briefly about the side characters because this is getting super long. Tyrus is a new character that is introduced in this book and I love him! He’s absolutely amazing and actually really refreshing since his personality is the most positive and upbeat of them all. Ronan frustrated me beyond belief in this book. I wanted to shake him and finally get him to do something and stick to it gosh! Gavril is now annoying me. I don’t like how his characterization is turning out and I don’t want him to be a part of a romance. I hope what I’m imagining doesn’t really happen in the next book.
Overall, I ended up liking this series. It’s definitely not my favorite that the author has done and I had a lot of issues with the way she did her world building and the kind of world that it was. However, I really liked the character development throughout the whole series and I feel like enjoyed it that much more because of how well I think it was done. I like the way everything concluded and I’m looking forward to seeing what else I pick up from this author.
Check out my series review here: https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/series-review-age-of-legends-by-kelley-armstrong/
Critically
Plot – 4 out of 5 stars
This book picked up the pace a bit more and it’s much more action packed as well. Thankfully, there’s much more information on the world and how the empire they live in actually works. It’s still a bit confusing though with this second book, I’m definitely getting the hang of things. There’s more romance in this one, lots of twists and turns and monsters. It was definitely a lot more exciting than the first book.
Writing Style – 4 out of 5 stars
The writing style is, luckily, really easy to read and has a steady pace to go along with the plot. It’s really descriptive and detailed though it can still get kind of confusing sometimes. It’s really verbose and old fashioned. The characters voices sound much older than they are because of the way their empire is. However, the world building has definitely improved in this one and things make much more sense.
Characters – 3.5 out of 5 stars
This is still the section in which I’m struggling with the most in this series which sucks because characters are my favorite parts of books. Though it’s definitely improved from the first book as well.
Moria is really freaking angry in this book. The ending of the last book kind of shook her and she’s now questioning the things she thought were right. She’s hurt and she feels betrayed. However, she’s still smart and confident in who she is and the plot of this book pushes her to become much more open and honest.
While I’m not the biggest fan of Ashyn, I really like the development she had in this book. She’s much more confident and much more outgoing but without losing her personality and the person that she is. She’s still smart and is becoming much more aware of her surroundings but still can’t really fight and is overprotected by some of the male characters.
There are more side characters added in this book, much more than I was expecting, but at the same time, they’re all fleshed out much more than in the first book. I enjoyed that there was much more development for all of the characters.
Emotionally
Spoiler
I’m a fan of Kelley Armstrong and I’ve really loved some of her other series but this one definitely isn’t the best and it definitely doesn’t come close to being a favorite.While the first book in the series was disappointing, this second book improved on a lot of things that I had problems with in that one.
The plot is full of action. We follow Moria and Ashyn who, after sharing their hardships in Edgewood with the emperor, are frustrated with the lack of progress being made to save the children from their home. When they’re sent on a rescue mission, the journey ends up being much harder than they think. I definitely enjoyed this book much more than the first one. The plot has a lot more action and it’s more engaging, I wanted to continue reading and to find out what was happening. There is more traveling in this book as well and we get to see more of the world and the empire that all these characters are living in. I was still confused by a few things, it’s such a complicated world with so many different inspirations for it, but I still think that if helped the plot move much more progressively. In this book, one of the characters becomes a prisoner of the antagonist and it was really interesting to be able to see behind enemy lines. It helped shape the plot much better in my opinion because I could see both perspectives of this potential war that started brewing in the first book. The twins are separated and because of that, we see so much more than in the first book. The empire is vast and the people are very unique to each kind of region and that was also something that helped me understand the world better, to see all these different cultural traditions. However, I’m just not that invested in what happens next. The ending added a new dimension to the plot and to everything that was happening that feels too big to really be resolved in one book. I don’t really know how everything will be wrapped up and I feel like I might not enjoy it.
Moria had more of a spotlight in this book. Her point of view is the more precarious one. I really enjoy her character development. She’s just as harsh and as confrontational as she was in the first book but the things that happened then has affected her personality. She’s so much more mature and is managing to think beyond her emotions and learning to think ahead and strategize. Ashyn has also grown a lot after the events of the first books. She’s much more mature but in a much different way than her sister. Because they are separated, she can’t rely on Moria to help her out of things and she can’t feel threatened or overshadowed by her either. It gives her room to spread her wings and to learn a bit about defending herself and to trust her own instincts because there’s no one there to save her. I really like how even though she’s becoming more vocal and firm, she’s still shy and quiet, she’s grown but she’s not a different person.
I’ll talk briefly about the side characters because this is getting super long. Tyrus is a new character that is introduced in this book and I love him! He’s absolutely amazing and actually really refreshing since his personality is the most positive and upbeat of them all. Ronan frustrated me beyond belief in this book. I wanted to shake him and finally get him to do something and stick to it gosh! Gavril is now annoying me. I don’t like how his characterization is turning out and I don’t want him to be a part of a romance. I hope what I’m imagining doesn’t really happen in the next book.
Overall, I ended up liking this series. It’s definitely not my favorite that the author has done and I had a lot of issues with the way she did her world building and the kind of world that it was. However, I really liked the character development throughout the whole series and I feel like enjoyed it that much more because of how well I think it was done. I like the way everything concluded and I’m looking forward to seeing what else I pick up from this author.