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A review by the_novel_approach
Flux by Kim Fielding
4.0
Can we talk for a minute about the titles in this series? I love what Kim Fielding has done with them—first Stasis and now Flux—and how they not only describe events as they unfold in the story arc but how they also apply to the characters, both Ennek and Miner, and most especially how they pertain to Ennek’s magic. Being in a state of flux is exactly what this second book in the Ennek trilogy is about, and it is a piece of the puzzle that serves to draw a clearer picture of not only the world in which Ennek and Miner live but also builds upon the love they discovered for each other in book one. I can only imagine the final book, Equipoise, will bring about the balance its title promises.
Flux offers the two men some much needed alliances and a shared vision for the sort of future they hope to build with each other. Along with that, however, comes a dark force bent upon exacting a price for a bargain struck under the worst possible circumstances for both Ennek and Miner. This provides the foundation for the storyline, and nearly everything that happens to them along the way has its roots planted in fulfilling this promise—without Ennek somehow losing his humanity in the process.
While I liked getting to know Miner a bit better in this installment of the trilogy, through the memories he shared about the life he’d left behind when he was forced into Stasis three-hundred years before, I’m not sure that what I learned about him built upon his character as much as it was a means of him growing his bond with Ennek. Theirs is a lovely and innocent sort of romance, one that’s drawing out a side of Ennek he wasn’t aware he possessed—though it’s a side that isn’t always welcome because of what it could mean for him as a powerful wizard—and while I loved seeing the immersion of this awesome magic and the ways in which Ennek used it, I was a thousand times more glad when Miner was finally able to emerge from his “damsel in distress” role and got the chance to show his own strength. His role as a former slave continues to be a huge sticking point and factor in so much of what happens to him, he has so little control over so much of his life, and I can’t say I’ll be sorry to watch him crawl out from under that stigma, hopefully sooner rather than later.
The pace of Flux did a good job of reflecting the novel’s title—there were some intense and emotionally desperate moments in the book that ebbed and flowed amongst more sedate scenes that slowed the narrative down perhaps a bit too much for my taste, but it’s in those idyllic moments that Ennek and Miner share some of their most intimate thoughts and feelings. The book reads very much like the bridge between books one and three, advancing their roles in each other’s lives and following them from the world they left behind as they begin to move toward the one they want to build with and for each other.
While Stasis grabbed me much quicker and didn’t let up through the entirety of the book, Flux is still just as impactful in the way these two men balance each other, and I have a feeling that balance is going to be a big part of the next and final book in the trilogy.
Reviewed by Lisa for The Novel Approach Reviews
Flux offers the two men some much needed alliances and a shared vision for the sort of future they hope to build with each other. Along with that, however, comes a dark force bent upon exacting a price for a bargain struck under the worst possible circumstances for both Ennek and Miner. This provides the foundation for the storyline, and nearly everything that happens to them along the way has its roots planted in fulfilling this promise—without Ennek somehow losing his humanity in the process.
While I liked getting to know Miner a bit better in this installment of the trilogy, through the memories he shared about the life he’d left behind when he was forced into Stasis three-hundred years before, I’m not sure that what I learned about him built upon his character as much as it was a means of him growing his bond with Ennek. Theirs is a lovely and innocent sort of romance, one that’s drawing out a side of Ennek he wasn’t aware he possessed—though it’s a side that isn’t always welcome because of what it could mean for him as a powerful wizard—and while I loved seeing the immersion of this awesome magic and the ways in which Ennek used it, I was a thousand times more glad when Miner was finally able to emerge from his “damsel in distress” role and got the chance to show his own strength. His role as a former slave continues to be a huge sticking point and factor in so much of what happens to him, he has so little control over so much of his life, and I can’t say I’ll be sorry to watch him crawl out from under that stigma, hopefully sooner rather than later.
The pace of Flux did a good job of reflecting the novel’s title—there were some intense and emotionally desperate moments in the book that ebbed and flowed amongst more sedate scenes that slowed the narrative down perhaps a bit too much for my taste, but it’s in those idyllic moments that Ennek and Miner share some of their most intimate thoughts and feelings. The book reads very much like the bridge between books one and three, advancing their roles in each other’s lives and following them from the world they left behind as they begin to move toward the one they want to build with and for each other.
While Stasis grabbed me much quicker and didn’t let up through the entirety of the book, Flux is still just as impactful in the way these two men balance each other, and I have a feeling that balance is going to be a big part of the next and final book in the trilogy.
Reviewed by Lisa for The Novel Approach Reviews