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A review by secre
The Battle of Verril by Joseph R. Lallo
4.0
Having struggled with the first in this series, it with great pleasure that I can say that they get better. The first novel in the series was readable but flat with a central character who was in turns both too perfect and too child-like. This final instalment in the series doesn't fix all of the issues but it does mitigate them.
There are some scrapes where you actually don't know if characters will come out unscathed. Myranda is a little more rounded as a character and therefore far less annoying to be following. And the other characters are grown so much more effectively with changing loyalties and motivations, experiences that mouldy and shape then and all in all become characters that you actually care about.
This is most certainly a high fantasy epic finale and the tone of the novel can almost be dry and bland at points but there's enough action and emotion to draw you back in. The enemies are true enemies and the challenges faced by our hero's are inventive and intriguing. There isn't much doubt that Myranda will succeed in most of what she puts her mind to but the how's and what's and wherefore's keep the book alive.
The only thing that really peeved me was the epilogue. Decisions were made that have no basis in common sense or logic and it therefore jars with the tone of the rest of the book. Despite being focused on high magic and such like it is at this final hurdle that the world building grinds to a halt.
Either way though, I actively enjoyed this as it was worth ploughing through the first in the series for.
There are some scrapes where you actually don't know if characters will come out unscathed. Myranda is a little more rounded as a character and therefore far less annoying to be following. And the other characters are grown so much more effectively with changing loyalties and motivations, experiences that mouldy and shape then and all in all become characters that you actually care about.
This is most certainly a high fantasy epic finale and the tone of the novel can almost be dry and bland at points but there's enough action and emotion to draw you back in. The enemies are true enemies and the challenges faced by our hero's are inventive and intriguing. There isn't much doubt that Myranda will succeed in most of what she puts her mind to but the how's and what's and wherefore's keep the book alive.
The only thing that really peeved me was the epilogue. Decisions were made that have no basis in common sense or logic and it therefore jars with the tone of the rest of the book. Despite being focused on high magic and such like it is at this final hurdle that the world building grinds to a halt.
Either way though, I actively enjoyed this as it was worth ploughing through the first in the series for.