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A review by madmooney
The Lost War by Justin Lee Anderson
5.0
Thank you to Orbit for providing an arc of this title (as part of their "New Faces 2023" campaign). I am so happy to hear that this was published prior to Orbit's re-issue, and that I will have to only wait a few months for its sequel, [b:The Bitter Crown|103453994|The Bitter Crown (Eidyn, #2)|Justin Lee Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1677552726l/103453994._SX50_.jpg|126781881].
I do want to say that this was originally going to be scored a 3.5 as I had a problem with a few of the author's choices (some of which I will detail below), but the the twist at the end has redeemed this 1st Eidyn installment. I will forgive my little peeves for now, especailly if it is possible that they were in written in service of the twist (or rather that they make sense retroactively due to the twist). We will see how they carry forth in Book 2.
Little irks:
Aranok - On first appearance, a character who is 'too hard on himself' and 'expects perfection from himself', something that is repeated often by the surrounding characters. Very much a 'rules for thee and not for me'-character. Once again, there is an aspect of this book that explains the use of this tired trope, so I will wait and watch to see if this persists in the follow up.
Magic System - not well defined nor that interesting. This is only the 1st installment, so I will give the author time to expand as his world expands.
Despite the above, I was invested from start to finish, and even more invested in those last few chapters.
One final thing: this was pitched as epic Scottish fantasy (also evidenced in the title of the series), but I was not feeling it to be particularily Scottish. It could be that I have read a lot of UK fantasy in the past, so I was not able to pick out the unique flavours our from the background in this case. I think I went in expecting more Highlander in this.
I do want to say that this was originally going to be scored a 3.5 as I had a problem with a few of the author's choices (some of which I will detail below), but the the twist at the end has redeemed this 1st Eidyn installment. I will forgive my little peeves for now, especailly if it is possible that they were in written in service of the twist (or rather that they make sense retroactively due to the twist). We will see how they carry forth in Book 2.
Little irks:
Aranok - On first appearance, a character who is 'too hard on himself' and 'expects perfection from himself', something that is repeated often by the surrounding characters. Very much a 'rules for thee and not for me'-character. Once again, there is an aspect of this book that explains the use of this tired trope, so I will wait and watch to see if this persists in the follow up.
Magic System - not well defined nor that interesting. This is only the 1st installment, so I will give the author time to expand as his world expands.
Despite the above, I was invested from start to finish, and even more invested in those last few chapters.
One final thing: this was pitched as epic Scottish fantasy (also evidenced in the title of the series), but I was not feeling it to be particularily Scottish. It could be that I have read a lot of UK fantasy in the past, so I was not able to pick out the unique flavours our from the background in this case. I think I went in expecting more Highlander in this.