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A review by pascalibrary
An Echo of Things to Come by James Islington
5.0
4.5 Stars. An excellent sequel and exciting installment in an instantly classic series.
An Echo of Things to Come takes everything that The Shadow of What Was Lost did right and leaves most out that it did wrong. Gone is the sense that important scenes were cut for time. Gone are the indistinct characters. Gone are the unchanged tropes.
The pacing in this book is even better than the last one, and the pacing was something that I loved in The Shadow of What Was Lost. Revelations and twists are fed to the reader at a constant rate, yet they always make sense within the context of the story. It doesn't have the soap opera twist feel that you would expect. Twists that hinge on worldbuilding are rarely given through exposition dumps, instead being delivered in interesting devices that break the typical epic fantasy mold. This again makes the reader hungry to learn more so you just keep reading even though its 3 a.m. and you really should get some sleep.
In The Shadow of What Was Lost, the characters really didn't feel super distinct to me. I enjoyed them well enough, but if you removed names in the dialogue sequences, I would have had a very difficult time guessing who said what. Obviously some of this is due to the nature of conversation, and my unfamiliarity with the characters, but you should be able to tell sometimes based on knowing the character's personality traits. I think this problem has been largely resolved here. The main four especially are given some much needed character development, as well as the side characters. I can't tell you how much this does to make the book more engaging, memorable, and intense.
The Licanius Trilogy is well within the genre of epic fantasy, and has the typical tropes and clichés along with it. TSoWWL did change these tropes, but also played it straight for a lot of the story. In the second book, the aforementioned twists and revelations do a lot to make this story feel very fresh. Don't get me wrong, James Islington clearly loves tropes and fantasy, but he's a clever and inventive author who clearly put a lot of work into developing a something new in an inherently derivative genre.
His writing is great, not overly flowery or basic. It strikes a good balance between artistic beauty and utilitarian formality. As this isn't literary fiction, it is about as good as I'd expect. What I did like is how much he delves into the philosophical. Questions about morality and free will are constantly being explored, and both sides of the conflict give compelling answers. Not only does this make the story much more compelling, but it makes the book a lot more interesting. I've been getting into philosophy lately, and I loved this aspect.
There weren't many flaws here either. It's probably a little bit too complex at times, with the nonlinear elements being very confusing until they are cleared up much later. I kept worrying that I missed something. Again, everything does get cleared up later but for much of the book I felt somewhat lost. The pacing did falter a little bit before the middle of the book, but it picked up again quickly so it wasn't that bad. Also, a lot of sequences and chapters end or begin with people fainting/knocking out and waking up. It gets repetitive.
An Echo of Things to Come is amazing. I love it. I can't wait to read The Light of All That Falls, and whatever else James Islington writes. He's earned some loyalty from me with this one. Highly recommended.
An Echo of Things to Come takes everything that The Shadow of What Was Lost did right and leaves most out that it did wrong. Gone is the sense that important scenes were cut for time. Gone are the indistinct characters. Gone are the unchanged tropes.
The pacing in this book is even better than the last one, and the pacing was something that I loved in The Shadow of What Was Lost. Revelations and twists are fed to the reader at a constant rate, yet they always make sense within the context of the story. It doesn't have the soap opera twist feel that you would expect. Twists that hinge on worldbuilding are rarely given through exposition dumps, instead being delivered in interesting devices that break the typical epic fantasy mold. This again makes the reader hungry to learn more so you just keep reading even though its 3 a.m. and you really should get some sleep.
In The Shadow of What Was Lost, the characters really didn't feel super distinct to me. I enjoyed them well enough, but if you removed names in the dialogue sequences, I would have had a very difficult time guessing who said what. Obviously some of this is due to the nature of conversation, and my unfamiliarity with the characters, but you should be able to tell sometimes based on knowing the character's personality traits. I think this problem has been largely resolved here. The main four especially are given some much needed character development, as well as the side characters. I can't tell you how much this does to make the book more engaging, memorable, and intense.
The Licanius Trilogy is well within the genre of epic fantasy, and has the typical tropes and clichés along with it. TSoWWL did change these tropes, but also played it straight for a lot of the story. In the second book, the aforementioned twists and revelations do a lot to make this story feel very fresh. Don't get me wrong, James Islington clearly loves tropes and fantasy, but he's a clever and inventive author who clearly put a lot of work into developing a something new in an inherently derivative genre.
His writing is great, not overly flowery or basic. It strikes a good balance between artistic beauty and utilitarian formality. As this isn't literary fiction, it is about as good as I'd expect. What I did like is how much he delves into the philosophical. Questions about morality and free will are constantly being explored, and both sides of the conflict give compelling answers. Not only does this make the story much more compelling, but it makes the book a lot more interesting. I've been getting into philosophy lately, and I loved this aspect.
There weren't many flaws here either. It's probably a little bit too complex at times, with the nonlinear elements being very confusing until they are cleared up much later. I kept worrying that I missed something. Again, everything does get cleared up later but for much of the book I felt somewhat lost. The pacing did falter a little bit before the middle of the book, but it picked up again quickly so it wasn't that bad. Also, a lot of sequences and chapters end or begin with people fainting/knocking out and waking up. It gets repetitive.
An Echo of Things to Come is amazing. I love it. I can't wait to read The Light of All That Falls, and whatever else James Islington writes. He's earned some loyalty from me with this one. Highly recommended.