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A review by shandyt
The Lost War by Justin Lee Anderson
4.0
4 stars.
I'm sure most reviews of this book will talk about the spectacularly twisty ending, saying that once the final piece of information drops into place, things from earlier in the book that seemed inconsistent or strange will suddenly make sense. This is true. Without risking spoilers, yes, this book does have a great twist ending at the end of the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, the rest of the book is little more than a setup for that twist.
Characterization is simplistic, falling back on easily recognizable tropes (likely because the book got its start as an RPG campaign), and the worldbuilding is quite thin. Only the main characters Aranok and Samily seem to get the attention they deserve in terms of complexity or personality.
Then when you take a closer look at the twist, certain parts of the setup seem to serve no purpose other than to be subverted later, or play for shock value. Spoilers:
Certain plotlines do end without a real resolution, so it's easy to imagine they'll get picked up again in the sequel. Perhaps some of my complaints will also be addressed, and with the author's extra experience, the overall read will be smoother. I'm hoping so.
I'm sure most reviews of this book will talk about the spectacularly twisty ending, saying that once the final piece of information drops into place, things from earlier in the book that seemed inconsistent or strange will suddenly make sense. This is true. Without risking spoilers, yes, this book does have a great twist ending at the end of the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, the rest of the book is little more than a setup for that twist.
Characterization is simplistic, falling back on easily recognizable tropes (likely because the book got its start as an RPG campaign), and the worldbuilding is quite thin. Only the main characters Aranok and Samily seem to get the attention they deserve in terms of complexity or personality.
Then when you take a closer look at the twist, certain parts of the setup seem to serve no purpose other than to be subverted later, or play for shock value. Spoilers:
Spoiler
The shock value of course mostly lies in the false relationship between Aranok and Allandria (what was Janaeus getting at?). As for the pointless: the inclusion and even more baffling memory erasure of the cocoon creatures (whose name I won't even attempt to spell, having listened to the audiobook). What were the Reivers there for, except to show up with strange jacket patches? Where are the demons coming from, and if they're from hell, why would Aranok deny the existence of God? The story would have worked just as well if there were no cocoon creatures, no demons, and no Reivers. The threat could simply have been the dead (or even demon-possessed undead), and the clues as to Mynaggog's innocence could have been sprinkled elsewhere. Even the quest itself ceases to make much sense if you examine it too closely. If Janaeus has that much power, why did he bother to send all his enemies on a quest, knowing there was a chance they'd learn the truth? Why not just have them quietly murdered, and rewrite people's memories to make their countrymen think the heroes had died in the war?Certain plotlines do end without a real resolution, so it's easy to imagine they'll get picked up again in the sequel. Perhaps some of my complaints will also be addressed, and with the author's extra experience, the overall read will be smoother. I'm hoping so.