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A review by fulltimefiction
An Echo of Things to Come by James Islington
5.0
I was supposed to BR this book with Hamad but unfortunately, 2020 decided it still has a few of its special surprises for me. I ended up reading it weeks later.
Spoiler-free (short) review even for the first book (I will only mention the characters’ names).
This book picks a short time after the ending of The Shadow of What Was Lost but unlike the first book, each character has their own “mission” this time. While I found the first fast-paced and addicting, this one was more complex and demanded more attention. This book truly shows what a brilliant writer Islington is. The intricacy of the world he created and its rich history is simply astounding. The recap was good (wish more authors pick that habit) but as Islington mentioned, it’s not enough.
The stakes in this installment are higher and our characters have much more difficult tasks ahead of them. We are also following different plotlines that serve the same purpose even if not always in a direct way. This book also diverged from the wheel of time (I haven’t finished it but it definitely feels like it). While the similarities in the first book were undeniable, Islington carved his unique own story in this book.
Caeden is still my favorite character. The time jumps were very handled. I usually find anything past related boring and uninteresting. Not here. The way they were told was easy (the easiest thing about this book if it can be even called easy) to follow. I also found myself enjoyed almost all parts equally. I usually look forward to one or two points of views in a book told from multiple perspectives (and while I liked all of them in the first book, Devian’s, for example, where my favorites, I didn’t have any here -Caeden not included because of his somewhat special arc).
I also loved the relationship between the Venerate. They’re not bad guys. Not the villains. It’s not that simple at all. They truly believe that what they’re doing is for the best, the good, for everyone (and not like destroying the world is good for everyone kind of way but actually improving it).
As for the infamous difficulty of keeping up with the book, I did my best. I paid attention, read slowly, searching for characters (ha not google duh, learned that lesson long ago). I managed. I didn’t find it impossible to keep up with even if I had read the book 2 months ago but it certainly needed my complete focus. I can’t binge read books, which is the recommended way to read this trilogy. I get tired and bored of the world regardless of how much I love the world. There was a time when binge read 4 or more books in a series. Sadly, not anymore. It’s a personal thing and not in any way related to the book quality. So, to be fair, I’m going to wait a month before reading the last book. It’s a shame since I heard that The Light of All that Falls is a lot more complex. But it's that or risking disliking the book because I read it too soon...
Spoiler-free (short) review even for the first book (I will only mention the characters’ names).
This book picks a short time after the ending of The Shadow of What Was Lost but unlike the first book, each character has their own “mission” this time. While I found the first fast-paced and addicting, this one was more complex and demanded more attention. This book truly shows what a brilliant writer Islington is. The intricacy of the world he created and its rich history is simply astounding. The recap was good (wish more authors pick that habit) but as Islington mentioned, it’s not enough.
The stakes in this installment are higher and our characters have much more difficult tasks ahead of them. We are also following different plotlines that serve the same purpose even if not always in a direct way. This book also diverged from the wheel of time (I haven’t finished it but it definitely feels like it). While the similarities in the first book were undeniable, Islington carved his unique own story in this book.
Caeden is still my favorite character. The time jumps were very handled. I usually find anything past related boring and uninteresting. Not here. The way they were told was easy (the easiest thing about this book if it can be even called easy) to follow. I also found myself enjoyed almost all parts equally. I usually look forward to one or two points of views in a book told from multiple perspectives (and while I liked all of them in the first book, Devian’s, for example, where my favorites, I didn’t have any here -Caeden not included because of his somewhat special arc).
I also loved the relationship between the Venerate. They’re not bad guys. Not the villains. It’s not that simple at all. They truly believe that what they’re doing is for the best, the good, for everyone (and not like destroying the world is good for everyone kind of way but actually improving it).
As for the infamous difficulty of keeping up with the book, I did my best. I paid attention, read slowly, searching for characters (ha not google duh, learned that lesson long ago). I managed. I didn’t find it impossible to keep up with even if I had read the book 2 months ago but it certainly needed my complete focus. I can’t binge read books, which is the recommended way to read this trilogy. I get tired and bored of the world regardless of how much I love the world. There was a time when binge read 4 or more books in a series. Sadly, not anymore. It’s a personal thing and not in any way related to the book quality. So, to be fair, I’m going to wait a month before reading the last book. It’s a shame since I heard that The Light of All that Falls is a lot more complex. But it's that or risking disliking the book because I read it too soon...