Review by mikathereviewer - Faithbreaker

mikathereviewer 's review for:

Faithbreaker by Hannah Kaner

4.0

adventurous sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Summary of my review

The last installment of the series was packed with action and grief. I was able to see how the characters developed throughout their mission on sea, especially how Skedi found courage to speak up and stop making himself small and how Lessa, Inara and Kissen managed to put their differences aside for an important mission. My favourite relationship dynamic was with Inara and Skedi who still cared and loved eachother just like in the previous book. I disliked how the pacing sometimes felt off and how the point of view changed too fast in the end. The description being cut too short sometimes made me unable to just being in a moment for a while before being thrown out of it again. A certain romance began, which I couldn't approve of as this would throw all the relationships with the other characters off and felt unnecessary to the plot as well. The ending felt like a plot twist that I never asked for and I felt angry and sad for what happened. In the epilogue though I realised that it was important for the story and the ending impact to convey a message that left me thinking about it even after I finished the book.
Anyone who likes high fantasy with a mix of mythology (no background knowledge needed) and is fine with reading about LGBT+ romance (it's minor) would probably enjoy this book series.

‘Fireheart, lightbringer
Bravest king of kings
Sacrificer, god breaker
Victory he brings’

The Review
I was so excited to read the last installment of the series, I even wanted to have an ARC of it, but unfortunately it wasn't available in my country. But here I am reading it finally!

Throughout the book I felt so many different things. At first I wasn't that drawn into the story, the beginning was rather slow, to be honest, but then when the battle finally started I felt the tension, as I had the feeling like an important character might die at any moment and the other characters also tried their very best to fight against the Talicians and Hseth, which made me also hope that they will win. I was sure that in the end they will win as the book never gave me the feeling like it will have a bad ending where the evil wins, but I sometimes felt like I might be too sure of it. A part I felt like it didn't fit into the story was a certain romance that started blossoming. My reason for not liking it is that this romance would bring all the previous relationships into chaos if the romance was meant to be serious and I just couldn't but feel that it was also just not fitting to the story to add this romance there. I was glad that they could talk everything out and start being friends, but out of nowhere they started loving eachother and I couldn't but think how it would (negatively) affect Inara and therefore disliked the romance. The ending is something I can't really describe. I was utterly sad as my favourite character didn't deserve what happened, but at the same time it left and conveyed a strong message with this ending, which wouldn't have been possible with a different character.

I really liked about the book the dynamic between Skediceth and Inara once more. I feel like each new book of the series brings them more and more together and they are never forgotten when the author writes the next book. As I said once before, I really love the relationship between these two as they trust and love eachother so deeply.

It's also cute seeing how Skedi reacts when he gets special attention and an offering from not just Inara but other people who started liking him. (Yes, I talk about his cute little dance he performed 'cause he was overjoyed). Skediceth had a major character development throughout the three books (even Kissen admitted that). He used to be just like all the other Gods — Greedy of power and of offerings. But he changed so much and is able to not feel (that) jealous anymore when a different God than him gets an offering and he truly shows his gratitude now when someone decided to give him an offering. He never asks for one and is waiting patiently for someone to give him an totem on their own will. In the second book, Skedi did a major mistake that broke the trust of Inara and Kissen but he learnt out of his mistake and changed to the better. Skedi was seen as untrustworthy as he is the God of white lies, which made it hard for him to be on friendly terms with someone other than Inara, but he chose to become more honest and helpful to the people around him and soothe their fear with newfound hope. I already liked Skediceth since the first book as I had great trust in him turning out to be better than the other Gods, not that greedy for power and actually caring about relationships. My hopes and trust in him were not in vain as he turned out to be just like I predicted and I'm very happy about this.

Inara is still a young girl but she grew less fearful over the books and showed forgiveness for the ones that hurt her, making her able to understand better how to form and built relationships and not being dependent on anyone anymore. She might became a bit impulsive, but I think that has to do with her still being a child and needing to find out what works best for her. Even as she became more impulsive, she still had a plan in her mind and was determined to help everyone out as best as she could. She is a very caring character who is sometimes forgetting to take care of herself as well. As any other child she doesn't want to be left out and is acting like she is already old enough to do specific things, bringing her self into danger, but Skedi is always there to help her out in need and is protecting her. Inara has still a long way to go and needing to understand the world and herself better, but so far she is a great character that wasn't just an annoying child that can't stop herself.

Arren and Elogast were both a bit different in this book apart from the others. Arren changed a lot but more in a way that felt inconsistent and just an excuse to make him become more of a good character unless like the last book where he was portrayed as bad and manipulative towards Elogast. Even if Arren tried to make everything good again, the things he did in the past couldn't be made undone and it felt unrealistic that he changed his mind, almost like it was just another power strategy of his. Elogast wasn't that much with the rest of the characters like previously but was more around Arren. Elogast didn't really have any character development as far as I'm concerned. He just seemed like a character who went two steps backwards instead of forward.

Kissen became less annoying as I disliked how she tried to hide her real feelings, cursing all the time, not connecting to the other characters and acting a bit too arrogant. Fortunately, except for the cursing, she learnt how to show her true feelings and also connected way better than in the start with the other characters. She didn't feel that annoying anymore as she truly cared now about the people she was with and showed it more openly.

As mentioned above the pacing felt a bit off for me, but I liked how it built up the tension for the final battle at the end. At first I didn't like how Inara, Skedi, Kissen and Lessa were on a ship all the time travelling from town/city to the other, especially as all their offerings and requests were turned down by the Gods they seeked help for the war against Hseth but then I started to kinda like it anyway as it showed the development between characters in between their mission to find allies. They didn't just fight the battle against Hseth, the God of fire but also against one another. Kissen and Lessa couldn't stand eachother. Inara and Lessa barely talked to eachother. Skediceth was trying to find courage in showing himself to not just Inara and her friends but to all people they met while they travelled. The whole mission with finding allies wasn't that interesting to me, but I was able to see how these four started changing and developing. I had moments where I felt joy for Skediceth and also felt relieved for what happened between Inara and Lessa. Skedi used to hide himself in the pockets of Inara as he was afraid to get killed by other people when they found out who he was, but his new found courage helped the other characters out on their mission to find allies for the battle against Hseth. Him raising his voice and making himself being in the spotlight for the sake of his friends and to destroy Hseth was such an important part of his development. (+ the archivist named Solom also helped him a lot of feeling like he shouldn't make himself smaller but show his greatness).

I usually prefer to see the battle instead of reading a description of it (yes, for action I prefer films and series), but I tried reading it while listening to music that was designed for battles/war and it kinda helped me getting into it more. Also, couple of characters dying in the middle of this helped make it more tense as well.

There were some things I didn't like. For starters, a certain romance just starting to begin where I think shouldn't have been a start, from the first place. Also, the pacing sometimes as it felt like it got exciting but then it stopped too soon as the point of view just got changed or the description of it just felt too short and could have been longer to actually stay in the moment and not be pulled out of it out of nowhere. Near the end the point of view changed a lot and the chapters were really short, where I started to wonder if it was always necessary to show the same moment in many different perspectives instead of just one.

The ending is hard to describe how I felt about it. I was sad and angry for what happened as I couldn't believe it. It felt like a plot twist that I didn't ask for and I felt betrayed therefore. But the message the ending conveyed was so strong and impactful that I understood it better and decided to like it despite my grief.

Now that I finished the book I can say confidently who I would recommend this to. I think that anyone who likes fantasy with a mix of mythology would enjoy this book series. The good thing is, one doesn't need to have any knowledge of mythology to understand this story. The only thing one should be prepared for is that it's high fantasy and that the languages and names for places are sometimes hard to keep track of, but nevertheless it's not overwhelming the reader. Another aspect the book features which seems to blossom the strongest in this final installment is the LGBT+ romance. It is definitely not a major plot and is more in the background, but one should still consider beforehand if they feel like they can read about love that isn't heterosexual. My favourite aspect of this story are the dynamics between the characters and how they develop on their own but also with their relationships with other characters.

Overall, the final book of the installment left me wondering how impactful and how great the influence of Gods truly are. After all, I connected to Skediceth deeply and ask myself now how I would react if I live in a world where not only Gods are prayed to but actually exist. The ending can be interpreted as something philosophical, based on mythology and I do wonder how the world would look like if we humans would see the Gods we send our prayers to. How would we react? Just like in the book?

The ending of the book was great and I can say that I'm glad that I gave this book series a chance. I felt like it wasn't a waste of time reading the three books.

‘To safest haven
Through heartfelt lies,
To brighten hopes,
And bless our skies.’

Content Warnings