A review by judascomplex
The Waking Land by Callie Bates

4.0

It's hard to invoke memories of famous books like Lord of the Rings without making it feel like you ripped something off. But Bates does it flawlessly. The mountain people and Helm's Deep, the army of the ancestors... It was a joy to see that LotR had been an influence on Bates' writing, and that I wasn't likely the only one to see that! Just enough similarity to call on a memory, and different enough to feel like an entirely different concept. The plot isn't anything new, but it didn't need to be. The characters were fantastic and well-thought-out. With that, enough guesswork to make the specifics of the ending uncertain, and just the right amount of heartbreak, this was well worth the read. 4 stars.