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A review by itsybitsydino
In the Shadow of Lightning by Brian McClellan
Did not finish book.
DNF'd at 33% so I refrained from rating. Good world-building. Characters are meh.
It irked me that Demir left his position for 9 years, effectively disappeared from everyone's lives (or at least I think he did??? not clear if he still had most of his connections), and suddenly everything is seemingly back to normal when he has to take up his position because of his mother's death. Other characters only seemed mildly surprised at his re-appearance. Demir himself didn't seem to have any of his own identity issues.
None of the characters appealed to me, and their motives either weren't clear or they felt aimless. The beginning was very good because Demir seemed like such a good character trying his best to avoid needless deaths and even resorting to outcasting himself. But then it's unclear what he might have struggled with in those 9 years, if he even struggled at all.
At some point, he was sidelined. Part of the reason, I think, is that it paced too fast after his mother's death. He is immediately questioning who, why, how, and then immediately throwing himself into recruiting his friends to unearth some mysteries. We don't really spend much time getting to know any of the characters-- but they're all very quick to comply with Demir's commands.
I didn't see the point in seeing it through.
It irked me that Demir left his position for 9 years, effectively disappeared from everyone's lives (or at least I think he did??? not clear if he still had most of his connections), and suddenly everything is seemingly back to normal when he has to take up his position because of his mother's death. Other characters only seemed mildly surprised at his re-appearance. Demir himself didn't seem to have any of his own identity issues.
None of the characters appealed to me, and their motives either weren't clear or they felt aimless. The beginning was very good because Demir seemed like such a good character trying his best to avoid needless deaths and even resorting to outcasting himself. But then it's unclear what he might have struggled with in those 9 years, if he even struggled at all.
At some point, he was sidelined. Part of the reason, I think, is that it paced too fast after his mother's death. He is immediately questioning who, why, how, and then immediately throwing himself into recruiting his friends to unearth some mysteries. We don't really spend much time getting to know any of the characters-- but they're all very quick to comply with Demir's commands.
I didn't see the point in seeing it through.