A review by crispy98
The Book That Broke the World by Mark Lawrence

I’m hesitant to use and dilute words like ‘genius’ but Mark Lawerence has more than earned that title. Book one took me some effort to get into whereas I am enthralled by its sequel. I took an immediate liking to Celcha’s perspective and the ganar as a whole. Their idiosyncrasies, like having an extended sleep cycle and proclivity for slow revenge, proved to be well thought out and unique in the fantasy world. The symmetry was perfect, the plot was consistently logical, and the prose proved profound yet not preachy. A great example of the gravitas found throughout the book is Lutna, a kind girl whose benevolence is accurately surmised by Hellet as a “bandage on cancer”. Some twists, like Evar and Liviria being coincidentally blamed for Starval and Mayland’s actions, were obvious but that’s even addressed in the world building components of the Exchange. Plus there are a bevy of stunning twists, like the implied cannibalism of Katrin from the King’s survivors, for one to be contented.

The interconnectedness of each story element, even seemingly minor moments, is so tight without being trite. Lawerence demonstrates his usual expert use of character and their relations with one another. These moments particularly shine for me, especially inconsequential ones like Malar’s (tragic) death being particularly impactful for Clovis due to their shared warrior spirit. Her romance with Arpix- a worrisome rational man and a brazen warrior woman- felt real enough to have me completely invested. Another example is Kerrol, a personal favorite, being chagrined at not understanding Starval’s decision to join Mayland. Most special of all was the ending: the tragedy of Celcha’s creation had me moved, the sacrifice of Meelan had me teary eyed, and the three unique call to adventures has me yearning to read the final book.