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thewordslinger 's review for:
Guardian of the Drowned Empire
by Frankie Diane Mallis
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is just as good as the last, but there's not a ton to celebrate within its pages. I kept expecting that we'd see Lyr come into her power, or for something to happen that gives her a bit of justice against the Imperator or Bastardmaker.
Instead, we're given even more torture and torment. And don't get me wrong, it's <i>fantastic</i> torture and torment (in that it's written well and makes you LOATHE the scumbags responsible), but this book moves slower than I'm used to when it comes to development. In any other trilogy, we'd have seen the 1st love out of the picture by now. There'd have been some major progress with the main character and their previously undiscovered power. We might have even gotten a bit of justice for some of the horrible shit that happens in the previous book (and in this one)... Instead, we're just piling on more and more heartache for our girl and her (real) beau. And honestly... the first 3 quarters of this book can sometimes get repetitive to the point where I couldn't necessarily tell you whether they happened in book 1 or book 2.
We're still watching Lyr pretend to be interested in Tristan for the majority of this book, even while her and Rhyan are growing closer. As I said in my review of book 1, Tristan doesn't seem like a bad guy, exactly. But I don't like how much time we have to spend with the two of them.
We're also seeing Lyr spend a ton of time training. Which is great, but there's not a significant enough change to her character arc to justify spending upwards of 300 pages on it.
And it's not until 1 or 2 chapters from the very end of the book that anything game-changing is actually discovered, both about who the bad guys are and about who our FMC truly is. It really just feels like a LOT of reading, for 2 simultaneous revelations at the very end of the book.
All of this might sound negative...and I know for some people it'll be frustrating. I was frustrated. But I also devoured this book. So while I might not have gotten the plot-progression I was expecting, I didn't regret the time I spent within these pages... do with that what you will.
Instead, we're given even more torture and torment. And don't get me wrong, it's <i>fantastic</i> torture and torment (in that it's written well and makes you LOATHE the scumbags responsible), but this book moves slower than I'm used to when it comes to development. In any other trilogy, we'd have seen the 1st love out of the picture by now. There'd have been some major progress with the main character and their previously undiscovered power. We might have even gotten a bit of justice for some of the horrible shit that happens in the previous book (and in this one)... Instead, we're just piling on more and more heartache for our girl and her (real) beau. And honestly... the first 3 quarters of this book can sometimes get repetitive to the point where I couldn't necessarily tell you whether they happened in book 1 or book 2.
We're still watching Lyr pretend to be interested in Tristan for the majority of this book, even while her and Rhyan are growing closer. As I said in my review of book 1, Tristan doesn't seem like a bad guy, exactly. But I don't like how much time we have to spend with the two of them.
We're also seeing Lyr spend a ton of time training. Which is great, but there's not a significant enough change to her character arc to justify spending upwards of 300 pages on it.
And it's not until 1 or 2 chapters from the very end of the book that anything game-changing is actually discovered, both about who the bad guys are and about who our FMC truly is. It really just feels like a LOT of reading, for 2 simultaneous revelations at the very end of the book.
All of this might sound negative...and I know for some people it'll be frustrating. I was frustrated. But I also devoured this book. So while I might not have gotten the plot-progression I was expecting, I didn't regret the time I spent within these pages... do with that what you will.