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A review by paragraphsandpages
As the Shadow Rises by Katy Rose Pool
4.0
While I did enjoy this, it just didn't quite live up to my expectations from the first book, unfortunately.
The main thing that this book suffers from, for me at least, is unbalanced POVs. It's very hard to get a multi-POV book where all the various POVs are just as interesting, but this wasn't even close. At some point I really only cared about Anton and Jude (or, those were by far more interesting than the others), and I was lucky they both had their own POV so at least 2/5 remained interesting. I think their dynamic and romance was just a lot more interesting than what the other characters had going on, and the plot they were following also held my interest more than that of Hassan, Ephyra, and Beru. While overall I can appreciate what was happening with each individual character, and the paths they were going down, I really was only able to connect with Jude and Anton. Ephyra, Hassan, and Beru were definitely interesting, but felt almost farther away, in terms of me connecting with them. I liked thinking about what was going on, but it didn't make me feel as much.
I did enjoy when they finally started coming together again, which was another downside of this book. I loved that in book 1, the groupings of these characters kept on switching, and we got to see them slowly grow together at different moments. In this book, they're much more isolated overall, being stuck with the same group of people the entire time. It isn't until the very end that they start grouping up again.
However, I did really like how the plot was furthered in this book, and how the overall picture of it seemed to grow much clearer in this book. We had gods and prophets and the secrets kept between them, and there were just enough twists and reveals to keep you fully invested the entire time. These twists also didn't just come out of thin air, and I loved seeing the build-up of it releasing into a massive revelation that changed the shape of the story each time.
Overall I enjoyed this, and while I am still excited about the final book, I hope it fixes the balance of characters a bit more.
The main thing that this book suffers from, for me at least, is unbalanced POVs. It's very hard to get a multi-POV book where all the various POVs are just as interesting, but this wasn't even close. At some point I really only cared about Anton and Jude (or, those were by far more interesting than the others), and I was lucky they both had their own POV so at least 2/5 remained interesting. I think their dynamic and romance was just a lot more interesting than what the other characters had going on, and the plot they were following also held my interest more than that of Hassan, Ephyra, and Beru. While overall I can appreciate what was happening with each individual character, and the paths they were going down, I really was only able to connect with Jude and Anton. Ephyra, Hassan, and Beru were definitely interesting, but felt almost farther away, in terms of me connecting with them. I liked thinking about what was going on, but it didn't make me feel as much.
I did enjoy when they finally started coming together again, which was another downside of this book. I loved that in book 1, the groupings of these characters kept on switching, and we got to see them slowly grow together at different moments. In this book, they're much more isolated overall, being stuck with the same group of people the entire time. It isn't until the very end that they start grouping up again.
However, I did really like how the plot was furthered in this book, and how the overall picture of it seemed to grow much clearer in this book. We had gods and prophets and the secrets kept between them, and there were just enough twists and reveals to keep you fully invested the entire time. These twists also didn't just come out of thin air, and I loved seeing the build-up of it releasing into a massive revelation that changed the shape of the story each time.
Overall I enjoyed this, and while I am still excited about the final book, I hope it fixes the balance of characters a bit more.