Scan barcode
A review by wyrmdog
The Killing Light by Myke Cole
4.0
The journey of Heloise comes to a dramatic close here, and she doesn't get there without more trauma and more loss. Heloise's odyssey has been filled with violence and pain and horror, and she hasn't always weathered it well. But that's the thing with coming-of-age stories, particularly ones set in brutal fantasy worlds chock full of magic, monsters, and machines. Done well, the protagonist is not always right, doesn't win easily, and makes frequent mistakes. But through it all they learn and grow.
Heloise is no exception to this, though she pays a higher price than the majority of young women (or young men, for that matter) that have come before her in the halls of fantasy fiction. Cole seems almost to delight in maiming her and denying her the compassion of companionship and family.
Loudly critical of dogmatic systems - religion in particular, though cultures of other stripes take hits, too - the story still lends those systems a grounding in the reality of the world that helps with understanding. It continually edges into caricature, but inevitably backs off into nuance and a sort of grudging understanding. It never quite falls into the depths of tripe and angst, though I can't help but feel a longer page count would have betrayed it and for that alone, the brevity of the book is a real strength. Its primary weakness is the myopia of the setting. Things feel small and dark and by the second book, very well defined. This, the final chapter, does little to broaden the world or infuse it with the wonder that would make me pine for more. As such, this book serves as a fantastic end-cap and resolution, even wallowing in pain as it does.
Cole makes no bones about why he wrote this series, and at times it can feel a little like it has a few checkboxes it tries really hard to hit, but I think that Cole did a wonderful job making a new world and filling it with meaning.
This series has been a great ride.
Heloise is no exception to this, though she pays a higher price than the majority of young women (or young men, for that matter) that have come before her in the halls of fantasy fiction. Cole seems almost to delight in maiming her and denying her the compassion of companionship and family.
Loudly critical of dogmatic systems - religion in particular, though cultures of other stripes take hits, too - the story still lends those systems a grounding in the reality of the world that helps with understanding. It continually edges into caricature, but inevitably backs off into nuance and a sort of grudging understanding. It never quite falls into the depths of tripe and angst, though I can't help but feel a longer page count would have betrayed it and for that alone, the brevity of the book is a real strength. Its primary weakness is the myopia of the setting. Things feel small and dark and by the second book, very well defined. This, the final chapter, does little to broaden the world or infuse it with the wonder that would make me pine for more. As such, this book serves as a fantastic end-cap and resolution, even wallowing in pain as it does.
Cole makes no bones about why he wrote this series, and at times it can feel a little like it has a few checkboxes it tries really hard to hit, but I think that Cole did a wonderful job making a new world and filling it with meaning.
This series has been a great ride.