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A review by goldguardie
King of Sword and Sky by C.L. Wilson
5.0
4.5 stars.
This story makes me feel all the feels. I can go from reading the happiest, most joyous chapter ever, to then being totally stressed out and feeling hopeless in the next.
Partly that's due to the character development. We have seen both Ellie and Rain change so much in the last three books, and have come to care about the Fey as a people as well as their Celiarian allies. We have even gotten a lot of development from the secondary and tertiary characters, which really rounds out the whole expansive world and story and makes it so much better.
However, it's also due to the fantastic protagonist in this book. I love to hate the Eld, and hate them I do. The High Mage needs to go down in a spout of fiery Tairen flame. Also Den Brodsen, because, seriously? He's a freaking worm. But as slowly as parts of this story move, I think a lot of that is because we're slowly but surely being fed information bit by bit, which is great for development. It shows us how truly evil Vadim Maur is, and even though I detest him with every fiber of my being, I appreciate how good he is at being evil.
That being said, I ADORE the Tairen pride. I love them. At the beginning of this literary journey, I was like...giant flying cats? HAHAHA. OK, STORY. SURE. But now...they've completely grown on me. They're adorable and kind but also protective and ferocious. They're fantastic. Every sad thing that happened to them in this book made me want to cry. The descriptions of the kitlings throughout were so cute and then WHEN WE FOUND OUT EXACTLY WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO THEM (!!!!) it made me *so* angry.
I do have to admit, the beginning of this book did move pretty slowly for me. I was bored of the "let's get out of Celiaria and go to the Mists" part. I wanted to be in the Fading Lands sooner. But once we arrived, EVERYTHING WAS NEW! There was so much for the reader to see through Ellie's eyes and it was beautiful. If someone asked me right now which fictional place I'd want to go to right at this moment, I'd say Elverial. Because I love me some Lothlorien-like fictional places.
The story also expanded its range in this book. Not only are we now familiar with Celiaria, but the different parts of the Fading Lands, as well as Orest and Teleon, where the final giant scenes were played out. (This part was super stressful because the reader knows a lot more about what's going on with the Eld than the Fey do, and just...ugh). The lands we knew just doubled in size and I'm beginning to see on how grand of a scale this war is going to be. Tbh, I'm kind of worried.
This story makes me feel all the feels. I can go from reading the happiest, most joyous chapter ever, to then being totally stressed out and feeling hopeless in the next.
Partly that's due to the character development. We have seen both Ellie and Rain change so much in the last three books, and have come to care about the Fey as a people as well as their Celiarian allies. We have even gotten a lot of development from the secondary and tertiary characters, which really rounds out the whole expansive world and story and makes it so much better.
However, it's also due to the fantastic protagonist in this book. I love to hate the Eld, and hate them I do. The High Mage needs to go down in a spout of fiery Tairen flame. Also Den Brodsen, because, seriously? He's a freaking worm. But as slowly as parts of this story move, I think a lot of that is because we're slowly but surely being fed information bit by bit, which is great for development. It shows us how truly evil Vadim Maur is, and even though I detest him with every fiber of my being, I appreciate how good he is at being evil.
That being said, I ADORE the Tairen pride. I love them. At the beginning of this literary journey, I was like...giant flying cats? HAHAHA. OK, STORY. SURE. But now...they've completely grown on me. They're adorable and kind but also protective and ferocious. They're fantastic. Every sad thing that happened to them in this book made me want to cry. The descriptions of the kitlings throughout were so cute and then WHEN WE FOUND OUT EXACTLY WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO THEM (!!!!) it made me *so* angry.
I do have to admit, the beginning of this book did move pretty slowly for me. I was bored of the "let's get out of Celiaria and go to the Mists" part. I wanted to be in the Fading Lands sooner. But once we arrived, EVERYTHING WAS NEW! There was so much for the reader to see through Ellie's eyes and it was beautiful. If someone asked me right now which fictional place I'd want to go to right at this moment, I'd say Elverial. Because I love me some Lothlorien-like fictional places.
The story also expanded its range in this book. Not only are we now familiar with Celiaria, but the different parts of the Fading Lands, as well as Orest and Teleon, where the final giant scenes were played out. (This part was super stressful because the reader knows a lot more about what's going on with the Eld than the Fey do, and just...ugh). The lands we knew just doubled in size and I'm beginning to see on how grand of a scale this war is going to be. Tbh, I'm kind of worried.