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alilbitofmonica 's review for:
A Song of Legends Lost
by M.H. Ayinde
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This EPIC fantasy is truly a masterful exploration of world building and ancestral connections.
The synopsis barely touches on the depth of this story - a rich world building experience, a deep dive into the ways that the people of the Nine Lands connect to the spirits of their ancestors, and a beautiful weaving of the spiritual and scientific worlds - all with the backdrop of political unrest between people groups.
There were a few POVs we get to explore, which gives us a rounded view of the goings on across the Nine Lands, and then getting to see the intersection of the storylines.
A few minor reasons why this didn't quite hit as a 5 star read: There were too many characters to keep them all straight - even with the listing at the start of the book, in the moment of reading I struggled to remember who was who while we jumped between POVs. There was also one POV that we meet in Part 1, a POV that I loved reading and following - but then the character is not in Part 2-3, so we go roughly 300 pages without continuing the story? Structurally, I understand why we left that storyline to build in the background, but as a fascinating character, it was disappointing to not get to see this character for so long.
As a visual reader, there were also times I struggled to visualize certain scenes.
Audiobook: I think the narrator did a fantastic job at bringing this story to life - his use of voice inflection to convey the "rougher" characters in contrast to the "heroes" helped build a lot of tension that lent itself to building some really great dynamics. It did read a little slow - I typically read at 3x speed for epic fantasy, and I had this bumped up to 3.5x instead.
The synopsis barely touches on the depth of this story - a rich world building experience, a deep dive into the ways that the people of the Nine Lands connect to the spirits of their ancestors, and a beautiful weaving of the spiritual and scientific worlds - all with the backdrop of political unrest between people groups.
There were a few POVs we get to explore, which gives us a rounded view of the goings on across the Nine Lands, and then getting to see the intersection of the storylines.
A few minor reasons why this didn't quite hit as a 5 star read: There were too many characters to keep them all straight - even with the listing at the start of the book, in the moment of reading I struggled to remember who was who while we jumped between POVs. There was also one POV that we meet in Part 1, a POV that I loved reading and following - but then the character is not in Part 2-3, so we go roughly 300 pages without continuing the story? Structurally, I understand why we left that storyline to build in the background, but as a fascinating character, it was disappointing to not get to see this character for so long.
As a visual reader, there were also times I struggled to visualize certain scenes.
Audiobook: I think the narrator did a fantastic job at bringing this story to life - his use of voice inflection to convey the "rougher" characters in contrast to the "heroes" helped build a lot of tension that lent itself to building some really great dynamics. It did read a little slow - I typically read at 3x speed for epic fantasy, and I had this bumped up to 3.5x instead.