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anaisniz's reviews
84 reviews
The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
🐺 Plot: 9.0 /10
❄️ Setting: 10 /10
🛡️ Characters: 8.0 /10
✍ Writing (style): Excellent . (Even though it's not my taste)
📚 Would I recommend it? Yes.
“Death is a part of life.”
👍 Up's:
1) Interesting and amazing characters
2) Fantastic world/worldbuilding & Mythology inspired
3) Intriguing plot & Good pace
4) Detailed writing
Overall, this book is a great start to the trilogy, it's very close to 5 stars, but I'm saving it for the next books that will give us much more and a complete growth of the characters.
1) Like many others, I fell in love with Orka. Since so many have mentioned her, I won't repeat it. She's complex and amazing and I can't wait to watch her get what she wants. Also, I love her pets.
Varg my beloved. Varg is adorable and it was very interesting seeing him struggling with fitting in into a new family. I want him to be happy T-T
There's a huge cast of characters and honestly I liked them all, even the "bad guys" seem cool and knowing two of them have their own chapters in the following book makes everything more exiting! All of them have their own voice and ties.
2) Vigrið it's incredibly well written and detailed. The first book alone already gives us a lot about this huge land. And as a mythology lover, it was easy to be interested. I can't wait to learn more about this land.
3) I've never read anything from John Gwynne before. But I heard his books are amazing and he's a master at writing fighting scenes, witch it's true. I also heard that this book was the first of his, that was more "passive" and slow (in a good way). I really liked the balance between a page of violence and then a page of friends eating together.
4) It shows John Gwynne has love for norse mythology and knows its concepts and technical names. The writing it's excellent indeed, but not my personal liking. There's too many descriptions for my taste.
It was hard to get used to the writing at first, but that didn't stop me from enjoying reading it.
👎 Down's:
1) Repetitive
2) Elvar (Main character #3)
1) I read this in Portuguese. In every chapter the expression "shrugged" was repeated AT LEAST twice. I don't know if it's because in English there are several ways to say it and in Portuguese not. But it was very annoying to read it over and over. Even though the pace of the book is good, I found it repetitive, but fortunately, it's enjoyable and I didn't get bored.
2) Of course, the first book alone can't make every character grow and that's good, since it's just the start. But, overall it made them justice. However, like many others say, Elvar was the character who felt more "forgotten", it was more her surroundings that were moving, rather than her. But in other way, her adventures made us discover more about Vigrið. Learning about her family/past was interesting, however that didn't last. It was at the final pages that I was more exciting about her.
✨ Final thoughts:
Again, this was an amazing start. Full of promising characters and a promising plot. There's much more to explore in Vigrið, I hope and I can't wait to pick up the 2nd book! Would love to watch this as a TV series.
❄️ Setting: 10 /10
🛡️ Characters: 8.0 /10
✍ Writing (style): Excellent . (Even though it's not my taste)
📚 Would I recommend it? Yes.
“Death is a part of life.”
👍 Up's:
1) Interesting and amazing characters
2) Fantastic world/worldbuilding & Mythology inspired
3) Intriguing plot & Good pace
4) Detailed writing
Overall, this book is a great start to the trilogy, it's very close to 5 stars, but I'm saving it for the next books that will give us much more and a complete growth of the characters.
1) Like many others, I fell in love with Orka. Since so many have mentioned her, I won't repeat it. She's complex and amazing and I can't wait to watch her get what she wants. Also, I love her pets.
Varg my beloved. Varg is adorable and it was very interesting seeing him struggling with fitting in into a new family. I want him to be happy T-T
There's a huge cast of characters and honestly I liked them all, even the "bad guys" seem cool and knowing two of them have their own chapters in the following book makes everything more exiting! All of them have their own voice and ties.
2) Vigrið it's incredibly well written and detailed. The first book alone already gives us a lot about this huge land. And as a mythology lover, it was easy to be interested. I can't wait to learn more about this land.
3) I've never read anything from John Gwynne before. But I heard his books are amazing and he's a master at writing fighting scenes, witch it's true. I also heard that this book was the first of his, that was more "passive" and slow (in a good way). I really liked the balance between a page of violence and then a page of friends eating together.
4) It shows John Gwynne has love for norse mythology and knows its concepts and technical names. The writing it's excellent indeed, but not my personal liking. There's too many descriptions for my taste.
It was hard to get used to the writing at first, but that didn't stop me from enjoying reading it.
👎 Down's:
1) Repetitive
2) Elvar (Main character #3)
1) I read this in Portuguese. In every chapter the expression "shrugged" was repeated AT LEAST twice. I don't know if it's because in English there are several ways to say it and in Portuguese not. But it was very annoying to read it over and over. Even though the pace of the book is good, I found it repetitive, but fortunately, it's enjoyable and I didn't get bored.
2) Of course, the first book alone can't make every character grow and that's good, since it's just the start. But, overall it made them justice. However, like many others say, Elvar was the character who felt more "forgotten", it was more her surroundings that were moving, rather than her. But in other way, her adventures made us discover more about Vigrið. Learning about her family/past was interesting, however that didn't last. It was at the final pages that I was more exciting about her.
✨ Final thoughts:
Again, this was an amazing start. Full of promising characters and a promising plot. There's much more to explore in Vigrið, I hope and I can't wait to pick up the 2nd book! Would love to watch this as a TV series.
Three Dark Crowns Series 5 Books Collection Set (Three Dark Crowns, One Dark Throne, Two Dark Reigns, Queens of Fennbirn, Five Dark Fates) by Kendare Blake
3.0
Book 1 (Three Dark Crowns): 4/5
Book 2 (One Dark Throne): 4/5
Book 3 (Two Dark Reigns): 3/5
Book 4 (Five Dark Fates): 2/5
⭐️ SAGA Overall: 3.5/5 ⭐️
Book 2 (One Dark Throne): 4/5
Book 3 (Two Dark Reigns): 3/5
Book 4 (Five Dark Fates): 2/5
⭐️ SAGA Overall: 3.5/5 ⭐️