You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
tome_reader_alu's Reviews (1.17k)
I have to admit I wasn’t entirely sure where the plot was going through a good portion of the book. I felt sort of dropped into the middle of events that had already started. This might be because this book is the second of a series, though can be read as a standalone. I have not read the first so I’m not entirely sure if I might have a better grasp of the characters and world if I had.
The writing does have an interesting quirk. There are a lot of characters that the narrative focuses on in order to progress the story. Some sections are short, a paragraph or so, and some last several pages. This caused me to slowly get familiar with anyone and see each step of the narrative progress from many different angles. This was interesting, though I admit it was a bit hard to keep track of everything going on and all the characters. Plot details take a while to become obvious, and some things didn’t really get a lot of explanation, but again this could be because of the fact I didn’t get a good world introduction from the first book.
The writing does have an interesting quirk. There are a lot of characters that the narrative focuses on in order to progress the story. Some sections are short, a paragraph or so, and some last several pages. This caused me to slowly get familiar with anyone and see each step of the narrative progress from many different angles. This was interesting, though I admit it was a bit hard to keep track of everything going on and all the characters. Plot details take a while to become obvious, and some things didn’t really get a lot of explanation, but again this could be because of the fact I didn’t get a good world introduction from the first book.
This novella is part of a series but can be read as a standalone. Despite that, I feel like I might not appreciate this story as well without having a better understanding of the world. The entire book is told as if the main character, Luce, is writing a letter to another person, in this case, a person of authority. I feel like because of this there wasn’t a great deal of world-building for me to have a really good grasp of the larger story in the background. It also doesn’t allow for a decent chance to really get to know characters beyond the main protagonist since she is the one writing the story. The letter is written about events that happened ten years prior, so Luce recounts what it was like for her during the war as a thirteen year old. It was an interesting way to tell the story, though it does keep the scope of knowledge narrow.
I was legitimately at a loss for words when I finished this book. It continues the story from the first one very well. I loved the direction things went. The author does a really good job of forcing us to confront the duality of right and wrong and where that line is. I loved not understanding my own feelings about the events that were happening and that had been happening for the past 100 years in the story. I could not predict any of the events or where the story was going at any point. This led to a very interesting ending that was emotional but very appropriate for the characters.
I absolutely adored this book. The story was so relaxing and intriguing at the same time. I loved that nothing felt like it was a life or death situation. It was nice seeing a character just trying to live her life AFTER the adventuring part of it. There was a colorful cast of characters that was well written and I couldn’t help but love every one of them.