nclcaitlin's review
4.25
Ruka stared at the corpse of the boy he'd killed, and his stomach growled.
If that opening line doesn’t grab your attention, then you’re not reading the right books.
You can’t help but feel for Ruka despite his many moral misgivings and horrific deeds. He’s hated from birth, abandoned by everyone except his mother who dies, and is apparently marked by the gods and destined to bring about the end of world.
He starts out a naive young boy, but the book trawls through time to show the trajectory of his life which has led him to a societal outcast, menace, and villain.
I'll be part of your book, Mother, but not like Egil or Haki or Rupa. I'll be Omika, the giant. I'll be the monster who frightens little girls. That's what I am. I'll butcher the whole world one by one with my bare hands, and when they're all dead, the lawmakers and priestesses and all their servants, then I'll go to the afterlife and find you, and I'lI make you their queen.
Then we have Kale - the fourth, least favourite son of the King of Pyu, an island empire with a strong navy and delicate political ties to an ever-increasing empire to the West. Owning to his immaturity and rebellious nature, Kale l is placed in Navy boot camp where we soon learn he is ambitious, loyal, and honourable.
There are other viewpoints littered in, but this is mostly an epic high fantasy coming-of-age story about two boys from two very different casts of life.
What I found absolutely fascinating was that Ruka’s world order is based on a matriarchy where the priestesses are those who have the power to dictate the lives of all others. Nell takes the common idea of Chiefman taking numerous wives and controlling their families and inverts it, giving this mainly uncontested to the women.
Interestingly, the women cannot back this up with physical prowess, so must rely on the men they subjugate to continue their devotion and belief in the order and propaganda.
This is gritty, dark, and bloody. And I mean bloody. Ripping body parts and maybe eating them bloody.
Normally, I’m not a fan of desensitised, graphically over-done violence, but Nell makes this work with the characterisations, conflict, and story he crafts.
"I will destroy this land of ash, and make my followers kings in paradise."
If you enjoyed the Justice of Kings by Richard Swan, The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie, or The Forgetting Moon by Brian Lee Durfee, I would recommend this!
If that opening line doesn’t grab your attention, then you’re not reading the right books.
You can’t help but feel for Ruka despite his many moral misgivings and horrific deeds. He’s hated from birth, abandoned by everyone except his mother who dies, and is apparently marked by the gods and destined to bring about the end of world.
He starts out a naive young boy, but the book trawls through time to show the trajectory of his life which has led him to a societal outcast, menace, and villain.
I'll be part of your book, Mother, but not like Egil or Haki or Rupa. I'll be Omika, the giant. I'll be the monster who frightens little girls. That's what I am. I'll butcher the whole world one by one with my bare hands, and when they're all dead, the lawmakers and priestesses and all their servants, then I'll go to the afterlife and find you, and I'lI make you their queen.
Then we have Kale - the fourth, least favourite son of the King of Pyu, an island empire with a strong navy and delicate political ties to an ever-increasing empire to the West. Owning to his immaturity and rebellious nature, Kale l is placed in Navy boot camp where we soon learn he is ambitious, loyal, and honourable.
There are other viewpoints littered in, but this is mostly an epic high fantasy coming-of-age story about two boys from two very different casts of life.
What I found absolutely fascinating was that Ruka’s world order is based on a matriarchy where the priestesses are those who have the power to dictate the lives of all others. Nell takes the common idea of Chiefman taking numerous wives and controlling their families and inverts it, giving this mainly uncontested to the women.
Interestingly, the women cannot back this up with physical prowess, so must rely on the men they subjugate to continue their devotion and belief in the order and propaganda.
This is gritty, dark, and bloody. And I mean bloody. Ripping body parts and maybe eating them bloody.
Normally, I’m not a fan of desensitised, graphically over-done violence, but Nell makes this work with the characterisations, conflict, and story he crafts.
"I will destroy this land of ash, and make my followers kings in paradise."
If you enjoyed the Justice of Kings by Richard Swan, The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie, or The Forgetting Moon by Brian Lee Durfee, I would recommend this!
jerusar's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of those stories that will resonate with me for a long time. I have read many books where I have liked the villians even though they were terrible people. Sometimes they're funny, witty, smart, or just all around likeable characters. But in this case it was not any of those... I felt a true and utter sadness inside me for Ruka. I felt this for Dala as well, but not on such a deep level. This author has a masterful way of making your heart break without doing it in such an obvious and expected way. I do not want to depress you though lol, this book has many things aside from heartache. Revenge, friendship, family, love, brotherhood, magic, battles, religion... it is all around a truly good read. All the characters were really well written and developed. Kale's story is as engrossing as Ruka's with an interesting twist at the end that I am excited to see where it goes.
This book was on my TBR for entirely too long and I am so glad I finally took the plunge... and I enjoyed it so much that I have immediately started the next book even though I am in the middle of a readathon with my book club and I had my whole month planned. To hell with plans...
This book was on my TBR for entirely too long and I am so glad I finally took the plunge... and I enjoyed it so much that I have immediately started the next book even though I am in the middle of a readathon with my book club and I had my whole month planned. To hell with plans...
argonott's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism
Minor: Rape
superpsycho's review
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
girish0731's review against another edition
4.0
This series is one of the unique fantasy series, I picked up this year and it's genuinely a fantastic start. The characters, world-building and plot build up the start with a slower pace and ends with a perfect crescendo. The sequels have much more potential to explore and excited to know how this progresses.
kitvaria_sarene's review against another edition
4.0
This book is dark. Really dark. Do not read it if you don't like horribly grim books and a full on anti hero in a bleak world.
However if you like to read grimdark, and if the book starting with cannibalism as a way to survive doesn't turn you off - this might be perfect for you!
To balance Ruka, who was incredibly easy to care for, despite the despicable things he needs to do, we also get a full on hero.
Kale is a prince, pretty much perfect at everything he turns his mind to, and has a golden heart. He is too amazing all around, but as Ruka was going through such horrors, this somehow worked well. If it was just Kale, I would have found it annoying, this way it contrasted and I think the book needed it in a way
And then we have the third POV Dala. I was excited to get a female main character, who was more than just a romantic interest! But sadly I really couldn't click with her at all. I never really got a grip on her personality and therefore didn't care for her either. I wish she was better developed or written. Instead her parts of the story really were a slog, and I must confess I did wish for her to just find a quick end, so I wouldn't have to spend more time following her around. Not even because I disliked her, but simply because I didn't care.
And while we're on the topic of romance - this was a mixed batch in this book. At first the romance actually seemed to make sense for the story, and it didn't feel like it was added just to tick a box. Though I found it funny how all the virgins were amazing at sexual encounters right away... All natural professionals it seems!
The actual plot important romance, the big love you'll never forget? Forgotten about 10 pages after. And there went my happy: "Oh this is much more sex than I like in my books, but at least it's kinda realistic and makes sense instead of Insta love".
On the other hand I adored the friendships and the love between brothers in here. I dearly wish more fantasy books had other important relationships than just romance/sex based ones - and this one delivered nicely on that!
All in all this book was a good read, that could have been amazing with a little bit more editing, especially for the pacing and the female characters. I enjoyed it a lot, and plan to read the sequel, as I need to know what will become of Ruka and Kale!
However if you like to read grimdark, and if the book starting with cannibalism as a way to survive doesn't turn you off - this might be perfect for you!
Ruka Stared at the corpse of the boy he’d killed, and his stomach growled
To balance Ruka, who was incredibly easy to care for, despite the despicable things he needs to do, we also get a full on hero.
Kale is a prince, pretty much perfect at everything he turns his mind to, and has a golden heart. He is too amazing all around, but as Ruka was going through such horrors, this somehow worked well. If it was just Kale, I would have found it annoying, this way it contrasted and I think the book needed it in a way
And then we have the third POV Dala. I was excited to get a female main character, who was more than just a romantic interest! But sadly I really couldn't click with her at all. I never really got a grip on her personality and therefore didn't care for her either. I wish she was better developed or written. Instead her parts of the story really were a slog, and I must confess I did wish for her to just find a quick end, so I wouldn't have to spend more time following her around. Not even because I disliked her, but simply because I didn't care.
And while we're on the topic of romance - this was a mixed batch in this book. At first the romance actually seemed to make sense for the story, and it didn't feel like it was added just to tick a box. Though I found it funny how all the virgins were amazing at sexual encounters right away... All natural professionals it seems!
The actual plot important romance, the big love you'll never forget? Forgotten about 10 pages after. And there went my happy: "Oh this is much more sex than I like in my books, but at least it's kinda realistic and makes sense instead of Insta love".
On the other hand I adored the friendships and the love between brothers in here. I dearly wish more fantasy books had other important relationships than just romance/sex based ones - and this one delivered nicely on that!
All in all this book was a good read, that could have been amazing with a little bit more editing, especially for the pacing and the female characters. I enjoyed it a lot, and plan to read the sequel, as I need to know what will become of Ruka and Kale!
brents's review against another edition
4.0
I am a grimdark fantasy fan and of all the popular grimdark series the Ash and Sand trilogy is one of the few I hadn't jumped into until now. I'm not sure why I waited this long because the first book, Kings of Paradise, was really good.
The story follows 3 main protagonists as each comes of age and eventually becomes the characters that drive the actions of the series. That's important to point out because this book does take a while to get going while the characters are developing. This is probably the most character over plot focused book I have read since The Blade Itself. I don't mean that as a negative. Nell spends a lot of time on developing these characters so when things do take off in the plot past the half way point the things they are doing seem natural and earned. In fact the books takes off so much I pretty much binged the last 300 pages, and it goes in some really unexpected directions and leans into the fantastical in a way I found satisfying.
As for what I did not like it can pretty much be summed up with Dala. She's the 3rd POV protagonist and while things were happening in her chapters I just really wasn't very interested in her story. On top of that it felt like the POVs would stack up so you would get multiple chapters of Dala and feel like it had been forever since we checked in with Ruka or Kale who are both much more interesting. I've been told by multiple people though that this is fixed in the subsequent books.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It's a brutal world with super interesting characters. One of those characters is basically a sociopath and even though Nell puts you in his head it's never off putting (relatively for grimdark). The best part though is the way the book builds and by the end the hook is firmly set and I can't wait to get to book 2.
The story follows 3 main protagonists as each comes of age and eventually becomes the characters that drive the actions of the series. That's important to point out because this book does take a while to get going while the characters are developing. This is probably the most character over plot focused book I have read since The Blade Itself. I don't mean that as a negative. Nell spends a lot of time on developing these characters so when things do take off in the plot past the half way point the things they are doing seem natural and earned. In fact the books takes off so much I pretty much binged the last 300 pages, and it goes in some really unexpected directions and leans into the fantastical in a way I found satisfying.
As for what I did not like it can pretty much be summed up with Dala. She's the 3rd POV protagonist and while things were happening in her chapters I just really wasn't very interested in her story. On top of that it felt like the POVs would stack up so you would get multiple chapters of Dala and feel like it had been forever since we checked in with Ruka or Kale who are both much more interesting. I've been told by multiple people though that this is fixed in the subsequent books.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It's a brutal world with super interesting characters. One of those characters is basically a sociopath and even though Nell puts you in his head it's never off putting (relatively for grimdark). The best part though is the way the book builds and by the end the hook is firmly set and I can't wait to get to book 2.