jackharveyc's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
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
5.0
I love witty diolague, strong bad ass characters, and an adventure to solve a mystery. This had all that. While the main character initially is on a mission for her own purposes, she quickly finds that there is more going on than she originally thought. <Spoiler> Pyrre searching for the definition of love in every situation started making me overthink the concept as well . Each character was well written with such different personalities, when they interact it is my favorite. I listened to the audiobook and thought it was very well narrated.
patremagne's review against another edition
5.0
Staveley's put together a much more cohesive, tightly-plotted story here (obviously, since it's a standalone at just over 300 pages, but still) than the original trilogy.Great characters all around, great action, and fantastic conclusion.
jercox's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the beginning quite a bit, and as with all of these the story dragged me in pretty effectively - always anxious to know what happened next. But a lot of the philosophical musings on love and death wrapped up in the story did not seem to fit well. And there were enough little annoyances that I can't recommend it highly.
ghostmuppet's review against another edition
2.0
This is a stand alone book in the Unhewn Throne series. It is a love story, of sorts. It was OK, but i didn't enjoy this as much as the series.
Happy that this was a stand alone book - those are pretty rare these days (as everything appears to require a series).
Happy that this was a stand alone book - those are pretty rare these days (as everything appears to require a series).
raven_acres's review against another edition
5.0
Beautifully written book. Loved the short time frame, but amazing depth in the main characters, right amounts of humor and snark, and an amazing ending!
books_with_benghis_kahn's review against another edition
1.0
I don't understand what I was just reading. How is this a book? Why does it exist? How could anyone have enjoyed this? This was so bad. So so so so so so so bad. On balance I liked reading the first Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne trilogy more than I disliked it, so I went into this with some decently high expectations hoping to see some growth from a new-ish author. What I got was an absolute shock to the system, in competition for the worst book of all-time for me.
Say one thing for Brian Staveley, say he likes his capital T Trials (specifically Trials that don't make logical sense for the organizations running them). This whole book details one such Trial, in agonizing first-person retrospective POV for a character that never manages to feel real or coherent. There is a DEATH cult initiation requiring 7 murders, where the arc for the main character somehow is understanding LOVE. Most of the book involves a will-they-or-won't-they fight-or-f*ck each other dynamic between the main character and an uninteresting male love interest as they try to start a revolution and solve a mystery that is all completely pointless. But at the end of the book, as her mentor is about to die in a fight, she realizes she had loved her all along instead and understands love enough to join the murderous death cult!
There are so many things I hated, from the quippy death cult leader, to the very convenient bridge collapse just as the main character was traveling on it to the city where the plot takes place, to the fantasy version of Southeast Asia that just felt weirdly drawn, to the constant first-person philosophizing that never felt coherent. And that ending...easily the worst I've read in years since Lightbringer 5.
This was an unmitigated disaster of a read...it has no importance at all for the main series, so there is just absolutely no need to check it out unless you want to be amazed by how terrible and sloggy a short 300-page book can be.
Say one thing for Brian Staveley, say he likes his capital T Trials (specifically Trials that don't make logical sense for the organizations running them). This whole book details one such Trial, in agonizing first-person retrospective POV for a character that never manages to feel real or coherent. There is a DEATH cult initiation requiring 7 murders, where the arc for the main character somehow is understanding LOVE. Most of the book involves a will-they-or-won't-they fight-or-f*ck each other dynamic between the main character and an uninteresting male love interest as they try to start a revolution and solve a mystery that is all completely pointless. But at the end of the book, as her mentor is about to die in a fight, she realizes she had loved her all along instead and understands love enough to join the murderous death cult!
There are so many things I hated, from the quippy death cult leader, to the very convenient bridge collapse just as the main character was traveling on it to the city where the plot takes place, to the fantasy version of Southeast Asia that just felt weirdly drawn, to the constant first-person philosophizing that never felt coherent. And that ending...easily the worst I've read in years since Lightbringer 5.
This was an unmitigated disaster of a read...it has no importance at all for the main series, so there is just absolutely no need to check it out unless you want to be amazed by how terrible and sloggy a short 300-page book can be.
thistlechaser's review against another edition
5.0
Know the trope "A woman has to meet and fall in love with a man in a short time or something bad happens"? Imagine that trope written in the most un-romance book way possible and you'd get this book.
This book. This wonderful book. I was crying by the end, and I didn't even know if they were happy or sad tears.
The story is told in first person from the POV of a woman in training to become a priestess of the god of death. She's just starting her Trial to become a full priestess. To beat her Trial, she has to kill ten people. One of those ten is someone she loves.
For a woman without family and who never has been in love, that's one giant stumbling block. She has 14 days to complete her trial, which means she has to fall in love and then kill that person within two weeks.
But that's just the tip of the plot iceberg! There's a man she felt a connection to in the past (did she love him? She doesn't know herself, so we never know either). She travels back to the city she grew up in to find him and see if she can make herself fall in love with him.
There's wonderfully complex world building, and the characters are just so damned amazingly realistic. Politics, a revolution, and all sorts of different gods. The story's world felt like it had some serious history behind it, you could feel the weight of that past in all the details. The writing as a whole was outstanding! (That feels like such faint praise compared to what this book deserves.) I should be in bed and asleep right now, but I couldn't possibly sleep until I got all this written up.
One of the best things about the book was the character's journey. She came to understand love and death, and I feel like I made just the same journey through her.
Plus the story does not end how you expect it to, in so many ways. Every single one of the book's many plotlines ended in ways I never would have guessed.
I loved the characters so so so much. Now that I know how it ended, I want to read the book again so I don't have to say goodbye to them-- I mean, can see what I missed as I read without knowing the truths we learned at the end.
Ugh, this book. It was so good! I can't wait to read everything else by him.
This book. This wonderful book. I was crying by the end, and I didn't even know if they were happy or sad tears.
The story is told in first person from the POV of a woman in training to become a priestess of the god of death. She's just starting her Trial to become a full priestess. To beat her Trial, she has to kill ten people. One of those ten is someone she loves.
For a woman without family and who never has been in love, that's one giant stumbling block. She has 14 days to complete her trial, which means she has to fall in love and then kill that person within two weeks.
But that's just the tip of the plot iceberg! There's a man she felt a connection to in the past (did she love him? She doesn't know herself, so we never know either). She travels back to the city she grew up in to find him and see if she can make herself fall in love with him.
There's wonderfully complex world building, and the characters are just so damned amazingly realistic. Politics, a revolution, and all sorts of different gods. The story's world felt like it had some serious history behind it, you could feel the weight of that past in all the details. The writing as a whole was outstanding! (That feels like such faint praise compared to what this book deserves.) I should be in bed and asleep right now, but I couldn't possibly sleep until I got all this written up.
One of the best things about the book was the character's journey. She came to understand love and death, and I feel like I made just the same journey through her.
Plus the story does not end how you expect it to, in so many ways. Every single one of the book's many plotlines ended in ways I never would have guessed.
I loved the characters so so so much. Now that I know how it ended, I want to read the book again so I don't have to say goodbye to them-- I mean, can see what I missed as I read without knowing the truths we learned at the end.
Ugh, this book. It was so good! I can't wait to read everything else by him.
powder_and_page's review against another edition
3.0
I was a big fan of Staveley’s trilogy The Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, so I was delighted that he would be returning to that world for a standalone novel. When that standalone turned out to be about Pyrre Lakatur, priestess to Ananshael, I was marked my calendar. Pyrre was always a very intriguing character with a vague past, so a single novel dedicated to a slim segment of her life was something that I couldn’t say no to!
As it turned out, I liked the setting more than the actual story. Yes, the premise was awesome, but I just didn’t LOVE it the way I expected to. Dombang on the other hand was a sweltering cesspool of death and rot. Crocs, snakes, flesh-rending grasses, and spiders that lay eggs in dying flesh. God, it's giving me hives just thinking about it. Also, did I mention the city is on the brink of rebellion again and that the old gods of the delta might still be around?
In comparison with this vibrant city, how could I really get into Pyrre's seemingly unattainable quest for love? Typically, this whole concept would have me hooked in 10 pages, but it just didn’t jive with me. Ruc Lun Lac was bland in my opinion. Yes, he was a multifaceted warrior with jade green eyes and a mean right hook, but I was never convinced that he and Pyrre had any chemistry whatsoever. I suppose for two scarred killers their version of attraction was convincing. The secondary characters were also interesting in a superficial manner and contained only hints of depth. Granted, this was a shorter novel and the main focus was Pyrre, but still!
The way Pyrre's trial turned out disappointed me in all honesty, though I won't dare to spoil it. The final chapters were epic and fierce and they were the best part of the whole book. If not for all the Run Lun Lac chasing, deliberating, and elaborate semi-effective plotting, I would say this could have been told rather succinctly in 150 pages.
Overall, Skullsworn was not what I expected from Staveley, especially considering how much I enjoyed the main trilogy. A story of a certain famous Kettral wing probably would have suited my tastes more as a prequel novel. Skullsworn wasn't a bad book, I just don't think it was of the same caliber as the others and I still enjoyed it quite a bit and thought it had some really great quotes and philosophy-type segments.
As it turned out, I liked the setting more than the actual story. Yes, the premise was awesome, but I just didn’t LOVE it the way I expected to. Dombang on the other hand was a sweltering cesspool of death and rot. Crocs, snakes, flesh-rending grasses, and spiders that lay eggs in dying flesh. God, it's giving me hives just thinking about it. Also, did I mention the city is on the brink of rebellion again and that the old gods of the delta might still be around?
In comparison with this vibrant city, how could I really get into Pyrre's seemingly unattainable quest for love? Typically, this whole concept would have me hooked in 10 pages, but it just didn’t jive with me. Ruc Lun Lac was bland in my opinion. Yes, he was a multifaceted warrior with jade green eyes and a mean right hook, but I was never convinced that he and Pyrre had any chemistry whatsoever. I suppose for two scarred killers their version of attraction was convincing. The secondary characters were also interesting in a superficial manner and contained only hints of depth. Granted, this was a shorter novel and the main focus was Pyrre, but still!
The way Pyrre's trial turned out disappointed me in all honesty, though I won't dare to spoil it. The final chapters were epic and fierce and they were the best part of the whole book. If not for all the Run Lun Lac chasing, deliberating, and elaborate semi-effective plotting, I would say this could have been told rather succinctly in 150 pages.
Overall, Skullsworn was not what I expected from Staveley, especially considering how much I enjoyed the main trilogy. A story of a certain famous Kettral wing probably would have suited my tastes more as a prequel novel. Skullsworn wasn't a bad book, I just don't think it was of the same caliber as the others and I still enjoyed it quite a bit and thought it had some really great quotes and philosophy-type segments.
authorofheathens's review against another edition
5.0
✨️Book Review✨️
I needed a fresh, new epic fantasy to cleanse my Brandon sanderson pallette and BOY did I get one.
I needed a fresh, new epic fantasy to cleanse my Brandon sanderson pallette and BOY did I get one.
dragontomes2000's review against another edition
5.0
HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THINGS SACRED. Brain Staveley wrote one of his best books with Skullsworn. I was very interested in this one because it follows one of my favorite characters from the Unhewn Throne, Pyrre, and boy did it deliver. Not only was this book so cohesive it was so well written. Honestly never would have thought to compare being in love and becoming an assassin, but after reading this I can totally 100% see the similarities. Not sure if I would have ever put the two together.
As with all of Brian Staveley's works, the world building is just so top notch. I would definitely say he is on par with Sanderson and McClellan (based on the authors whose adult fantasy series I have read). We already had a pretty solid foundation this being a prequel to the original trilogy, but I did love the little insight we got in what it means to be a Skullsworn.
Now in Staveley's previous works my biggest critique was always pacing issues. Not the case in this one and I think it helped that this novel was just a little over 300 pages. The story moved at a nice brisk pace and I was never bored. Also not sure if I ever mentioned it before in my other reviews, but I will do so now. Staveley can write some great humor. I wasn't expecting that at all. I would literally find myself at times laughing out loud.
I enjoyed my time with this so much and I am so looking forward to what Staveley has in store for us next.
As with all of Brian Staveley's works, the world building is just so top notch. I would definitely say he is on par with Sanderson and McClellan (based on the authors whose adult fantasy series I have read). We already had a pretty solid foundation this being a prequel to the original trilogy, but I did love the little insight we got in what it means to be a Skullsworn.
Now in Staveley's previous works my biggest critique was always pacing issues. Not the case in this one and I think it helped that this novel was just a little over 300 pages. The story moved at a nice brisk pace and I was never bored. Also not sure if I ever mentioned it before in my other reviews, but I will do so now. Staveley can write some great humor. I wasn't expecting that at all. I would literally find myself at times laughing out loud.
I enjoyed my time with this so much and I am so looking forward to what Staveley has in store for us next.