Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - The High Lord

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The High Lord by Trudi Canavan

3 reviews

singalana's review

adventurous hopeful reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

This is the last part of The Black Magician Trilogy. The trilogy follows Sonea, a girl from the slums who is taken into the Guild of Magicians to study magic. In this final volume, magicians from another kingdom threaten the mages of Kyralia, and Sonea has to break a lot of rules to try to save her people.

The premise of this book, and the series in general, is pretty basic. In book one, Sonea has to hide from the Guild for most of the book. In book two, she tries to fit in with the Guild and is bullied mercilessly. In book three, he has to stop evil magicians from destroying the Guild. And I was almost rooting for the opposing magicians because their kingdom was devastated by Kyralia in the past.

Not only are the plots rather basic, but the writing style offers very little to enjoy. The descriptions are almost nonexistent, and I have no idea what most of the characters are supposed to look like. The language feels a little flat and clinical, but on the other hand, there are a lot of made-up words for things that don’t really need a made-up word… Why can’t beer be beer and a rat be a rat? So that’s a bit tedious at times.

The characters feel a little flat, and I wasn’t especially rooting for any of them. This book has a few romantic subplots, and the couples have zero chemistry between them. The main romance is iffy at best because there’s an age difference and a power imbalance between the characters. The relationship goes from hate to love very suddenly, which is especially annoying hence the lack of chemistry. On top of that, there is a clumsy attempt at LGBT romance that feels quite cringe. And again, no chemistry.

I would say that this trilogy doesn’t offer much as it comes to plot, characters or beautifully written language. I’m not sure who I’d recommend this to, but I guess it’s an easy introduction to the fantasy genre.

I didn’t like the ending at all, Akkarin’s death felt pointless, and the epilogue of Sonea being pregnant with Akkarin’s child… Oof.

Content Warnings

whirl's review

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adventurous dark sad 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? No

4.0

Content Warnings

jessthanthree's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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