abigcoffeedragon's review
1.0
Meh ... nothing to see here ... this failed the 25% test - I had zero interest in any characters at the 25% point, and the plot, was as jumpy as the character jumps, from one chapter to another, without following any direct course to a story.
The names are also unmemorable, as some are bad intentional misspellings of names and others are fantasy standards, which is to say, could be pronounced in one of a dozen ways.
the dialog does give the sense of the culture of the speaker, which is at least a positive about this story, unfortunately everyone is either high and mighty making them annoying and unlikable; or lower class, making them sound and appear unintelligent and undeserving of your time.
So many times this comes up as a 'must read', and the jacket cover even states 'starts with a bang' - well, this bang fizzled for me, because there is nothing worth reading in the first ten chapters.
Huge disappointment.
The names are also unmemorable, as some are bad intentional misspellings of names and others are fantasy standards, which is to say, could be pronounced in one of a dozen ways.
the dialog does give the sense of the culture of the speaker, which is at least a positive about this story, unfortunately everyone is either high and mighty making them annoying and unlikable; or lower class, making them sound and appear unintelligent and undeserving of your time.
So many times this comes up as a 'must read', and the jacket cover even states 'starts with a bang' - well, this bang fizzled for me, because there is nothing worth reading in the first ten chapters.
Huge disappointment.
glowbump's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
mypixiegirl's review against another edition
4.0
I listened to the audio of this book and thought it was great. Looking forward to reading or listening to the rest of the series.
tacis's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this fantasy read. It was well written and kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened next to each of the characters. Some new and different things here from most of the fantasy I read which is a nice change of pace. Lots of flipping around to follow the differently characters, but I liked them all well enough that I didn't mind. I will be ordering the rest of the series to read for sure.
countingstarsbycandlelight's review against another edition
5.0
I really love this series! I'm hesitant when starting a new one because, honestly, there's a lot of mediocre fantasy. Mediocre, this is not. If you like stories about the old gods, you'll love this series!
jwels's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book so much so that I've already finished the 2nd book in the series. I liked the character development and it has enough suspense that I don't know exactly what is around the corner. There are still some mysteries that I can see aren't as black and white as they may seem.
littlepanda's review against another edition
5.0
It is an epic fantasy with everything to love and on the plus side there is a monk. The fight scenes were awesome and especially the war battle in the first chapter.
https://littlepandareads.wordpress.com/2019/12/14/november-and-october-wrap-up/
https://littlepandareads.wordpress.com/2019/12/14/november-and-october-wrap-up/
linyarai's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
emmarj's review against another edition
1.0
Nah, I'm good.
I kept reading and reading this because there is seriously a really good story under all this ill-conceived writing. I'm finally giving up though.
The back breaking straw? Realizing after 150 pages of some scary greffyn monster in the woods that the author meant gryphon. There are several spellings for the name of this mythical creature. Greffyn isn't one of them. The world did not need you, Greg Keyes, to make up a new one. Completely self-indulgent. Ridiculous. Being embarrassed and feeling stupid makes me angry.
This goes on and on with made up names, made up spellings (Vergenya or whatever), made up words (sceat? SKEET?! WHAT KIND OF BOOK IS THIS?!). I read a lot of historical fiction and I read a lot of fantasy so this isn't a new trick to me, it is just way, way overdone here.
It's too bad when an author ruins his own story.
I kept reading and reading this because there is seriously a really good story under all this ill-conceived writing. I'm finally giving up though.
The back breaking straw? Realizing after 150 pages of some scary greffyn monster in the woods that the author meant gryphon. There are several spellings for the name of this mythical creature. Greffyn isn't one of them. The world did not need you, Greg Keyes, to make up a new one. Completely self-indulgent. Ridiculous. Being embarrassed and feeling stupid makes me angry.
This goes on and on with made up names, made up spellings (Vergenya or whatever), made up words (sceat? SKEET?! WHAT KIND OF BOOK IS THIS?!). I read a lot of historical fiction and I read a lot of fantasy so this isn't a new trick to me, it is just way, way overdone here.
It's too bad when an author ruins his own story.