Reviews

Very solid book. Really enjoyed it a lot. There were some things I was a little underwhelmed on but overall, it is a great book. Cannot wait for the sequel.

vkadic's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

3.75

My favourite thing about this book is its worldbuilding. The author creates a world that has a rich history, interesting races and nations that do have a unique feel and one hope I have for the sequel is learning more about this world.

The story itself is okay, it definitely does feel very classic fantasy, but there are some interesting twists thrown in among the predictable ones. The story does drag a bit too long in places, I really struggled around the middle waiting for the main thing to take place already.

There are interesting characters I feel, they do have potential, sadly the main protagonist isn't one of them, I would say he is the blandest of them all. The author does try to give the world and people a more gray feel, and while the world itself is rather gray I do find the "villain nation" to be a bit too villainous, but maybe in the sequel we might see more redeeming qualities from the characters on the other side of the conflict.

All in all it won't probably make the list of my favourites but I did have a decent enough time reading it. The book doesn't do anything mind blowing and revolutionary but what it does it does quite okay. I will get around to reading the sequel, as I said I really want to see more of this world even do the story and the characters did not capture me as much.

blvdfool's review against another edition

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2.0

I had high hopes for this book, but found it incredibly boring, bland, and nothing new. I had to switch to an audiobook to get myself through this story. Would've given it 3 stars if it was more like 300-400 pages long. It dragged on so much and only got a little better towards the last 30%. I didn't care for any of the characters and found them pretty annoying. None of the women in this book felt interesting and the one of the few women mcs was of course a love interest. And not a good romance plot at that! I appreciate the author not being scared to kill off 'loved' characters, but that death felt so unnecessary and that it was just confirming the love triangle thing.
I was confused on a lot of the ways the men in this book were interacting with women and their wives. Some awful thoughts were laid out and it wasn't always clear to me that the author was confirming this is not how you should think about women or just projecting.... IDK.
I can see how people like this book, it's very traditional/classic plot line with great fantasy tropes. But didn't offer anything new so hence boredom

syhchkkd's review against another edition

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slow-paced

1.5

beckeal's review against another edition

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5.0

Woooowww. Loved this book so much! Sweeping and exciting, close and personal, familiar but surprisingly surprising, funny, tragic, simple and beautiful. All the things. I can’t wait to read more of these characters and this world. Just hope it sticks to a trilogy, instead of a never-ending-multi-book saga as most fantasy becomes these days. Maybe I’ll change my mind when I still want more after book 3, but I soooo want this to contain itself to a thoughtfully-plotted beginning/middle/end so it can go down in history as one of my all-time faves.

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