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hotsake's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
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? Yes
3.75
This was a big mess of a book that both frustrated and entertained me. The first half of the book was absurdly entertaining while frustrating me because of the lack of forward momentum. The story finally gets going around the 40-45% mark and the story and book pretty much sprints the rest of the 500-ish pages.
truthlessofcanada's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
slow-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
2.75
So a lot of this book was insane, and I mean that in terms of both epic, and also completely ridiculous in a bad way. But also Durfee is still a very good writer, so I have a lot of pro's and a lot of cons.
Also like, this hurts because I really like Durfee, great channel, seems like a great dude, but hey, i'm always going to be honest about the book.
Pro 1: The characters are just well done, they are distinctive, unique, and types of people you don't see as much are represented here. It had been a while since I had read The Blackest Heart and it really stood out right away
con 1: Basically like 700 pages felt like they seriously lacked direction. It was just a bunch of seemingly random groups of people all just kinda being like. Ok, lets go to this place now, and randomly running into each other. There is a prophesy in this book that says that like the big final battle will come suddenly, but I don't think we really needed 650 pages of wandering around and getting into pretty random conflicts to make that a thing
Pro 2:
There was one of my favorite trope subversions ever, I can't really say which, but normally I don't really care as much about trope subversions but this was very well done and reframed past events in a way I really liked and added a lot to the story.
Con 2: Maybe the biggest con, this book has maybe the worst redshirt syndrome of like any book I have ever read ever. You know in Star Trek on how every away mission it would be like 3 main characters and a couple dudes we don't know with red shirts, and the red shirts always die. This was egregious at that. If you are a named character, even one who should not be super skilled at fighting, in this book you can just fight as many NPC's as you want and kill them all. The amount of times non magical people just won close quarter like 1v10s against armored opponents is honestly incredibly frustrating. The amount of times like 4 named characters and a bunch of NPCs who should be trained, armored, armed, dangerous fights, would go into a fight, against something super dangerous, and the dangerous thing just just kills every NPC without trying to make them seem dangerous, only to lose the the named characters is completely ridiculous. It doesn't have the effect of making the scary thing scary, it makes me feel like there are actually only like 20 people in this world who are actually people, everyone else is cannon fodder to the author.
pro 3:
The stuff on religion is still amazing, for a bit I thought it was going too far in the other direction, and was doing a reverse Brent Weeks where after everything it was just going to be about religion bad, religion source of all evil, but on this I should have trusted Durfee. The epilogues actually sealed this for me. Love what he did there.
con 3:
Attention to detail, especially in the massive action scenes. I know some people aren't visual readers, I am, and me being able to visualize a lot of the action in this book that is vividly written just made it come across as ridiculous. Like there is just a lot happening that doesn't physically make sense, and is constantly immersion breaking. There are also just multiple instances in this book where I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt at the time , thinking how this must be some kind of foreshadowing for something, but no it was just sillyness.
There is an especially egregious example in the middle of this book, where I was like, why is everyone ignoring what is going to happen, like this is completely obvious, I must be missing something.
I was not
Final pro: The man just writes good, it is vivid writing that allows me to visualize what is at times the completely nonsensical stuff going on
final con
The final battle while epic, has tones of action that feels pointless, like why are these people fighting each other. It is like about half the characters are just there so decide to go on a day long killing spree. Imagine Avengers Endgame final battle insanity, but like everyone is just fighting each other in these massive brawls, and often you are like, yes I know why these people are killing each other, but sometimes people are trying to kill each other and it's just like, why though?
Overall, what is IMO an incredibly disappointing final entry, only because it should have been fantastic
5.6/10
Also like, this hurts because I really like Durfee, great channel, seems like a great dude, but hey, i'm always going to be honest about the book.
Pro 1: The characters are just well done, they are distinctive, unique, and types of people you don't see as much are represented here. It had been a while since I had read The Blackest Heart and it really stood out right away
con 1: Basically like 700 pages felt like they seriously lacked direction. It was just a bunch of seemingly random groups of people all just kinda being like. Ok, lets go to this place now, and randomly running into each other. There is a prophesy in this book that says that like the big final battle will come suddenly, but I don't think we really needed 650 pages of wandering around and getting into pretty random conflicts to make that a thing
Pro 2:
There was one of my favorite trope subversions ever, I can't really say which, but normally I don't really care as much about trope subversions but this was very well done and reframed past events in a way I really liked and added a lot to the story.
Con 2: Maybe the biggest con, this book has maybe the worst redshirt syndrome of like any book I have ever read ever. You know in Star Trek on how every away mission it would be like 3 main characters and a couple dudes we don't know with red shirts, and the red shirts always die. This was egregious at that. If you are a named character, even one who should not be super skilled at fighting, in this book you can just fight as many NPC's as you want and kill them all. The amount of times non magical people just won close quarter like 1v10s against armored opponents is honestly incredibly frustrating. The amount of times like 4 named characters and a bunch of NPCs who should be trained, armored, armed, dangerous fights, would go into a fight, against something super dangerous, and the dangerous thing just just kills every NPC without trying to make them seem dangerous, only to lose the the named characters is completely ridiculous. It doesn't have the effect of making the scary thing scary, it makes me feel like there are actually only like 20 people in this world who are actually people, everyone else is cannon fodder to the author.
pro 3:
The stuff on religion is still amazing, for a bit I thought it was going too far in the other direction, and was doing a reverse Brent Weeks where after everything it was just going to be about religion bad, religion source of all evil, but on this I should have trusted Durfee. The epilogues actually sealed this for me. Love what he did there.
con 3:
Attention to detail, especially in the massive action scenes. I know some people aren't visual readers, I am, and me being able to visualize a lot of the action in this book that is vividly written just made it come across as ridiculous. Like there is just a lot happening that doesn't physically make sense, and is constantly immersion breaking. There are also just multiple instances in this book where I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt at the time , thinking how this must be some kind of foreshadowing for something, but no it was just sillyness.
There is an especially egregious example in the middle of this book, where I was like, why is everyone ignoring what is going to happen, like this is completely obvious, I must be missing something.
I was not
Final pro: The man just writes good, it is vivid writing that allows me to visualize what is at times the completely nonsensical stuff going on
final con
The final battle while epic, has tones of action that feels pointless, like why are these people fighting each other. It is like about half the characters are just there so decide to go on a day long killing spree. Imagine Avengers Endgame final battle insanity, but like everyone is just fighting each other in these massive brawls, and often you are like, yes I know why these people are killing each other, but sometimes people are trying to kill each other and it's just like, why though?
Overall, what is IMO an incredibly disappointing final entry, only because it should have been fantastic
5.6/10
ian_ramos's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
qjbrown96's review
5.0
Absolutely impossible to give this series anything less than 5 stars. Just an outstanding series and incredibly underrated. The fact that it doesn’t have at least 20,000+ reviews and a movie deal is beyond me. I can only assume poor marketing is the ONLY reason Durfee’s books aren’t getting more recognition because everything else is flawless. I still haven’t finished several popular fantasy series but as of right now The Five Warrior Angels is officially my #3 fantasy series of all time, behind ASOIAF and Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
Brian, if you ever read this, PLEASE write a prequel series, standalone, novella…anything!
Brian, if you ever read this, PLEASE write a prequel series, standalone, novella…anything!
robertg's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Absolutely incredible conclusion to this series. By far the bloodiest, most brutal book I have ever read. Everything gets wrapped up so nicely and the ended was done to perfection.
This series NEEDS more attention, it is criminally underrated.
This series NEEDS more attention, it is criminally underrated.
sneschalmers's review
3.0
I am conflicted about this one. The sheer imaginative force behind the series can’t be denied. Neither can the inventiveness of plot and world building. I was compelled to hurtle at breakneck speeds along the path laid by this epic story, but find myself in equal parts in awe of the ride I just took, bruised by the raw pacing, and sore from the whiplash changes in motivation. Characters carom from motivation to motivation and I struggled to follow why one character or another behaved as they did. This really took me out of the story, but inevitably the velocity and violence pulled me back in. Speaking of violence, this puts Kill Bill to shame and not necessarily for the better. I found myself once again bouncing out of the story due to the seemingly random acts of violence (once again, speaking to motivation issues) and in several instances, lack of violence (again, motivation clashes) that were jarring turns compared to better forecast clashes that made sense based on motivations.
I wish the editor had done more to fix small problems (sharks don’t have ribs), and more to fix larger problems (who are the merfolk, what is their story? Do they only exist to add chaos to the story? To act as rogue plot devices?). I wish that the big twists and reveals were better foreshadowed rather than hastily penned in at the last moment (a tapestry scene is the worst offender). I wish that this story could have had its rough edges worn away, and some polishing done to make the gem in here truly shine. There is no doubt that Mr. Durfee is a talented author with a story to tell, no, not tell, thrust you into with a fistful of collar in one hand and the immersive pool of his imagination filling your nostrils.
I look forward to more from him, but think I might cool off with something light while I gasp for air.
I wish the editor had done more to fix small problems (sharks don’t have ribs), and more to fix larger problems (who are the merfolk, what is their story? Do they only exist to add chaos to the story? To act as rogue plot devices?). I wish that the big twists and reveals were better foreshadowed rather than hastily penned in at the last moment (a tapestry scene is the worst offender). I wish that this story could have had its rough edges worn away, and some polishing done to make the gem in here truly shine. There is no doubt that Mr. Durfee is a talented author with a story to tell, no, not tell, thrust you into with a fistful of collar in one hand and the immersive pool of his imagination filling your nostrils.
I look forward to more from him, but think I might cool off with something light while I gasp for air.
kaine_'s review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
pemdas97's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5