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booksarebetter's review against another edition
3.0
Heavy in politics, lots of rebellions, death, and intrigue. After a while I lost interest though that's through no fault of the books. Michael Kingman is a fascinating character and I will be seeing where this story goes later on. DNF at 54%.
manjala's review against another edition
3.0
What a chaotic and entertaining story! It was a lot of fun reading a fantasy novel that leaned more towards the mystery genre; something I haven't read much of before.
I had some (minor) issues with the writing, but that didn't hinder my enjoyment too much. Besides that I never really got attached to any of the characters or the plot, but it was very easy to read and fast-paced. I will read the next one in this duology!
I had some (minor) issues with the writing, but that didn't hinder my enjoyment too much. Besides that I never really got attached to any of the characters or the plot, but it was very easy to read and fast-paced. I will read the next one in this duology!
timinbc's review against another edition
3.0
First book? OK. Second will be better, there's a good base here.
Slow start, but picked up well.
Running fake duels to make a living is maybe a tribute to Dumas but it's still ridiculous.
Page 35: Angelo has grey eyes; oh no, my pet peeve; but it wasn't for the usual reasons (i.e. to signal that This Is The Good Guy), and actually turned out to matter.
Michael keeps meeting people at random just when he needs them. That happens in first books.
What's with Dammit paying him 5 suns a day to say hello?
If you are going to have magicians breaking a moon, YOU HAVE TO TELL US WHAT THEY DID! Especially when you don't otherwise show any evidence of magic that works much beyond arm's length. And the crashing moon pieces didn't matter, except for one being used as a plot point that could easily have been handled 20 other ways.
We never find out why his memories are shredded, just hints. This feels like one of the things that should NOT be held back for the next volume.
Big buildup re the Girl in Red, and when we get the reveal, meh.
The Mercenaries are implausibly strong. This could lead to plot problems later.
Amazingly incomplete with a dozen pages to go, but he pulled it off decently, even if it was a bit of a rush, and nothing he did there was too much of a stretch, although it was one of MANY occurrences of Michael making a split-second decision with no prior thinking.
Despite crediting two copy editors and two proofreaders, there are some oopsies. "Lead" for "led" twice, some misplaced apostrophes, and several occurrences of "me and my friends went ..." from a narrator whose grammar is otherwise perfect. Is this a tribute to Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant, who does exactly the same thing?
Martell's going to be good, but he's not there yet. I'll read #2 to see if he is progressing.
Slow start, but picked up well.
Running fake duels to make a living is maybe a tribute to Dumas but it's still ridiculous.
Page 35: Angelo has grey eyes; oh no, my pet peeve; but it wasn't for the usual reasons (i.e. to signal that This Is The Good Guy), and actually turned out to matter.
Michael keeps meeting people at random just when he needs them. That happens in first books.
What's with Dammit paying him 5 suns a day to say hello?
If you are going to have magicians breaking a moon, YOU HAVE TO TELL US WHAT THEY DID! Especially when you don't otherwise show any evidence of magic that works much beyond arm's length. And the crashing moon pieces didn't matter, except for one being used as a plot point that could easily have been handled 20 other ways.
We never find out why his memories are shredded, just hints. This feels like one of the things that should NOT be held back for the next volume.
Big buildup re the Girl in Red, and when we get the reveal, meh.
The Mercenaries are implausibly strong. This could lead to plot problems later.
Amazingly incomplete with a dozen pages to go, but he pulled it off decently, even if it was a bit of a rush, and nothing he did there was too much of a stretch, although it was one of MANY occurrences of Michael making a split-second decision with no prior thinking.
Despite crediting two copy editors and two proofreaders, there are some oopsies. "Lead" for "led" twice, some misplaced apostrophes, and several occurrences of "me and my friends went ..." from a narrator whose grammar is otherwise perfect. Is this a tribute to Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant, who does exactly the same thing?
Martell's going to be good, but he's not there yet. I'll read #2 to see if he is progressing.
not_theonlyme's review against another edition
3.0
I skim read this and definitely want to read the sequel but I wasn’t too keen on the writing
tanishamahajan's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sandy292love's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
the_bookishmum's review against another edition
4.0
Michael Kingsman is trying to reclaim his families legacy after his father is killed for murdering a Prince and he, and his brother and sister are branded as traitors.
This book was incredible! I didn’t know where it was going at the start but there are so many twists and turns and I was so shocked with the final reveal. I’m looking forward to reading the next one in the series.
I received an arc of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.
This book was incredible! I didn’t know where it was going at the start but there are so many twists and turns and I was so shocked with the final reveal. I’m looking forward to reading the next one in the series.
I received an arc of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.
theemptybookshelf's review against another edition
4.0
I listened to the Graphic Audio adoption of this book on Audible and it was above and beyond my expectations of what an audio book is.
Beside the amazing audio work the book itself was a lot of fun and one of the better debut novels I've has the privilege of reading in several years. I will definitely be listening to the next book to see where this story goes next.
Beside the amazing audio work the book itself was a lot of fun and one of the better debut novels I've has the privilege of reading in several years. I will definitely be listening to the next book to see where this story goes next.
lillanaa's review against another edition
5.0
This book was received as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
So this might be one of my new favourite books. Martell is definitely an author on my radar now, this kind of dense awesome fantasy one that I enjoy so much but rarely find ones I can tolerate for the thousand page epics they are. I think the closest I can relate to this book is Brent Weeks' Lightbringer series, which is also like my absolute favourite series so it makes sense that this is one I'm going to be keeping an eye on.
There are a few complaints in other reviews about lack of full on definition for some terms, but I don't feel as though lacking a spelled out description hurt the book in any way. It's easy to interpret what's meant in these situations from context clues, and the magic system was simple but unique with a genuinely intriguing hint at what may be coming in future books partway through. The politics also didn't seem that out there for a general fantasy novel, either, and we're decently easy to follow.
The characters are really neat, too, and although Michael wasn't my absolute favourite, I began to understand that it may not have been his fault partway through the book. He did lose some sympathy from me when he but... That's the only real thing I can complain about, and for a 600 page book that's pretty good.
Ultimately, this is one that I'm going to be thinking about for a very, very long time. I want more, this world is so cool and I love the simplicity yet variation of magic here.
So this might be one of my new favourite books. Martell is definitely an author on my radar now, this kind of dense awesome fantasy one that I enjoy so much but rarely find ones I can tolerate for the thousand page epics they are. I think the closest I can relate to this book is Brent Weeks' Lightbringer series, which is also like my absolute favourite series so it makes sense that this is one I'm going to be keeping an eye on.
There are a few complaints in other reviews about lack of full on definition for some terms, but I don't feel as though lacking a spelled out description hurt the book in any way. It's easy to interpret what's meant in these situations from context clues, and the magic system was simple but unique with a genuinely intriguing hint at what may be coming in future books partway through. The politics also didn't seem that out there for a general fantasy novel, either, and we're decently easy to follow.
The characters are really neat, too, and although Michael wasn't my absolute favourite, I began to understand that it may not have been his fault partway through the book. He did lose some sympathy from me when he
Spoiler
randomly decided to take a super dark turn and burn down the templeUltimately, this is one that I'm going to be thinking about for a very, very long time. I want more, this world is so cool and I love the simplicity yet variation of magic here.
maddiepalmer443's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0