A review by shadon
An Echo of Things to Come by James Islington

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

For I did not know which was harder to bear: The echo of her passing or the long silence that followed. 

Yeah, this lost me. Though I initially struggled to get into this after a slow, shaky beginning where nothing managed to hold my interest, the first half was much more promising. The pace picked up to deliver a story full of intense action, intrigue, magic, and interesting character moments that explored more of the stunning, unique world I had fallen in love. I sped through it, eager to continue on this journey, to see what happened next, and they were undoubtedly some of the best chapters I've read all year 

So despite my initial struggles, I excitedly once again dove headfirst into the world of Andarra, completely and utterly captivated. But about halfway through, the excitement slowly soured and my enjoyment began to teeter off as this became unnecessarily complicated. This book is just as confusing as the first but is far less enjoyable this time, with more questions and mysteries than I could keep track of and a seeming inability to provide very few meaningful answers at all. I'm no stranger to complex epic fantasies with their wide scopes and stacked cast of characters but I think this book showed me the limit I wasn't sure I had. 

Despite how closely I was following and how well I thought I was keeping track of things, there seemed to be too much going on. The complicated web of plots and characters just became more tangled until I often found myself lost, having to turn back pages and think hard when previous information came up again. I don't think this is much of an issue on its own. As I said before, I don't mind being confused, so long as what is happening is interesting. And herein lies the problem, the root cause of my struggle, because very little of this story held my interest. 

Conviction is nothing until it is tested.

I did not go into this expecting immediate answers or for everything to be solved at once. But the main struggle for me was that the few answers we did get only confused me further. Every single new piece of information felt like a puzzle piece that didn't quite fit. There is an initial novelty when a mystery is presented to you. You want to solve everything, to break down all of the clues. But when the clues don't help and the mystery only becomes more complex, all you get is frustration. This is especially how I felt about Caeden's story. Although I was excited to see his memories and find out exactly who he was and how he got to this point, I was soon very much over it. 

The constant deluge of tedious, info-dumping memory flashbacks we got only served to confuse (and annoy) me further because they were never clarified. It was often just random scenes happening in random places that I had no emotional connection to. And every time we sat through a (often pages long) memory, it only slowed down the story. Because I did not fully understand what was happening, so much of the impact was removed. All of these big emotional revelations didn't elicit much of anything because I am still confused, and I hardly know these people and I have no clue what is currently happening. It was disorienting and difficult to follow and they added absolutely nothing. 

There are only so many times I can try to figure out what is happening in a specific memory and how it relates to the current story before it starts dragging everything down. I stopped caring about who Caeden was or his conviction or how he possibly betrayed his friends or destroyed this or that. Even though I thought his story arc was initially the most compelling, I grew tired of it to the point I groaned every time I turned the page and the chapter was his. 

There's a purity of purpose, I suppose. To being able to undo the things for which we hate ourselves. 

I enjoyed more plotlines than others, particularly the political intrigue and careful maneuvering of the Tol Shen and Illin Illan stories with Davian and Wirr, which happened mostly in the first half. Those were full of surprises and twists, with memorable characters and sudden bursts of enthralling action which always caught me off guard. But as we continued to move away from the more grounded plotlines and head toward the world-ending catastrophes, away from the historical and much more of the fantastical, I found myself feeling disconnected from the story. 

Wirr very much carried this book for me. Even as my enjoyment waned, I still loved his story. He was by far the most compelling. His relationships, leadership, and interactions with those around him catapulted him to my favorite character after he was just "there" for much of book 1. 

The characters were at least somewhat improved, they all had the distinct qualities that were lacking in the first novel and they felt more realistic, more unique, and less interchangeable. None of them felt as perfect or as shiny and each of them faced struggles and challenges that they had to overcome, rather than feeling static. I could've done without any of the romances, which felt forced and awkward. They felt shoved in there, as though there was a necessity to pair all of them off with each other for no reason. We're constantly told how much they like each other and how close these couples are but I did not see it.
 
As the stakes got higher and the threat was made clear, I felt...nothing. In the last act, the world was collapsing and our characters were in grave danger with everything falling apart but I just wanted everything to be over. I just wanted to finish the book. I found myself hardly caring what happened to anyone, despite having been with them for so long. The big crescendo of action we had been building toward just fell flat because there was very little emotional impact. Things just happened and then they were done. I continued to read because I wanted to finish the book and I was close enough to the ending that I had no excuse not to but it felt like I was being held hostage.

There were more things I disliked but this was such a long, meandering novel that I struggle to remember more of them. I'm disappointed I didn't like this more, especially after such a great start. I was excited for another 5-star fantasy novel but it sadly just fizzled out. It felt like half of the storylines didn't go anywhere. I don't think I knew any more about the secrets of this world at the end of this than I had at the end of Book 1.

I have the final book in the series and I'm not in any particular rush to read it. Despite all of our characters ending the book in serious peril or dangerous circumstances, I'm inclined to just let them stay there until I psyche myself up to read the next one.