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A review by whiskyandrhyme
Heir of Fates by Rowan Redfield
5.0
I think I may have found my new favorite series in Katie Collupy's The Shadow Sequence. The world building, the complex characters, the deep and dark messages running in-between the pages will ensnare you from the first lines.
I'm a sucker for grimdark fantasy with ensemble casts flung far across the world—I mean, come on, the first time they're all in the same room is a theme that gets me every single time. So when I first saw that these were big aspects of Heir of Fates, I knew I had to check it out. Little did I know how it would absolutely suck me into it's world. The worldbuilding alone has me craving lengthy history books of this world and to understand every aspect of its cultures, religions, and motivations. It's multifaceted and complicated, but clearly well thought-out and understood by the author. Any questions I have arise from wanting to know more, not from lack of planning or plot holes.
Collupy has a masterful writing style, bringing unique personalities and voices alive on the pages even with such a large cast of characters. While there are four major points of view in the first story, no character feels neglected in her hands. Their motivations and characterizations clear by the end of the first book, even if they were present for one interlude chapter or handful of pages. But she also doesn't hit the reader over the head with the information in swaths of exposition dumps. Instead it is expertly revealed not just through their thoughts and voices, but their actions and reactions to the world and people around them.
It's dark and mesmerizing, leaving you with more questions than answers, and a ravenous hunger for more the second you finish it. I can't wait to see what is in store with the rest of The Shadow Sequence, and I eagerly await the next part of our journey into the unknown.
I'm a sucker for grimdark fantasy with ensemble casts flung far across the world—I mean, come on, the first time they're all in the same room is a theme that gets me every single time. So when I first saw that these were big aspects of Heir of Fates, I knew I had to check it out. Little did I know how it would absolutely suck me into it's world. The worldbuilding alone has me craving lengthy history books of this world and to understand every aspect of its cultures, religions, and motivations. It's multifaceted and complicated, but clearly well thought-out and understood by the author. Any questions I have arise from wanting to know more, not from lack of planning or plot holes.
Collupy has a masterful writing style, bringing unique personalities and voices alive on the pages even with such a large cast of characters. While there are four major points of view in the first story, no character feels neglected in her hands. Their motivations and characterizations clear by the end of the first book, even if they were present for one interlude chapter or handful of pages. But she also doesn't hit the reader over the head with the information in swaths of exposition dumps. Instead it is expertly revealed not just through their thoughts and voices, but their actions and reactions to the world and people around them.
It's dark and mesmerizing, leaving you with more questions than answers, and a ravenous hunger for more the second you finish it. I can't wait to see what is in store with the rest of The Shadow Sequence, and I eagerly await the next part of our journey into the unknown.