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A review by rowena_reads_a_book
The Horseman of Death by Nica
3.0
Following the story of Ashland as she learns to fulfill her destiny in Tiamat, Nica deals with themes of religion and fate, love and friendship, but most importantly death, and what it means in the face of life.
I was gripped throughout: it had the classic fantasy quest and prophetic chosen ones, yet there was something else to it. Perhaps it was talking wolves, or a fresh take on the meaning of death in fantasy. I can't quite say. The world was extremely fleshed out, you could picture every detail about the different kingdoms. But that was sometimes a downfall - the world building could have been more dispersed as it felt clunky at times, all in one place making it feel like a flood of information.
Ashland, at times felt like a contradictory character, there were moments when she didn't feel fleshed out enough, this was mainly during the first half. But by the time the novel closed, Ashland felt true to herself. In a sense, she gave up to her destiny and that's something I didn't like. She didn't in anyway try to fight it. I get that Nica was portraying the sacrifice of one to save many, but I just felt like Ash gave in, as she did give in to the darkness to give her a feeling of completion, which she already had with Odin.
The true strength of this debut was it's themes. If you can extrapolate anything from The Horseman of Death, it's that it's a story of religion and faith, and the meaning of death. Religion isn't always what it seems, or what people know, and the concept of challenging that arises through the Sacred Gods and the God of the Damned. There, however, I have one point to make, there was no originality to the God of Death's name: Hades. I felt that it was this element that took something away. It made Ararat very confusing to me since Hades is the Greek god of the Underworld, and Ashland called upon Cerberus. This felt too out of place in the novel. Its something I personally would change.
I would like to thank Nica for giving me the opportunity to read and review the ARC of her debut, and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting simply to escape into a fresh new world with classic fantasy undertones!
I was gripped throughout: it had the classic fantasy quest and prophetic chosen ones, yet there was something else to it. Perhaps it was talking wolves, or a fresh take on the meaning of death in fantasy. I can't quite say. The world was extremely fleshed out, you could picture every detail about the different kingdoms. But that was sometimes a downfall - the world building could have been more dispersed as it felt clunky at times, all in one place making it feel like a flood of information.
Ashland, at times felt like a contradictory character, there were moments when she didn't feel fleshed out enough, this was mainly during the first half. But by the time the novel closed, Ashland felt true to herself. In a sense, she gave up to her destiny and that's something I didn't like. She didn't in anyway try to fight it. I get that Nica was portraying the sacrifice of one to save many, but I just felt like Ash gave in, as she did give in to the darkness to give her a feeling of completion, which she already had with Odin.
The true strength of this debut was it's themes. If you can extrapolate anything from The Horseman of Death, it's that it's a story of religion and faith, and the meaning of death. Religion isn't always what it seems, or what people know, and the concept of challenging that arises through the Sacred Gods and the God of the Damned. There, however, I have one point to make, there was no originality to the God of Death's name: Hades. I felt that it was this element that took something away. It made Ararat very confusing to me since Hades is the Greek god of the Underworld, and Ashland called upon Cerberus. This felt too out of place in the novel. Its something I personally would change.
I would like to thank Nica for giving me the opportunity to read and review the ARC of her debut, and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting simply to escape into a fresh new world with classic fantasy undertones!