christianbk's reviews
378 reviews

A pretty good read! The strength was its characters and the world it had built. The pacing felt a little off here and there. The story was intriguing but I found it to not be driving things along very well. I’ll likely pick up book two on sale.

Re-read and bumped up a little from the first read through. Great action and cast of characters.

Preferred the second book in this series. The world building is terrific. It really is a living, complex world and structure that Tchaikovsky has created.

This book had me pretty confused, more so than the second book. Maybe it’s because these releases have been about a year apart? Or that we’re focusing on some new characters each book?

I’ve also realized - I don’t enjoy multiple POVs in books. I still enjoy and do love books with this structure but I prefer a focus on an individual vs. jumping around.

Think Daniel Greene said it best: this is the most “fantasy” fantasy book I’ve read. Amazing moments, first arc payoffs (so much so I need to do a re-read to catch the breadcrumbs that were left), and well-paced throughout.

Was it perfect? No. Some characters felt a little less impactful throughout, which I guess has to happen with so many and the stakes where they were. It’s a long book and some of the editing criticisms I think are valid. And some other stuff here and there which are small and nitpicky.

But dang it felt good to revisit these characters again. Will be awhile until we get to book six. Will be looking forward to it!

This one didn’t do much for me… I didn’t feel particularly invested in any characters. I liked the fight scenes but find that the author uses the same terminology in them repeatedly

Wasn’t feeling it… will likely pick back up later

Eh. Neat premise but felt bored throughout.

A great first book in the trilogy. Some great character growth and some worthwhile twists & turns.

Read this for book club. So many things I didn’t enjoy including:

1) Off dialog. People don’t speak in a way that they repeatedly say their name every two sentences. One you see it, you’ll see it persists throughout.

2) Boring. Incredibly shallow.

3) Zero character development. These characters are molds of people.

I read a ton of fantasy and sci-fi. In almost every book, there are worthwhile quotes, characters that change and grow based on circumstances. This book had zero of that.