elijahs_bookshelf's reviews
96 reviews

This book is so much fun, and so heartfelt. This really feels like Patrick Rothfuss at his best and most beautiful.

This book was fun, but it felt like it couldn't decide if it was a younger YA or adult book. The characters were well-sketched, but didn't have much depth and despite being adults often felt like teens; also, many of the sci-fi worldbuilding details felt like they were going for realism/plausibility, but most of those details actually made very little sense if you know too much about the scientific principles that supposedly backed them up. But if you are okay to not think too carefully about some of the worldbuilding premises of the story, you'll probably enjoy the story for what it is.

I read this one for school (it was a perfect pick for a class on long form fiction and storytelling structure!), and I have to admit that I was surprised at how much I liked it.

This book is phenomenal. I waffle between rating this 4 and 5 stars due to some unfortunate plotting around the female characters that reads a bit misogynistic to me, so if you're looking for fiction that empowers women and portrays them fully, perhaps look to a different book for now. But if you're willing to be patient with that one glaring weakness, the rest of the book is incredibly strong; the worldbuilding premise is rich with thematic quandries, the characters are charming and easy to root for while maintaining complexity, and I'm very happy to have finally read this book.

The main character, Queen Beza, is the strongest point of this novel to me. Kaci Morgan does a great job of writing her as deeply flawed yet still easy to root for; her journey from cold and and disconnected to friendly and more open is really natural and well done. It doesn't happen too quickly, and its believable how and why she begins to change over the course of this first book. In service of this point, Beza's romance subplot is doing important work for her character arc and is also well written.

I also really like how the Book of Queens, an in-world object, ties together worldbuilding, character, and plot. As a device to drive the narrative forward, it is very effective. I'm always really compelled when stories are able to blend together worldbuilding, character, and plot so that you can barely untangle them from each other. So while these 3 pillars aren't so tied that they're un-tangle-able, its the Book of Queens that I see that merges them together the most, which I like.

My one criticism of the book would have to be its pacing. The story starts out slow and simple, without a whole lot happening, and it takes a while for the plot to get rolling. Once it does, however, things happen incredibly fast. I think it works, but it's still a little uneven; if you're interested in the world or characters, then a little bit of patience is in order while the plot builds itself up as well.

Overall, the story isn't anything perspective altering, but it's a solid story for someone looking to read a simple story about immortality and the struggles of balancing a monarch's duty with their personal lives of family and romance. I'll be looking forward to book 2!

Fans of dystopian sci-fi might find a new favorite in "The Talismans of Teregrine", with its high-action pacing and funny characters.

I would call the plot this novel's strongest selling point. Each sequence feels tightly related to what led up to it, every scene moved the plot forward effectively, and the author has an excellent control over when and how they reveal information to us across the novel. We start the book with a lot of unknowns, and we're fed just enough information a little bit at a time to be continually satisfied with each reveal while still feeling suspense while waiting for the next piece of information. Each reveal makes sense: interesting without being contrived, surprising but undeniably fitting.

I really enjoy the character work in this book as well. Gemma and Oliver were written believably as siblings. And, I liked both of their separate struggles they faced while working through their powers. Their growth throughout the book was really compelling to watch. Between the two, though, Oliver has to be the standout character to me--his funny personality gives him the edge in this case. His humor wasn't too much, but it was a consistent force throughout the story that added a lot of necessary brevity, as well as just overall personality to the book.

My biggest critique for the book comes out of my background in biology. Without giving away too many spoilers, as we start to learn more about the framework of the situation the characters have found themselves in, some of the scientific backing to the worldbuilding doesn't work for me. I get the definite sense that the author does not have a strong understanding of genetics or evolution. It doesn't break the narrative, by any means, but if you do know much about science, then certain parts of the premise might break your suspension of disbelief just a bit. (I believed everything about the premise when I was interfacing with this story as fantastical, but the author's attempts to bolster believability by moving the story more into the realm of technological science fiction actually had the opposite affect on me.)

But overall, I'm looking forward to seeing where the series takes Oliver and Gemma next! Anyone looking for a fast-paced story or for their next light-dystopia read should definitely consider "The Talismans of Teregrin."

This book gripped me by the throat. The tension that continually ramps up throughout the entire book is incredible, with every plot twist and philosophical quiet moment alike giving me lots to think about and unable to continue reading fast enough. I think the (social) worldbuilding might be my favorite aspect of this book, if I had to choose; the Deist culture is so messy and logical and horrible and complete. The magic is also really cool, especially the history behind the magic and how it leads into the premise of the book. The writing style itself also really appeals to me. It's easy to read, yet still sophisticated and beautiful when and where it needs to be--there are a lot of great lines and such all throughout the book. I really connected well with all the characters, too. Joan is probably my favorite--she's hilarious and her relationship with Win was dynamic and complex. Pider is another standout among the side/secondary characters, as well as Sallier. The way the author writes antagonism feels really nuanced throughout all the different antagonistic relationships. The ending felt *somewhat* predictable, but the pathway that it took to reach that ending, as well as what is forthcoming in the rest of the series, feels fresh and unpredictable, so I wouldn't really hold it against the book.

Well, this review has been a bit all over the place, but hopefully it portrays how enthusiastic I feel about the book.

Gotta love yourself a good heist! The plot was well paced and chock full of complications and twists without ever feeling contrived, which was nice. And the worldbuilding supports the narrative quite well--I like the physical relationship between the mortal and heavenly realms. But the highlight of the story, for me, has got to be Farrin. I thought his personality was delightful, his flaws sympathetic, and his character growth steady yet substantial. I similarly liked Mara, and especially appreciated her narrative role of moving the plot forward (in a natural way). Mara seemed a bit shallow at first, but my worry here was quickly remedied, as the story did a good job of unveiling her complexities throughout the book, creating several satisfying moments/scenes as we grow to understand her better. To me, the third character, Gristle, is the clear weakest member of the trio in how he was written: he effectively fills the clever leader trope for a heist plot, but I have a hard time ascribing any further depth to him. I like him fine, but he certainly wasn't as compelling as Farrin or Mara. Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a new fantastical heist story to enjoy, and especially anyone looking for a quicker or lighter read. The writing style was really digestible, allowing me to devore the book in a matter of hours, which I thought was a lot of fun.

I loved the first book's social worldbuilding and secondary characters; learning about the world, meeting new characters, and trying to figure out who and what to trust was very engaging! This second book had very little of that. It's probably to be expected, given its nature as a sequel, but I was still a bit disappointed by the fact. And despite not needing to take time to introduce the complex worldbuilding pre-established from the first book, the pacing was also fairly slow. The combination of these two things made the book feel sort of "hollow" in my opinion. I also felt like this was missing the prosaic moments from the first book -- there were several lines that were just *good* lines that made me stop and think in the first one, but there were much fewer of those in this one, which doesn't help its hollowness.

But despite all of these critiques, I'm still rating the book 3 stars, which is a good rating by my book...

[next part of review contains light to medium spoilers for BOOK ONE]

I'll admit I was a bit critical about the splitting of Etherwin at the end of book 1, but I think the author did an excellent job of justifying the in-world logic of the split, as well as continuing to make both characters compelling. Both Ether and Win felt like the character we knew and loved from the first book, so the way they very quickly diverge in viewpoint was very compelling. So if you're here for the character work, this book certainly won't disappoint. The magical worldbuilding has also been expanded in an interesting direction, initiating a main point of curiosity for the third book.

So in summary, I think this book suffered from being the middle in a trilogy, where so much time needed to be dedicated to characters reacting and regrouping from the revelations and climax from book 1 and preparing the narrative for the finale -- but I'm easily forgiving of a weak middle, given that I loved the first book, and I have high hopes again for the third book. Given how various worldbuilding, character work, and plot points are now set on a collision course, I think the author has set themselves up to hit a homerun with the conclusion to this series.