Nicole > Books: arc‎ (22)

“They found the

“They found the bodies on a Tuesday.
Two days after the family had missed their flight home.
Six days after all the texts and social media had gone dark.”

I also want to express my love for Ana Lal Din’s intentions behind this book

“What I wanted was to spread awareness about the sacred prostitution, caste system, and half-creature perception and abuse of transgenders in South Asia; the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya People; the exploitation of once-resourceful places like the Middle East and Afghanistan; the occupation of and war crimes against Palestine; and the human trafficking of adults and children across the globe.”

The plot:
I usually discuss the characters before moving to the plot but I believe this is important to put first. I honestly struggled with the first half. A lot. There was lots of unnecessary information and in my opinion, info dump, and the author was basically setting up the world to get the story moving at a later point. My other critic is that the blurb mentions an event that won’t happen until around 65% of the book. I kept waiting “okay now it’ll happen, maybe now, okay… Uhm how did someone include an event that won’t happen until much later?!”. And the thing is, this event set things into motion and the story improves considerably after it. I didn’t know how to describe the plot without mentioning any spoilers because anything that happened after the 10/20% mark is a spoiler and here nothing worthy happens in these pages… just a description of the world, culture, and clothes.

But worry not. The wait was worth it. Because when the pace picked up, it didn’t stop and I couldn’t put my kindle down. The revelations and plot twists were interesting and unexpected. The ending was great! Not exactly a cliffhanger but enough to leave you wanting more. When I was reading this arc, I skimmed over the history because I was getting tired of the pace, so a piece of advice, pay attention to it. I still understood what happened later but I’m also familiar with the history it’s inspired from.

The characters:
The characters were interesting to read about. Roma was strong-willed and rebellious. Always looking for a different life but they always use their beloved ones to punish any slave who misbehaves. And she won't let anything happen to her brother. But as Roma uncovers more about her reality, she fought back.

As for Levi, he was always struggling to be who his mother’s clan remember and not the cold-blooded killer his father wanted him to be. But after the massacres he committed, is it possible?

Both of our main characters suffer from trauma but I felt there was too much focus on it at times instead of trying to develop the story. I just didn’t feel it.
The secondary characters were many and I had a difficult time keeping up with them, even though I am familiar with several names. I had to visit earlier chapters because once I completely confused two characters (thinking they are the same person) because they have the same title (which I assumed was their name).

It is worth mentioning that this book is romance free, which I didn’t mind personally. There’s no romance between the main characters, only sparking chemistry, so I believe there will be in the future. I honestly don’t mind at all the slow burn.

The writing:
The Descent of the Drowned is not a light book. Don’t expect a fluffy read but a novel that deals with human cruelty, trafficking, and other heavy topics. Lal Din is without a talented writer. She did a good job reflecting human nature. How it's difficult to change what we believe in only because it's safer. But the writing honestly sometimes got too descriptive especially when it came to clothing items. And she used lots of foreign names (you can find most of their translation at the end of the book) and while it’s nice in theory, in reality, it bored me. A lot. I’m not particularly interested in this and the descriptions of other things were too detailed too sometimes that I kept losing interest and took more time to finish this book. Since the book is told from double perspectives and third person, it served into making this book more “serious”.

Also, I liked understanding words that were like “names” but actually meant something.
For example, Al-Mawt assassins means assassins of death, “Iblis” means satan, Nar is Fire which is like fires of hell (but not hell exactly here), and Al-Ghayb “the Unseen” which made sense. The author didn’t mess up the usage of the Arabic language. Thankfully. However, I wouldn’t say this book is based on Arabian myth, only loosely so.

But I have one tiny thing to mention.. so we have “Wallahi” used which is I swear to God like the translation points but it is God with capital G and not any “god” so I’m not sure how correct its usage here… there was one god for the clans but God is not in fantasy so…

The world-building:
The world was rich with culture and history. Lal Din painted a world where women were treated like second-class citizens, which is the reality in most societies today. But they are also fierce and hardened because of what they went through. The clans are not exactly part of the kingdom but they barely get by. Their children are dying from starvation and they do not have medicine and not even clean water to drink. And where do they live? In tents. As someone who has worked with refugees, it is all too obvious to me how their living circumstances would’ve been if NGOs and the governments didn’t provide any help (and even now they barely get by). Very similar to the clans you might say, especially if they didn’t have any human rights.

Another way Lal Din reflects reality is when the plot moves to the orphans disappearing from the streets. She made it one of the centers of her story. Children kidnapped and then brought and sold for their organs and for sex.

Levi’s mom was from the clans and hence he’s hated by the higher castes from being born from of “them” and many of his mother’s clans don’t consider him one of them because he is the blade of the Ferawn.

It honestly took me a longer time than usual to wrap my mind around all the gods, zaats, cultures, and religions. I think that’s because I was more like forcing myself to read in the first half where all these things were explained rather than eager to learn all about the world.

Sidenote: I also discovered something pretty called the Banyan tree. I’m no plants expert so I don’t know much, to begin with. One can even accommodate about 1000 people in its shade. Wow.

The magic system was vague and not very clear. I hope we'll get more explanation in the next book.

In sum, this was a heavy YA. This is not a fast read. I admire Ana Lal Din's goal to raise awareness on the issues mentioned above. Her writing skills are solid but I struggled with the pacing. The characters were interesting and flawed. The plot got considerably more interesting in part two. I’m looking forward to seeing what people think once this book comes out. I’ll also most likely read the sequel since this book felt more like a set up for the real deal.


Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

The book takes place in our universe but over a thousand years in the future and after a thousand years war with aliens (that are supposed to be extinct now), the universe is ruled by a military monarchy. They send outcast soldiers to the edge of the universe to “guard” it from those aliens but they’re basically shunned from their society. It’s like the Night’s Watch in Game of Thrones. Except that these people are the center of the plot.

It’s told from two perspectives, Cavalon, an outcasted royal heir and Adequin, a former Titan (basically she was important in the war with the aliens) who is the head of the ship. The book’s pace is fast and stuff gets more interesting as we progress through this book. I wasn’t that invested in the story at first but I found myself enjoying it more than I expected. The banter between the characters and dialogue was fun and light to read.

Sadly, the characters while “interesting” in theory, didn’t mean much to me. I found it weird how Cav which no real-world xp can pull of so much shit. It’s just convenient for him to be skilled in those areas that are needed… it actually became too much. I think he was my favorite character (and Puck).

Adequin’s character was kind of underwhelming. I wanted to admire and love her characterization but I also couldn’t care. The romance between her and another crew member was meh, I didn’t feel any chemistry and it felt like just another addition to the plot, a way to make humanize Adequin since she’s strict most of the time but it useless.

A lot was going on and I seldom do that but on a specific chapter, I had NO CLUE what they were doing (the technical stuff) so I skipped a few pages because truly, I gave up trying to understand in this book. It was too confusing for me. They use a lot of terms and such that weren’t properly explained and when they were, it was too late since they’re not relevant anymore. Even the whole world-building was confusing to me and I did try to make sense of things (that’s why sci-fi isn’t for me).

Nonetheless, I did enjoy reading this book for the most part and the ending left me interested enough to want to read the sequel because it was well done. To me, this was a plot-driven book and not character-driven although the author tried to make her characters more realistic and give them depth yet I wasn’t attached to them and felt mostly flat to me. I couldn’t stop reading the last part and that’s why I wanted to give this book 4 stars but now.. yeah I didn’t enjoy it enough to rate it 4 stars.


Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Netgalley for the arc.

The Shadow of the Gods is based on Beowulf and Ragnarok. It’s in a land called Vigrið and in a world where the gods warred killing and imprisoning each other. The only remnants of them today are the bones and relics as well as their blood descendants of the “tainted”. Enslaved, they are thralls sold and bought by Jarls, warbands, and well, anyone who can afford them. They possess supernatural strengths, magic, etc. depends whose blood they have.

The book follows the story of three characters:
- Orka, a renowned warrior with excellent battle skills, she’s forced on a journey to hunt down her son’s kidnappers and take her vengeance.
- Varg, a previous thrall and a farmer, joins the Bloodsworn to discover his sister’s killer.
- Elvar, the daughter of a rich man (let’s say), seeks battle fame with the Battle-Grim.

I won’t go into too much detail and retell the plot and the story – I rarely do. Instead, I want to discuss the book itself.

Let’s talk about the characters first. They are the most important element for me in any book. Even if the pace was slow (which it was) if I truly liked the characters I wouldn’t mind. Little was going in Before They Are Hanged, which I read recently. Yet, I rated it 4 stars because of the excellent characterization, I cared a lot about our characters (even in book 1). Sadly here, I wasn’t impressed. I couldn’t connect with them nor feel much towards them. My favorite was Orka and her chapters interested me the most. Not a lot to be clear, but more than the rest. Varg’s chapters made me want to know more about him at first but later on, I lost my curiosity. Now Elvar was definitely my least favorite. Only a few of her chapters interested me (when we discover a bit about her past) but even at the end, when the action was at its peak, I wasn’t invested in her part of the story. I simply felt detached from the characters.

This brings me to my next point: the pace. I know most of the time, fantasy books are slow-paced. And it’s fine by me. But at least the characters make up for it sometimes. Yet, here, everything was moving so slowly that I was often scrolling Instagram in the little reading time I have. I could not care about anything other than the poor children. Elvar’s chapters didn’t help either because yes sure stuff was happening but the stuff I wasn’t invested in whatsoever. The person who saved her chapters was the witch Uspa because I wanted to know more about her. The history part was well told and the rich world building was also one of this book’s strengths for me. Yet, when we got to the end, I was able to stop reading anytime still (bad sign) and found it underwhelming (I was expecting something mindblowing). I would’ve appreciated it more if I was into the story.

Another thing that annoyed me was the lack of a glossary. I’m not very familiar with Norse Mythology besides common knowledge. There were words and terms I have no idea what they mean even by the end of the book. I also messed up things a lot in my head due to the lack of a clear definition and the abundant use of (Icelandic? Certainly not Scandinavian) terms. There were a lot of those and many times with no translation in the following text whatsoever. This sadly made it more difficult for me to enjoy and get into the book. And given the large cast of characters, it took me more than my usual time to remember who’s who.

It wasn’t until the end that we see how these characters’ fates intertwine and connect. The main plot or let’s say common mission is the reason I want to read the sequel. Since it wasn’t completely resolved, I do want to see how Gwynne will develop the story especially since the gods part was increasing towards the end of the book. My friend also told me that he also struggles with Gwynne’s first book but it gets much better later on. I haven’t read Malice yet because I wanted to buy the hard copies (I mostly read ebooks). Now honestly, I’m reconsidering. It was next on my buying list but now it’ll have to wait till the release of this book. I want to read more reviews (especially ones like mine) and see how they’d compare it to Malice.

Finally, I want to end by saying that I believe Gwynne’s fans will enjoy this book more than I did. The overall story intrigued me enough to want to read the sequel. I hope by then the pace will pick up (actually, I’m sure it will after the ending). My review might be mostly negative but I did appreciate the world-building and the gods’ history (and would’ve admired it more with a glossary). I’m also curious about a particular plotline and the characters concerned in it. As a first read by a new author, it wasn’t that bad but I expected a lot more that I’m sad and disappointed in myself for not appreciating this book more.


Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for sending me an arc of this book

Most of this book is a journey from one location to another, following it on the map would make it more interesting and engaging. The world-building was very well done, H. M. Long transported us to a harsh world full of lore and rich culture. Albeit inspired by Vikings and Norse mythology, the gods had more of a direct and important role in this book. I’m always intrigued by books where gods are actually real and their influence on the world is evident. The world Long created and the history she weaved and how they played out at the end of the book was my favorite part of this book. She also illustrated the relations between the different nations in a clear interesting way. If it weren’t for the glossary, I would’ve been confused since there are many names mentioned. Make sure to refer to it while reading the book.

Long’s writing was easy to get lost in. she described the world vividly and I was always imagining the lands Hessa was traveling through in my head. Her style was solid, especially for a debut book. The book is told from Hessa’s perspective. I also appreciate the lack of romance in this book and how Hessa didn’t need anyone to survive and was always depending on herself. Sure, many helped along the way but not in the way of a “love interest” does.

Hessa was fierce and strong, a warrior who is left with a heavy burden. But she’s also vulnerable when it’s needed. She was also loyal and always putting others first. While the book is mostly told in the present time, we get a flew flashbacks chapters that tell us about Hessa’s life before the events of Hall of Smoke. Although the pace of this book is slow, since most of it is on the road, the chapters helped since they weren’t long most of the time.

But these are all positives why didn’t I give it any more stars?
I couldn’t connect with the characters, I also found that only Hessa had depth to her character and while Nisien had more personality than most, I couldn’t care about him. I was like a stranger watching events unfold from far away instead of living them with the characters. I also didn’t feel that she loved her husband. We were constantly told about how much he meant for her and yet it was more telling than showing, this is usually a set up for future “true love” later on. But since this book won’t have a direct sequel, I don’t think this is the case here. It’s also not a book that I’d remember long after reading it.

All in, this is a good debut but sadly nothing special among this genre. It can be read as a standalone and the author said there will a sequel set in the same world but is also a standalone. The world-building was great and I loved the history of the world. Do I recommend it? Sure if you like Vikings inspired stories. You might have better luck than me connecting with the characters. I will also keep an eye on H. M. Long future books.


arc provided via Netgalley

I have no idea why JLA decided to stretch this series into 6 books. Considering that these books are so long and just like in AKOFAF, there was little progress on a considerable chunk of the book, it could’ve been easily a trilogy. Some speculated that the 3 other books might be a spin-off but no. This book ends with somewhat of a cliffhanger (an event unresolved but not like the one in AKOFAF). Maybe because of the success? I don’t know but I certainly hope she stops at book 6… or makes the books shorter at the very least because we’re talking here about 600+ pages where not much happens for the most part!!

Spoilers for the first two books from here. I’ll be writing pros and cons (but oh mostly cons list)

Pros:
✘The characters were the highlight of this book for me. I care about Poppy, Cas, Kieran & co. I like these characters and care deeply about them, something I’ve been struggling with lately with other books. Even though I’m complaining about 6 books, as long as Poppy and Cas stay awesome, I don’t think I’ll get bored reading about them (unless we still have 1800+ pages about them, then I don’t know).
✘ The book started with a bang. For the first 4-5 chapters I couldn’t put the book down (I read the sample though first). It also ended on a high note for me too.

In-Between:
- This book definitely lacked the addicting quality I loved in the first two books. Mind you, not always. Like I mentioned above, I couldn’t put the book down at the beginning and then towards the ending I finished it quickly, but I struggled with the middle because little -if anything- was happening.
- While I like that it’s not a simple fantasy like it started, as I said in AKOFAF, this series did not set up the stage for such a level of fantasy.
- The thing I love about these books the most is the fun and while some parts were fun to read, I had to push myself to read some others because of some of the cons I’m going to talk about later.

The cons
✘ Remember everything you (not everyone but many still) and I have complained about in book 2? If you don’t let me wrap them up for you:
➻ the repetitiveness
➻ how SSSSSSPECCCCIAL Poppy is
➻ her QUESTIONS
➻ stabbing people! How hot!!
➻ Casteel telling anyone who would listen about Poppy’s favorite book.. uhm what
➻ the abundant unnecessary details about Poppy’s day-to-day life
➻ the indecent inappropriate stuff Casteel wants to do to Poppy
Well, in case you assumed we got our fill (and then some more) of these ridiculous comments, YOU’RE WRONG! JLA did not have enough! While Cas barely made any comments about the questions, Kieran did. A lot.

This really annoyed and tired me because these comments were abundant.

✘ Let’s talk about the fantasy genre. What makes a fantasy book actually good? Well, the world-building is definitely an important aspect of the book. The magic system. The fantasy elements. And how do you usually introduce them? Gradually in book 1, you prepare the reader. Not in freakin book 3. What makes them even better is the FORESHADOWING. So we have a map now and I’ll give you a very simple example: Iliseeum. It’s an area in the East and important in this book. I searched in AKOFAF for one mention of it but got 0 results. And yes, Casteel knows of it. It could’ve been casually mentioned just to say it was not invented in this book. but nope. Seems like JLA is figuring out stuff as she goes along.. I mean please this is speculation and not a spoiler, of course, Poppy will win and survive and this can be done in numerous ways. Well, JLA is deciding the "how" as she progresses.

✘ The info dump in a third installment. I cry. This annoyed me in book 2 but JLA really wasn’t planning for such a complex fantasy but hey who cares? We can still pull off this shit now. The whole god/deity thing for example was so vague and confusing. And Poppy’s ancestry was debated so much with each time a different result that when the “plot twist” in this regard happened, I was thinking please be the last. I don’t think I can take another different parentage.

JLA Mudded things enough that when yet another plot twist about Poppy was revealed, she was able to get away with it because of the vagueness I mentioned.

✘ Speaking of which, Poppy is overpowered much?? No training no nothing with her new abilities yet she can do everything?? The same day she discovers them?! Also: I (as in Poppy) literally, thought oh I have these abilities but I can’t do this… then but who said I can’t? And of course, she was able to do what she had in mind.

✘ I found the whole thing with the Queen of the Ascendents pretty illogical (view spoiler)[so they meet her and barely bring anyone?????? They go to her place?? They’re too full of themselves to rule a kingdom. It really made no sense to me how they agreed to meet the viper in her den and thought they can leave unscratched. Another thing that annoyed me is everyone warning Poppy “the queen is different” CAN’T YOU SAY HOW??!! WTF. This got on my nerves, you can say she’s not ascendent, the same number of words (almost!)!!! Also, how did Cas’ mother not warn them about her?! I think the whole thing was pretty stupid and done only to ensure that Cas gets caught. (hide spoiler)]

✘ The writing… style. I don’t… I don’t know what to say about… it. CAN POPPY STOP USING … IN HER (countless) INNER MONOLOGUES? This was also getting common in SJM’s books, is this a new trend? It’s annoying af. Fine I wouldn’t have minded in dialogues but otherwise?? I really.. really… really….. don’t like it.

✘ Again, I mentioned already how this book dragged. 200 could’ve been cut out easily. Especially since the pace wasn’t consistent at all. If only Poppy’s monologues weren’t so detailed.

✘ In the second half, something is said. I understood its implication right away and was surprised when the characters didn’t until much later. It was pretty obvious to be even considered a plot twist.


Overall, this was a disappointment from the previous books. I decided to lower my rating to two stars because the cons outweighed the pros by far and while I was mostly subjective regarding the first two, since like I said I’m only reading them as a light fantasy + romance, I simply wasn’t impressed at all with installment. That being said, I’m still definitely going to read the sequel. I also still am excited about it because I really want to know what happens next.

Since many asked me about it, does the joining happen? (view spoiler)[No, no threesome between our characters. Might it happen in the future? Poppy is already bonded to the wolven so she doesn’t need a joining. For fun? While JLA didn’t hint a lot about it, Poppy that wasn’t excited when this topic came up (or maybe she secretly was?). JLA hinted a lot about on Instagram I don’t know why other than publicity reasons. She might have such a plan for future books probably. (hide spoiler)]



Thanks to Social Butterfly for sending me an e-arc.

When the Babel Corporation chooses Emmet to go to a new planet, he doesn’t think twice about accepting their offer. After all, the 50 000$ each month for the rest of his life isn’t something he can refuse, especially that he’s family is very poor. They have to get Nyxia, a very expensive substance not available on Earth, from Eden.

Emmet soon discovers that he’s competing with 9 other people and only 8 can go to the new planet. Thus, he’ll do everything in his power to win although he feels like Babel is hiding some dangerous secrets.

Let’s start by the few things I liked. The book is easy to read and keeping up with the new information doesn’t take any effort at all. It’s also entertaining. I liked that our 10 characters have to challenge each other, alone and in teams. I didn’t get bored while reading it and that’s something. I also like the diversity in this book. The contestants are from different countries from all around the Globe.

Babel Corporation is named as such because it removes the language barrier. People can have their own translators attached to their jaw. That’s my first problem. As someone who isn’t an English native speaker, I always struggle with translation. I’m fluent and all but when someone asks me what does this English sentence mean in Arabic? If it is a bit complicated, I have a hard translating it all without adding words and keeping loyal to the meaning and structure. Sure I can explain it in a long version but it would have a different structure which isn't right. Anyway, so yeah we also have these words that have many meanings. Let’s say spring. It can mean different things in different contexts. Moreover, one of the hardest things to do is translating a book. Many expressions will sound ridiculous. You can’t say "a piece of cake" in Arabic, you’ll sound silly. So it’ll need work on how to get your reader understand what the author meant without translating word for word. Which brings us to my problem in this book.

As creative as it sounds I refuse to believe that there’s something that easily translates everything without not changing any of the meaning... while still making mistakes. Yes, the author spoke about expressions relative to each language. But you know? It would’ve been fine if it wasn’t for the word “cool”. You see, the Nyxia translator got it wrong. It translated it ironically, to Arabic, as cold. However, if you GOOGLE TRANSLATE IT (worst translator ever), you’ll see that it can mean “very good” as well. Later, we have someone reading in Japanese, and Emmet understanding what she’s reading in English. Has any of you read manga? Do you notice the numerous mistakes that translators make? (I’m not criticizing them because God bless them for doing it for free) What I mean is that they’re translators and they can translate incorrectly only a few words from Jap to English (took this example because the Jap contestant reads to Emmet). Can you imagine the whole book? So after the word cool, do you want me to believe that a book can be translated correctly?

We know so little about Earth. Yes, it’s the future and we still have the same countries but surely not everything is still the same, yet we barely know anything about it. With all the advanced technology, can’t all the kids make a conversation in English? Not saying scientific and advanced things but maybe basic conversation? It's already very common nowadays so shouldn't be even more so in the future? What’s happening right now? Surely we don’t have the same political systems. Of course, many things changed. More developed technology and such but we don’t even know what the year is!! We only know that Babel is very advanced and that’s only because of the Nyxia substance! Lack of world-building? Oh yes, very much. Therefore, I didn’t see much sci-fi. No wowzy stuff men made or anything “science”. Believe me, I’d know because I’m not the biggest fan of this genre.

This book screams diversity. Different races, different languages, different cultures, different everything. Which is great.. in theory. So the population on Earth must be over 10 billion at the time. However, of course, 3 will be Americans. Sorry, 2 Americans and 1 from Detroit. Hey, are you from the States Emmet? I’m from Detroit. Seriously? Not even Michigan. Not even a State. But a damn city. No people don't talk well English but they know Detroit. Since we don’t know anything about school systems and programs, at least to know if they study about the United States cities and villages, it’s so absurd to say I’m from Detroit. Believe me, a foreigner might know many states. However, can you guarantee that the person you’re speaking to knows a city in your country? *sighs* Americans.

The other characters go something like this
Jazzy: nice
Isabel: loves Roathy, always angry
Roathy: there’s something dark about him
Longwei: mean and wants to be on top
Katsu: big with a (ridiculous) sense of humor
Kaya: strategic and kind
Jamie: pretty boy (although he doesn’t act like it)
Bilal: too good
Azuma: strong and wants to marry

Yes, Emmet’s adjective vocabulary is only limited to this. Always repeating the same stuff about them. Always. I couldn’t relate to any of them and they all felt flat. Just nothing impressive at all. I also wasn’t impressed by Emmet. I mean yes, I didn’t hate him but he wasn’t the kind of character I’d root for. So yeah, the characters weren’t the best. You don’t even hate them. Only feel nothing. I had some problems with how some characters were portrayed. (view spoiler)[The one on top is American, the Russian guy is very mean, and from all the population, we have most people from the US. Nope sorry doesn’t work with me. (hide spoiler)]

Now to the ending. Or rather, the romance. IT WAS PLAIN BAD. Talk about insta-love!! I thought I’ve read bad romance in the past but this was something else. It was so anti-climactic, rushed, and out of nowhere. Since it happens at the end, I can’t say much without revealing any spoiler. It made me cringe. There was no chemistry, no attraction, it was just forced and unbelievable. I was honestly considering giving it 3 stars before the romance started.

I think that this book is good if you’re looking for a mindless read set in space. Don’t expect anything complicated, just a quick fun read.

arc provided by publishers via NetGalley

Sometimes you see a painting that is too polished, too perfect, to the point that it loses its essence. Have you ever read a book that felt this way? I know I’ve never read such a book before Age of Swords. It was too refined and I think that’s because Sullivan had already written the whole series. It felt flat. However, if I had to describe the book in one word, I’d simply say it’s boring. I haven’t read the Riyria series so I’m pretty sure this affected my reading experience a bit although Michael mentioned that it shouldn’t in the first book.

I have so many problems with this book to the extent that it’s hard to determine where to start. I read Age of Myth last year. Even though the book kept me interested enough to finish it in a short time –something this book terribly failed at- many things kept my expectations at bay for the next installment. The world wasn’t original, I’ve seen it all. Aside from a minor twist or two (mainly at the end and it wasn’t even handled well in AoS until the last chapter “inserting another twist”) it was predictable and fun, but not impressive. None of the characters were memorable and the whole book wasn’t. It just fell under the great shelf of meh. Entertaining but lacking.

Age of Swords picks up right after the last events of Age of Myth. After Raithe killed that strong Fhrey, Gryndal (whose name I’ve forgotten and had to recheck because it's not easy to memorize and I didn't care about him), they sent giants to kill them all in Rhen. After almost massacring everyone, they were defeated. However, the dahl wasn’t safe anymore and mostly damaged. They were forced to go to another Clan to try to gather all the Rhunes leaders to start a war.

I need to say this: please authors, using complicated names DOESN'T make your book more of a fantasy. It turns the readers’ attention away because they have no idea how to pronounce them, especially if ä, ë, or any other letter from outside the English language that most readers don't know how to pronounce it, is used. I mean sure, foreign names are cool and all, but sometimes, I just read the first few letters and skip the whole name. The Dherg's words are the worst... One would expect with all these long names, Michael would’ve chosen another name for Fhrey. I mean come on, it’s too close to fey. So original. It's just doesn't make sense when we have short words like Suri and Brin.

Back to AoS, it took me ages to finish it. I was bored 99% of the time. I considered dropping it a lot but forced myself to finish it. Was it worth it? Not really. However, this is an arc and I needed to review it. Plus, with all the 5 stars ratings, I thought there might be something more at the end. A mind-blowing twist or an important revelation but no, nothing. This book was so predictable. It offered no surprises at all. It’s also too long. 350 pages only, would’ve been much better. We had so little action. MJS said that he needed to develop his characters in this book. I think that’s the job of the first book but whatever. Sure character dev is always needed but a book focusing on nothing but them? And they’re nothing memorable/outstanding? Maybe if you deeply cared about the characters and lived you wouldn’t have minded. But I didn’t. Trying to develop the characters turned into very long descriptions and recycled thinking about the world and their destinies. Anyway, my favorite books are always more character-driven than anything else. Thus, I don’t mind slow books, not at all. However, this wasn’t just slow, it was painfully boring and tedious. Nothing was happening most of the time. Too many inner monologues and contemplations. I just skipped paragraphs to reach the dialogues which weren’t anything special. They were mostly awkward especially when it came to Raithe’s chapters. Not even the last chapters were exciting.

I was watching a video yesterday about what makes good villains. One word can summarize everything: nuance. It made me pay more attention to Mawyndulë’s, whom I’ll call from now on Mawy, actions. Saying I hated this brat is an understatement. He’s plain stupid and the twist that happened towards the end was so obvious and long foreseen that I wasn’t sure if we can call it a twist. He’s arrogant, shallow, and easily manipulated. Okay… so we have these people in real life. The video also mentioned that the little things that the villain cares about that are unrelated to his evilness makes us appreciate him. So when I saw Mawy contemplating the leaves and trying to be philosophical, I was delighted. Until I read that he felt better about himself, specifically wiser and more profound than most people because “he alone appreciated the value of a leaf drifting on a stream”. This ruined his character for me forever. His chapters were too long and too many. Useless and dull, I still tried to see why MJS wrote them. I know they serve the story but they could be summarized in few paragraphs (and I can do it in a few words).

I couldn’t find a thing to like about Raithe. Oh, we’re Dureyans and we suck. Oh, I can’t do anything so stop talking to me. Oh, Persephone marry me. Oh, I'm so weak. Oh, I’m so depressed and the world is hard. Oh, wait. He’s a Dureyan. The world is hard. PLEASE STOP THE MELODRAMA. He was like a teenage girl nagging for God’s sake. Also, he was the typical character in most fantasy books who refused to embrace his role but will come around eventually.

The first thing I mentioned in my review was the new inventions. I had no idea the Rhunes were so primitive in Age of Swords. If they live within the same world of a too advanced species, do you want me to believe that they didn’t learn anything from them? Not even fuckin buttons? Or fuckin WHEELS? They traded all the time!!! But it’s fine. This didn’t annoy me as much as the whole new stuff was invented by the same person. WITHIN A FEW WEEKS ONLY. Roan invented x and y but never before someone invented these very primitive stuff. Not that only, she was able to do it all at once. Then Brin created writing within a few days. SERIOUSLY? !(view spoiler)[And of course, because she was super smart, she was able to decipher foreign symbols/writing in an hour or even less. THIS IS BEYOND REAL. Even specialized people from the 21st century wouldn’t be able to do it so fast. (hide spoiler)]

What surprised me the most is people who have never seen a bow use words like “sorta” and “kinda” and sentences like “where are you off to”. This speech indicates a very developed civilization. I’m sure they’ll stay the same in the final copy because they were also present in AoM and while I didn’t know that they were so behind, I didn’t like this style in high fantasy. Especially when used by a tough Durayen warrior. It makes things even worse.

All of this will make you wonder, why 2 stars and not 1? You see, with all the bad boring stuff, I applaud MJS for making decent female characters and giving them such importance and a big role in making history. Many male authors, even females, fail at creating likable women, especially in high fantasy. Even though I didn’t fall in love with them and that’s mainly the book’s fault (aka boredom and slow pacing) and not their character, Moya and Suri were my favorites. So yeah, that was the only redeeming quality in this book. I might drop my rating later, though. Who knows?

Briefly said, this book bored me to tears. It was dull and too long. The characters weren’t memorable and sometimes annoying but I appreciate the strong female characters. I don’t know if I’ll continue with this series. I don't think you need a book to just develop your characters while little else is going on. I've read enough books to know it doesn't work like this.The author shouldn't make excuses for his book. At this rate I'm gonna publish a book that is crap and say sorry I was really sick while writing this, please keep that in mind... My admiration would increase if I fell in love with the book and later learned it was written while the author was very sick. If he said this before I start the novel, he'd immediately lose points. MJS said in the author’s note (that was way too long in which the author congratulated himself that his books reached GR nominees, didn’t even win. This is always a bad sign) that this book is his favorite in this series. If that’s the case, I have no idea if I still want to continue with The Legends of the First Empire. Since everybody says that the Riyria Revelations is better, I’m going to give this author another chance. Hopefully, I’ll read the first book later this year but AoS wasn’t encouraging at all.

arc provided via NetGalley