Well. This is definitely unlike most things I read. It’s high fantasy with a drawerful of hairpin turns in a driving plot that never lets up. And really, you wish it would. You wish it would take a break to get to know people for a hot minute at some point, but then you realise that maybe none of these characters are worth getting to know (because real humans are not mere motifs to service a life-plot). 

 

So, I’m a character-loving lass, and these characters just don’t want my love, shoving it to the side at every page turn as they march on in their self-absorbed bubbles chasing personal goals and plotting confrontations to satisfy egotistical vendettas. I (yes, the self-absorbed reader) need to be part of the story, to be invited in, to be allowed to share in the feelings, relationships, excitement and disappointment or <i>something</i>—and I feel little to no invitation to connect with these characters. Sure, I see how the author has tried to build history and depth (by telling us very important information and explaining all the things to us; quite literally in a [data deposit goes here] style), and it falls pretty flat despite the non-stop action. I’m left watching expressionless (maybe I yawned) as these two-dimensional beings jump from danger to adventure to confrontation to escape. Again. And again. And yet *sigh* again. 

 

I don’t know. Maybe the series picks up. Maybe one or two of these people grow a personality… 

 

This is the lowest of my 3 star level ratings. Barely 3.0, but just 3.0, because I consider that if all we had to read as an alternative were crap NA romance novels, then I’d offer you this book to keep your head out of the 2-star gutter.