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kthebookwyrm
Did I enjoy this book? No. Was I meant to? Again, that’s probably a no. I’m not a child and this book was written back in 1950 in a very different world from the one we currently occupy. It’s a short, quick read with a generous powdering of sexism/tired gender roles, little complexity, and a story that doesn’t make the most sense. I’m not a kid and have higher expectations for stories and this didn’t come anywhere close to living up to them.
But hey, when I was 8 and hadn’t read much before, I enjoyed it a lot so there’s that.
But hey, when I was 8 and hadn’t read much before, I enjoyed it a lot so there’s that.
First off, this was a great first installment in a planned series, as well as being a great first adult novel for Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. I loved it. I won't be providing a summary, I believe in your ability to read the one provided by the publisher for yourselves, so let's jump straight into my review.
The cover: spot on. First, I'm glad they didn't try to stick a photo or illustration of any of the characters on the cover. There's an ensemble cast of characters that are all equally important to the story so singling out one would have been wrong in this instance. Also, it could have went a very cheesy, tacky route that would have been unfortunate. Red, the color of blood, is a very significant color for this book and so it makes sense for it to be the primary color on the cover. The imagery is also appropriate, as a decent chunk of the story takes place in a wasteland-ish environment. The typography and layout is balanced and arranged well. My only grumble would be about the little shine/reflection spots around the title, they're kind of ugh. But overall I feel like this cover is much better than several of the ones for her YA novels, particularly the redesigns for the original 4 Den of Shadows books, and portrays the right kind of feeling for a dark fantasy novel.
The pace felt right to me. It was a little slow getting started, as expected when setting up a new world and introducing characters, but she didn't spend a terribly long amount of time on it or throw any info dumps at me which I greatly appreciated. Instead, more information and "rules" are revealed along the way and we learn as the characters learn. I wouldn't say that this book is exciting in the sense that it's action packed or anything like that, rather you're driven forward wanting answers. There are things happening in the background that are just hinted at or partially revealed that create a larger story arc in which this first book is clearly just the beginning of.
I felt like the characters were well developed. We are told the story through at least 3 or 4 different perspectives. There are 5 main characters that form the group that we follow and each character has a completely different background, which informs their viewpoint and attitude towards everything that's happening and creates the opportunity for some really good character development by the end of the book. I also feel like a couple of the secondary characters will likely become more prominent in later books, as their relevance to the larger story was introduced but not elaborated upon.
I found the story itself very interesting, mostly because of the way it was told. The culture of the city it takes place in presents one set of facts--the mancers are dangerous and to be executed immediately,the Abyssi are evil, savage entities, and the Numen are good and basically "angelic". This book is told from both sides of the coin though--by a mancer, a half-abyssi, a guard taught to fight and capture mancers, a prince if he Abyssi, and a woman who is connected to the numen and listens to the confessions of captured mancers before they're executed. When these different people come together, things are no longer so black and white and when assumptions are proven to not necessarily be true, things become much more interesting.
The ending was great--the main arc of this book was wrapped up nicely and we were left with a twist at the end to whet our appetites for the next one.
The cover: spot on. First, I'm glad they didn't try to stick a photo or illustration of any of the characters on the cover. There's an ensemble cast of characters that are all equally important to the story so singling out one would have been wrong in this instance. Also, it could have went a very cheesy, tacky route that would have been unfortunate. Red, the color of blood, is a very significant color for this book and so it makes sense for it to be the primary color on the cover. The imagery is also appropriate, as a decent chunk of the story takes place in a wasteland-ish environment. The typography and layout is balanced and arranged well. My only grumble would be about the little shine/reflection spots around the title, they're kind of ugh. But overall I feel like this cover is much better than several of the ones for her YA novels, particularly the redesigns for the original 4 Den of Shadows books, and portrays the right kind of feeling for a dark fantasy novel.
The pace felt right to me. It was a little slow getting started, as expected when setting up a new world and introducing characters, but she didn't spend a terribly long amount of time on it or throw any info dumps at me which I greatly appreciated. Instead, more information and "rules" are revealed along the way and we learn as the characters learn. I wouldn't say that this book is exciting in the sense that it's action packed or anything like that, rather you're driven forward wanting answers. There are things happening in the background that are just hinted at or partially revealed that create a larger story arc in which this first book is clearly just the beginning of.
I felt like the characters were well developed. We are told the story through at least 3 or 4 different perspectives. There are 5 main characters that form the group that we follow and each character has a completely different background, which informs their viewpoint and attitude towards everything that's happening and creates the opportunity for some really good character development by the end of the book. I also feel like a couple of the secondary characters will likely become more prominent in later books, as their relevance to the larger story was introduced but not elaborated upon.
I found the story itself very interesting, mostly because of the way it was told. The culture of the city it takes place in presents one set of facts--the mancers are dangerous and to be executed immediately,the Abyssi are evil, savage entities, and the Numen are good and basically "angelic". This book is told from both sides of the coin though--by a mancer, a half-abyssi, a guard taught to fight and capture mancers, a prince if he Abyssi, and a woman who is connected to the numen and listens to the confessions of captured mancers before they're executed. When these different people come together, things are no longer so black and white and when assumptions are proven to not necessarily be true, things become much more interesting.
The ending was great--the main arc of this book was wrapped up nicely and we were left with a twist at the end to whet our appetites for the next one.
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This book was absolute garbage. For now, I’ll leave it at that. Maybe I’ll come back later and devote more time to describing the myriad ways this book sucked, but it’s taken up enough of my time just slogging through to the end.
