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thecandlelightlibrary's Reviews (1.25k)
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I have complicated thoughts about this one. It started out strong, and I can appreciate what it was trying to do, but it didn't quite make it and it definitely needed content warnings.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There were parts of this I really enjoyed…and a lot of things that I didn’t. I thought the world building and magic system had a lot of promise and there were several plot moments I thought were quite successful. I also really love descriptive writing styles, so I will definitely be looking for more of Guanzon’s work in the future (but perhaps not this trilogy, see notes below).
However.
- I didn’t know this was Reylo fanfic when I picked it up. Had I known I might have enjoyed this more, since for the first 40% all I could think about was how Alaric was written to be Adam Driver as Kylo Ren…and then I looked up fan art and suddenly it all made sense. I don’t mind fanfic, but I’m not so sure that taking fully developed characters and plopping them into an entirely different world and expecting them to be as successful is always a good choice.
- I was also confused with the choice of pacing. I don’t know what the author has planned for the trilogy, but I think part one of this story should have either been 1) The entire first book or 2) Condensed down into a prologue (honestly, when part one ended my first reaction was “WTF?”). There are several elements that were set up in this book that I’m not excited to see pan out, so I’m not sure if I will pick up the second book.
- If there is going to be a map, please ensure all important places are included on said map. There were a lot of references to countries, places, and important geographical features that weren’t labeled and I spent so much time looking for places that weren’t labeled that I eventually gave up.
- I really, really hated the colonizer/colonized focus and how literally, in almost 500 pages, not once was it called out. Several characters got *so close* to making that connection, but the dialogue or plot would move away before they could. I have to believe most of the characters were willfully dense, as there is no way you could look at both sides of that war as it was portrayed and go “Eh, guess they both have a point.”