Rating: 2/5 stars Pages: 528 Genre: Fantasy Publisher: Orbit Release Date: April 21, 2020
After their father is murdered by the empire, two siblings are thrust onto opposites of a war—one wants to destroy the empire, and the other wants to save it. Sonya has been training to be a ranger of Marzanna her whole life. But the old ways are dying, and there are fewer rangers than ever before. After her father is murdered, she’s bent on revenge and sets herself to rallying support from their barbarous old enemies. But her brother has been taken in by the Empire's lies, and as a powerful sorcerer, is going to be a deadly opponent.
** Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing me with an eARC of this book**
This book was another disappointing one for me. I love epic fantasy, but it just felt like this one was focusing on all the wrong things. I’m not gonna do another long rant, but there were a few things in particular that ruined the read for me.
First off, the dialogue. Now, I recognize, it’s hard to walk the fine line between formal and stilted dialogue. This book definitely hit the stilted dialogue. And the other thing, so much of what the characters did just didn’t make sense. Nothing bothered me more than Sebastian’s choice to join the empire. LIKE THEY MURDERED HIS FATHER! Why the fuck is he joining them? I would be down to watch him be like “okay, yeah I’m gonna pretend to be for the Empire, and then slowly over time he’s converted. Cool. That would work. But this was very much like “Oh, I can be a hero? GREAT I'M IN. I FORGIVE YOU FOR MURDERING MY FATHER." Basically I didn’t buy it. So those were the big things that bothered me. And a general, I just didn’t give a fuck about the characters.
Again, I’m not gonna recommend this book to anyone. I frankly don’t know who it would appeal to. I think readers of epic fantasy would be a little disappointed.
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