The Fallen Star was a satisfying conclusion to an electrifying trilogy that introduced some of my new favorite characters in Star Wars lore as well as some innovate concepts in the Universe.
I'm a fan of The High Republic, but not necessarily the way they intertwined the adult, YA, and middle-grade novels. Having characters move in and out of the various trilogies makes in difficult to care about certain characters or follow the arcs of other characters. The series would have been stronger as a whole of they hadn't thrown people into and out of the separate trilogies. Biggest example of this, after the first novel I would have loved to have seen more of Avar Kriss, but her character arc moved into other novels.
Overall, I enjoyed the whole series, but think future trilogies should be more self-contained. Unfortunately, I think that's the opposite of what they are trying to do, but one can hope!
So I finished this book a few days ago and I have a few impressions. First off, as a sequel this blew Scorned Prince out of the water. Everything that was intriguing or well done in SP was so much better in CK.
The worldbuilding in CK was excellent. Hunsaker delivers an interesting setting revolving around a planet that has stopped spinning so only a small area is hospitable. This isn't the first time I've seen this, but Hunsaker puts his own “spin” on it, creating the unique world of Malahem.
The magic system was a bit ambiguous in the first book, but is more fleshed out in the sequel. There are still questions about how the magic works in Malahem, but we are given more information, contributing the feeling of progress that I assume will be consummate in the third book.
The romance aspect left more to be desired, not necessarily in terms of spice, or slow burn, but that there wasn't much conflict in this story to make it interesting (more in spoilers below)
Before getting into spoiler territory, Cursed King is a great follow-up to Scorned Prince; if you enjoyed the first book you'll love the second. If you haven't read SP but you enjoy romance or fantasy, give this series a try. It promises to be heading towards an exciting conclusion.
Rating: 7/10
[[ S•P•O•I•L•E•R•S ]]
There are just a few spoiler-related things I wanted to discuss. In the first book, the “conflict” between Migo and Katsi was the fact that she was a Shaman and he was a shaman hunter. In CK, that conflict/tension is gone. It's more of a “they will never let us be together” tale until they reach the capital that honestly doesn't work for me because Migo is so confident that it won't be an issue. I thought when the emperor was introduced that he would create a love triangle between the three, but based on the ending that doesn't appear to be the case.
Speaking of endings, well done on the twist at the end! I didn't see the whole emperor being a shaman and maintaining control by declaring a war on other shamans piece coming at all. The last chapter or so got me very excited for book three.
Honestly, the stale romance in book two is not an issue for me because I lean much more into the fantasy part of Hunsaker's “romantasy” genre, but I hope it's a little more convicting in the third book.
Overall, a solid book - would recommend to anyone interested in a quick, enjoyable fantasy read.
Fun book, especially if you read Scorned Prince (you should), but seemed unpolished? It was a good story and explanation for the universe Brady's building, but read as if it needed another draft to flesh out a few things and clean up some general grammar errors or sentences that didn't read super clearly.
Malahem is well worth the read, before or after Scorned Prince, but it is definitely what you would expect from a free newsletter novella and not representative of Brady's best work. That said, it answers a lot of world-building questions from SP and is, overall, a quick and fun book. Looking forward to Cursed King.
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