Ben

I thought this was absolutely great!

Definitely a testament to the book that I couldn't really put it down and read it a lot quicker than my other recent books. The only thing holding it back from five stars, for me, is the relatively simple language used.

And Pierce Brown's insistence on writing “do not” instead of “don't” absolutely everywhere in the book was mildly irritating too

Not particularly fond of this one.

To get the most out of this book, and to not have it be riddled with numerous, unfamiliar references to other magic systems and planets and peoples, you basically need to have read every single Mistborn book, every Stormlight Archive novel, Warbreaker, Elantris, and probably half of the Arcanum unbounded for good measure too. All of that pre-reading for a story which, honestly, I just didn't think was very fun to read.

Despite Hoid technically narrating this book—another person/reference that will add absolutely nothing unless you've read other Cosmere novels beforehand—the tone of voice was completely off for me, and really just seemed like Sanderson himself wanting an excuse to try out a sillier, more self-aware approach to his Cosmere series; a gamble which didn't pay off.

I'm convinced this book was solely written as a vehicle for introducing yet another magic system to the Cosmere. Sanderson is evidently very proud of this spore-based system he's devised; he takes great care to write about every single interaction in excruciating detail at every single point throughout the book. I don't think this wholly bad bad, to be fair—Brandon Sanderson has always made a point of writing magic which is explainable and correct within his universe—but in this instance the rest of the writing really suffered for it. The plot and character motivations are nothing to write home about, with the same “unassuming young girl discovers what's she's truly capable when the person she loves is mysteriously kidnapped by an evil sorceress” trope being used as in probably hundreds of other Young Adult books. Sanderson already used this outline for Mistborn, too, with much greater success. Go and read that instead!!!

All I can say is I'm very excited to read the next ones!

I hate to say it but I think Darrow is just a bad character. He's so utterly convinced that his actions and just and correct in every scenario, and yet so upset and brooding about everything he does. It comes across arrogant and self-centred, and I don't think he really experienced a shred of character development in this book.

I also thought the ending was extremely rushed! It seems to me that Pierce Brown found himself in a situation where there were still three main antagonists to wrap up and his best solution was, “I know, I'll lock them all up in a tiny room together and have Darrow do his thing and obviously come out on top.”

The middle dragged for way too long as well, and I found myself losing interest as the journey went on and on, with trial after tribulation after trial.

Sorry Pierce, I think I'm done reading your work for a long while, my goodman.