Beth Morrison

I've had this book on my tbr since it was released, so it was the perfect pick for my second to last book for the #oriliumreadathon . The prompt being read the oldest book on my tbr.

The beginning of this book seemed like it was going to be pretty YA. Young Rin, a poor orphan from a drug running (adopted) family, gets accepted to Sinegard - the prestigious military academy. Once there, she is ostracized by the other students because of her background, only to become one of the top students. But, war is imminent and unavoidable, and the students there will be a part of it.

By part two, I quickly changed my opinion. Of everything! No longer does this feel YA and I have changed all my initial thoughts of the characters. The ones I disliked now seem decent, and the ones I thought I would love are questionable. I hope you enjoyed Sinegard, because we're done with school and are now in a straight up war. Like heavy casualty, loss of innocent life type of war. Magic is officially introduced and the world building is fully fledged. We also get several new characters that I absolutely love - The Cike.

Then came part three and the end. My only thoughts were, “what the efff just happened”. It was gruesome, vengeful, and dark

This was really interesting. Diving into Sandersons debut after reading half of the cosmere was quite the experience. I had heard it was slow and not his best book. While I agree, it's not the best, it was really enjoyable. I thought the world building and magic system was as unique as Scadriel in Mistborn, and that the messages were similar to Bridge 4 and Kaladin in Stormlight. Also, I got to see my first Cosmere connection in this!!! All in all, I thought it was great and really enjoyed this.