Russell
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐
Prose ⭐⭐ | Dialogue ⭐⭐ | Worldbuilding ⭐⭐⭐ Characters ⭐⭐⭐ | Pacing ⭐⭐⭐ | Originality ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I finally made it through this series. There was lots to like in the trilogy, and you can definitely see a lot of growth from the author between Promise of Blood and The Autumn Republic, but overall, I left a bit unsatisfied. All the pieces are there -- interesting magic, interesting world, and engaging plot, but somehow none of them seemed to fully land. The main antagonist feels like it's meant to be a major twist, but it just ended up feeling like a hasty addition to justify the end-of-trilogy action, as the major conflicts of Promise and Campaign were mostly resolved.
Several developments that could have been really interesting are also just left unexplained, for example, we're told that Nila is unique and special, and that she'll be incredibly powerful, but that uniqueness and level of power is never explained. Similarly relationships, for example between Taniel & Ka-poel don't feel like we worked for them, and long standing inter-character conflict falls into the standard trope of one good, tear-filled conversation solving conflict permanently.
Overall, I'm not ready to give up on this author yet, it seems like the DNA is all there, but despite substantial growth, the end of this trilogy was just lacking for me. This was an entertaining read, but not one I plan to return to.
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐
Prose ⭐⭐ | Dialogue ⭐⭐ | Worldbuilding ⭐⭐⭐ Characters ⭐⭐⭐ | Pacing ⭐⭐⭐ | Originality ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I finally made it through this series. There was lots to like in the trilogy, and you can definitely see a lot of growth from the author between Promise of Blood and The Autumn Republic, but overall, I left a bit unsatisfied. All the pieces are there -- interesting magic, interesting world, and engaging plot, but somehow none of them seemed to fully land. The main antagonist feels like it's meant to be a major twist, but it just ended up feeling like a hasty addition to justify the end-of-trilogy action, as the major conflicts of Promise and Campaign were mostly resolved.
Several developments that could have been really interesting are also just left unexplained, for example, we're told that Nila is unique and special, and that she'll be incredibly powerful, but that uniqueness and level of power is never explained. Similarly relationships, for example between Taniel & Ka-poel don't feel like we worked for them, and long standing inter-character conflict falls into the standard trope of one good, tear-filled conversation solving conflict permanently.
Overall, I'm not ready to give up on this author yet, it seems like the DNA is all there, but despite substantial growth, the end of this trilogy was just lacking for me. This was an entertaining read, but not one I plan to return to.