Jewel of the Endless Erg by John Bierce

After surviving Skyhold's deadly labyrinth, Hugh and his friends are looking forwards to an uneventful summer. Their teacher Alustin has chartered a sandship for a training expedition into the vast sea of sand known as the Endless Erg, aiming for the wealthy and powerful desert city of Theras Tel. Hugh's happier than he's been in a long, long time, and he's quite excited for the fresh air, sunshine, and quiet. Of course, given Hugh's luck, their summer is going to be anything but quiet.

They're about to be plunged into a morass of pirates, monsters, warring cults, flesh-tearing sandstorms, and a conspiracy against Indris Stormbreaker, the dragon queen of Theras Tel herself. At least Hugh's going to get plenty of fresh air and sunshine.

I loved it yet again. The story was great and I am glad Hugh got over his self-pity and doubt because it was an immensely annoying character trait to listen to. I'm glad the book showed more from the other perspectives as well. Like from Alustin and Talia. I am very excited to read the next book.

I also loved that it include queer content. I am so here for Godrick and Irrick. Though Irrick wasn't in the book that much it made me wanna reread it. It gave a whole other perspective as to way Godrick was so annoyed Avah had eyes for him.

I have a bit of mixed feelings about this book. While I love exploring the world build and the surroundings, the descriptions felt too lengthy. They were with a reason I won't deny that but it keep breaking my attention off the story and I had to read them 2-3 times to understand what was being mentioned because I couldn't comprehend the large amount of info at once.

As much as the book dragged on it became thrilling in the end. I bit my nails and while scenes kept changing I didn't mind at all because it made sense.

Character I absolutely adored and cheered for in this book was Sabae. I loved her attentiveness and the fact that he keeps the group together. She's smart and strong.

One interesting thing I noticed about Hugh is that, while what he does in the beginning feels dull it doesn't stay that way. And the reader gets rewarded for their patience plentiful.

Talia, I'm kinda on the fence on. There's things she does that I love but also things she does that I really, really dislike, that said I heard things happen later in the series so I want to hope that I'll come to like her.

Goddrick, is someone I'm really really interested in exploring in further books. Especially seeing how his mindset and personality was expanded on in this book. There's also some thing people would love seeing about him at the end I think.

Alustin.... I don't know what to about say with spoiling. In fact I wanna scream.

TL;DR - It lagged in the beginning but was amazing at the end. ESPECIALLY at the end. Like THE END.