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Mike Smith

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An Excellent Beginning

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-25-24

This is by far one of my favorite intro books to any recent fantasy series. It’s dark in all the right ways. It features intense violence, but uses it to show the effects that violence has on people, rather than purely as spectacle. It puts a ton of moral and ethical questions in front of the reader, and has a great cast of characters. I couldn’t recommend a start to a series much more, it hooked me immediately.

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A Lot More Supernatural Than Books 1-2

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-25-24

The series took a much more supernatural bend as it progressed, and unfortunately that was always the part of the series I liked the least. It might not bother you at all, and that’s well and good.

The 3rd act of the book felt rushed, and much of the plot was explained quickly by monologuing or info dumping, and it all dealt with supernatural or divine beings. The last act that dealt with tying loose ends, and dealt with human problems and human solutions, was much more enjoyable to me. Outside of that gripe, it was a solid read. I liked it, I just liked a good deal less than the first two books which very quickly entered my “top 10 books of the last few years” list. It would be unfair to rate it harshly, as my biggest complaint boils down to “it wasn’t as good as it’s predecessors that i deeply adore.”

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A great book for a slump

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 07-29-23

I can really drag my feet with new books, especially the start of a new series, but this story gripped right away. It is very much “Peaky Blinders but fantasy”- but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It felt a little familiar, and made it easy to jump in. I’m in the middle of the third book in the series now, and can confidently recommend diving in. I cant wait to listen more tomorrow.

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A wonderfully pleasant surprise

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 07-29-23

The polarizing reviews left me with very medium expectations, but this book was absolutely awesome. The magic system is fun and interesting, the characters are great, and the narration suited the story very well. Sometimes it can be a bit hard to grasp what is being said through the thick accents of the characters, but as someone who often listens to books at 1.15-1.3x speed, I was able to easily discern everything after gaining a little familiarity. It felt very conversational. I was left really craving more, and cant wait to see where this series goes- and I will be very upset if the narration changes.

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An amazing story with exceptional narration.

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 07-29-23

This quickly became one of my favorite fantasy books of all time, and the narrator perfectly rooted the voices of the main characters into my mind. I can’t imagine it any other way.

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