Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsPhenomenal!
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 17, 2023
I feel the need to begin by stating, I only picked this up for some light reading, compared to other books I'm currently reading. I most certainly didn't anticipate taking as much pleasure in it as I did.
As is quite typical in this genre, world and character building are always the top two significant and crucial factors that should start being addressed in the storyline and built upon immediately, working in the direction of laying the ground work for the rest of not just the1st book, but the complete series to come, whether it's a duology, trilogy, or lengthier body of work.
Delemhach exhibits a remarkably gifted, and structured, conceptualization regarding just exactly how to deliver this to the reader!
Furthermore, it’s customary in this genre, where there's a few characters introduced to help streamline the plot-line forward. It’s easy to comprehend, in all likelihood, these characters will not be figured heavily into the main narrative, but there's enough particulars provided to make the reader feel as if they didn't just suddenly appear out of nowhere, in an effort to fluff up the book, and/or add to the page numbers. Just enough disclosure is presented to transition from one particular scene to another, but you know better than to allow yourself to become overwhelmed, distressed, and encumbered, by too many characters to keep track of now and in the future.
I became enamored with the central cast of characters, and eagerly anticipate more details to materialize.
That would include the protagonists, and the antagonists. There's nothing better than loathing and despising a wicked villain, or even two or three. And of course, it’s a necessity to have the Heroine/Hero to have reverence for, as they also provide encouragement and inspiration. They may not get everything right, but they tend to try to do what’s considered noble, gratuitously honorable, upstanding, and admirably beneficial for the greatest number.
The family aspect with the monarchy consisting of the king, queen, the 7 year old heir apparent, as well as the mother soon expecting to add another little one, is a nice touch. Especially since they all play key roles with both of the main characters, is just perfect.
On top of everything else, I was substantially pulled off guard with the addition of Fin's parents with the considerable prospect bearing significant weight, to what could be a formidable and prominent topic later on in the series. Even better since one is atrocious and the other is benevolent. Delemahach does a superb and impressive job in captivating the reader with this potential.
I wholeheartedly savoured this book, from page 1 to the end. The one thing I had a significant difficulty with, emerges to be more of the norm, rather than the occasional convention.
Supposedly Amazon is to have some sort of policy that is expected to assist and help enforce the discouragement of authors from pulling this unscrupulous marketing strategy. When it still shows the book is at 92-96%, and has 4-8% left, only to turn the page and find out its over, it can be a tremendous diminution. Instead it's filled with acknowledgements, and all about the author.
Is this case, in addition to that, it was something like 93 page flips of book 2, something like 3 chapter’s worth, with a few more pages devoted to the aforementioned acknowledgements and author info. HUGELY DISAPPOINTED!!!
It happens to be one of my pet peeves, and I had to take time off in between finishing the book and posting my review. I seriously wanted to knock an entire star of the rating!
