Reviews

There Will Be One by Todd Sullivan

ohthesheenanigans's review

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4.0



After sixteen year old Woo Jin, who has been trained to kill opponents in honorable combat, was gifted a bow and pyeonjeons (short arrows) coated with poison by the Official Yeo, he must journey out of Jeju Island to kill the Dark Elf with his assigned companions on his side.

‘There Will Be One’ was a strong follow-up from ‘Hollow Men’ in the ‘The Windshine Chronicles’ series. It’s quite obvious the author has great talent in writing an impressive cast of diverse characters that all have unique personalities and traits. They don’t sound like they all have the same voice which can easily make or break a novel for me. Moreso, there was a great blend of action and adventure in the plot which really shined through and helped further engross me in the read.

All in all, I’m looking forward to what other adventures our destined hero, Woo Jin, has in store.

readandreviewit's review

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4.0

Before I get into this review, I would like to say a massive thank you to Todd for kindly sending me a physical copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

There Will Be One takes place just a few months after Hollow Men, following our protagonist, Woo Jin, on his quest to become a hero. He sets off with seven other companions to liberate the village of Goseong, which sits between the borders of North and South Hanguk. The catch? He has secretly been assigned another mission - to eliminate Windshine... And if he fails his family will pay the price.

One of my favourite parts of There Will Be One was definitely seeing more of Ha Jun. After the ending of Hollow Men, I was really curious to see where he wound up, and I was definitely surprised to see him going on another quest. That being said, I really liked seeing more of him in the sequel, as he was a very likeable character and probably my favourite from the whole series.

I also really liked the sense of friendship in this book. Much like the first, the friendship in There Will Be One was really strong, and I loved the bond the companions all shared (particularly as the majority of them were strangers before the quest actually began). I really liked the way they all looked out for each other as well as how much respect they all held for each other. It made the ending that much more bittersweet!

The Korean aspects were something else I really enjoyed. I found the book's setting of South Korea really interesting, and I loved the way Sullivan incorporated different aspects of it into the book. One really great example of this was when they were travelling to Goseong and passing through all the different forests and villages. It definitely made me want to visit South Korea one day!

I also really liked how much action this book had. The final third or so of the book was brimming with action and surprises and I found myself whizzing through it, waiting to see what would happen next. There were sacrifices and even a dragon, which definitely kept things interesting!

However, what I didn't like as much was actually Woo Jin himself. Although I liked him and emphasized with him in the first half of the book, I really didn't like him in the second half, and I thought he was much too concerned with Ji Su, and capturing her attention. I just generally thought she brought out a really bad side to him and I wasn't a fan of his actions (or thoughts, for that matter) surrounding her, although I know some people would like this romance aspect, so that may just be personal preference.

Overall, I would recommend There Will Be One to anyone who enjoyed Hollow Men, as it was nice seeing more of Ha Jun. I would also recommend the series as a whole to any fan of fantasy, as it's very easy to get into and a great addition to the genre!

samanthakroese's review

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4.0

Another great adventure!

I really enjoyed this book, perhaps even more than the first. The action at the last third of the book was great and really got my attention! I couldn't put it down! Once again the author has created a great mix of quest fantasy amd martial arts into something unique. Highly recommend this book!
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