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whatjasread's review against another edition
3.75
Felt weirdly like it could be split into 4 different sections, could have flowed better. Cover is misleading; Maurenia is barely in the book and it’s definitely not a romantasy vibe. But perfect for a cosy fantasy.
wandering_not_lost's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
2.5
I felt like this book was a 4-star story encased in a 2-star narrative, and I found myself unclear on so many things that I couldn't really say the book had done what it came here to do.
The world building is interesting in a few ways but in others feels generic. There was a recent war with neighboring orcs that resulted in the orcs winning (I guess?) a no-man's-land between them where only somewhat-disreputable adventurers go to plunder whatever riches have been left behind. The book's treatment of differing degrees of PTSD suffered by multiple characters who fought in the war and have since returned home felt well done. The magic is pretty much standard D&Desque schools of magic with leveled spells and daily spell allotments. Likewise we see through many long flashbacks that there is some kind of magical education school system, as well as some kind of Warden system, the Wardens being what appears to be the only lawgiving system that the frontier ever sees.
Warden Aelis is a noble who nonetheless makes the most of her backwater posting. She's unexpectedly scrappy and tough (perhaps a touch too much so, since hardly any challenge fazes her for long and several times she appears to do what are framed as impossible things for no clear reason). Nonetheless, she does her job somewhat testily but admirably as one thing then another needs her attention. I liked her as a character, and also liked one of the side characters, Tun, who she goes on a bit of an expedition with for about the middle 50% of the book. That expedition is the 4-star story, which I really liked. Tun and Aelis are very different people, but they mesh well and play off each other charmingly as they warm to and learn about each other. I'd have taken an entire book of the Aelis and Tun Show, but unfortunately, their arc was treated as less important than the much more slowly developing (and less interesting to me) stories about a rogue Warden's plots, Aelis' infatuation with a pretty mercenary woman, and some political maneuvering happening in the background.
My disinterest in these other plot arcs was mostly because some of the background and Aelis' strongly held opinions and decisions aren't really explained well. By way of example: the town asks for a Warden. Aelis is sent to the town in response, and they are laughably unprepared for her, to the point they lodge her in a tower without even a functioning door. This is played for laughs, but it's just the first of many times I went "why would this be like this?" in this book: why would the town have asked for a Warden when they didn't have a place prepared for her (or, as several characters seem to suggest, even need her?) Why wouldn't there have been a note sent back to them that their request had been approved, so get the Warden's legally-mandated house ready! Why doesn't the Archmage like Aelis and where did their enmity start? Who actually does Aelis report to? The Archmage? The Wardens? Are they one and the same? Why would a dungeon delving adventurer group have a huge ass arbalest and still haul it around when they turn into essentially the frontier mailman? Why would Aelis not have immediately ordered things like winter clothes? Why would she assume that it's fine to take a super competent and useful guide with her on one Warden quest but not another? Why, when she is not trained for winter wilderness adventures, would she decide that no, OBVIOUSLY this vague order she's received means that she needs to go on a near-suicidal trek, alone, through the winter wilderness, against the specific recommendations of her super competent guide? I mean...why not wait for spring? All of these questions just leave some of Aelis' actions oddly unexplained.
Also unexplained are the many pages devoted to flashbacks of Aelis' training, which feel overlong for how little they informed the main story. I get the sense that they're there to set up a future book that involves her teachers, but in THIS book, they seem kind of overdone.
Finally, the most jarring unexplained thing for me was the romantic subplot, which I just didn't buy. Aelis fell in lust at first sight with Maurenia when not knowing anything about her except she was pretty. Which...ok, that happens. It's eye-rollingly trite, but ok. But then the book doesn't weave any sort of character development for Maurenia into the rest of the story. Maurenia remains an enigma, to the point that when she kind of leans into the relationship at an odd time--when it's really obvious that Aelis has a lot going on and is kind of exhausted--that I actually wondered if Maurenia had some sort of under handed motive afoot to try to distract Aelis from her work. But no, she just had...odd timing? The narrative focus on that love plot is then derailed by another emotional tie with Tun (which takes up way more of the book than the interactions with Maurenia). It was a kind of mixed signal I was getting as a reader: I was being TOLD that Maurenia's relationship was important (for reasons not well developed), but I was being SHOWN (for reasons QUITE well developed) that her relationship with Tun was important. But yet Maurenia's relationship was the Important True Love and her relationship with Tun was a "friendship" of so little importance to Aelis that after she's done helping Tun, she doesn't have any contact with him for months. (Let's just say, if this were a dating sim, I know which person I would have romanced, and it would not have been the one Aelis picked!)
In the end, I was left feeling like the author wrote a very interesting novella...and then encased it in enough other stuff to make a book - I loved the novella, was much more "meh" on the rest of the book.
The world building is interesting in a few ways but in others feels generic. There was a recent war with neighboring orcs that resulted in the orcs winning (I guess?) a no-man's-land between them where only somewhat-disreputable adventurers go to plunder whatever riches have been left behind. The book's treatment of differing degrees of PTSD suffered by multiple characters who fought in the war and have since returned home felt well done. The magic is pretty much standard D&Desque schools of magic with leveled spells and daily spell allotments. Likewise we see through many long flashbacks that there is some kind of magical education school system, as well as some kind of Warden system, the Wardens being what appears to be the only lawgiving system that the frontier ever sees.
Warden Aelis is a noble who nonetheless makes the most of her backwater posting. She's unexpectedly scrappy and tough (perhaps a touch too much so, since hardly any challenge fazes her for long and several times she appears to do what are framed as impossible things for no clear reason). Nonetheless, she does her job somewhat testily but admirably as one thing then another needs her attention. I liked her as a character, and also liked one of the side characters, Tun, who she goes on a bit of an expedition with for about the middle 50% of the book. That expedition is the 4-star story, which I really liked. Tun and Aelis are very different people, but they mesh well and play off each other charmingly as they warm to and learn about each other. I'd have taken an entire book of the Aelis and Tun Show, but unfortunately, their arc was treated as less important than the much more slowly developing (and less interesting to me) stories about a rogue Warden's plots, Aelis' infatuation with a pretty mercenary woman, and some political maneuvering happening in the background.
My disinterest in these other plot arcs was mostly because some of the background and Aelis' strongly held opinions and decisions aren't really explained well. By way of example: the town asks for a Warden. Aelis is sent to the town in response, and they are laughably unprepared for her, to the point they lodge her in a tower without even a functioning door. This is played for laughs, but it's just the first of many times I went "why would this be like this?" in this book: why would the town have asked for a Warden when they didn't have a place prepared for her (or, as several characters seem to suggest, even need her?) Why wouldn't there have been a note sent back to them that their request had been approved, so get the Warden's legally-mandated house ready! Why doesn't the Archmage like Aelis and where did their enmity start? Who actually does Aelis report to? The Archmage? The Wardens? Are they one and the same? Why would a dungeon delving adventurer group have a huge ass arbalest and still haul it around when they turn into essentially the frontier mailman? Why would Aelis not have immediately ordered things like winter clothes? Why would she assume that it's fine to take a super competent and useful guide with her on one Warden quest but not another? Why, when she is not trained for winter wilderness adventures, would she decide that no, OBVIOUSLY this vague order she's received means that she needs to go on a near-suicidal trek, alone, through the winter wilderness, against the specific recommendations of her super competent guide? I mean...why not wait for spring? All of these questions just leave some of Aelis' actions oddly unexplained.
Also unexplained are the many pages devoted to flashbacks of Aelis' training, which feel overlong for how little they informed the main story. I get the sense that they're there to set up a future book that involves her teachers, but in THIS book, they seem kind of overdone.
Finally, the most jarring unexplained thing for me was the romantic subplot, which I just didn't buy. Aelis fell in lust at first sight with Maurenia when not knowing anything about her except she was pretty. Which...ok, that happens. It's eye-rollingly trite, but ok. But then the book doesn't weave any sort of character development for Maurenia into the rest of the story. Maurenia remains an enigma, to the point that when she kind of leans into the relationship at an odd time--when it's really obvious that Aelis has a lot going on and is kind of exhausted--that I actually wondered if Maurenia had some sort of under handed motive afoot to try to distract Aelis from her work. But no, she just had...odd timing? The narrative focus on that love plot is then derailed by another emotional tie with Tun (which takes up way more of the book than the interactions with Maurenia). It was a kind of mixed signal I was getting as a reader: I was being TOLD that Maurenia's relationship was important (for reasons not well developed), but I was being SHOWN (for reasons QUITE well developed) that her relationship with Tun was important. But yet Maurenia's relationship was the Important True Love and her relationship with Tun was a "friendship" of so little importance to Aelis that after she's done helping Tun, she doesn't have any contact with him for months. (Let's just say, if this were a dating sim, I know which person I would have romanced, and it would not have been the one Aelis picked!)
In the end, I was left feeling like the author wrote a very interesting novella...and then encased it in enough other stuff to make a book - I loved the novella, was much more "meh" on the rest of the book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore
linkpearl's review
Had to return book to library lol. Good book, probably will finish eventually.
wheeliechick's review against another edition
As much as I loved the magic system, I didn't particularly like Aelis as a character. I also just wasn't feeling drawn into the story. The writing was simply okay, it just seems like the book isn't for me.
jadekling's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.25
tsunni's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Pretty light on emotional depth and plot intensity, but decently well written and an enjoyable quick read. The characters aren’t exactly complex but they’re fun to read about, and it’s fast paced enough that it never overstays its welcome. The world, races, and magic systems are pretty derivative but not painfully so. The action sequences are well done and the story tries and succeeds at exploring less generic uses of magic. This feels like what a western light novel would be, if that was a thing.
The main character has a tendency to drop plot by talking to herself, which feels weird; it reminded me a little of the main character in Fourth Wing reciting world history to herself as barely disguised plot dumping, but nowhere as egregiously bad. The romance felt very much like checking off a box.
The book ends very abruptly on a sheer cliffhanger, which honestly dropped my score a chunk by itself for how disappointing that was. I’m up for reading the next one, I just hope it doesn’t end as suddenly as this one did.
The main character has a tendency to drop plot by talking to herself, which feels weird; it reminded me a little of the main character in Fourth Wing reciting world history to herself as barely disguised plot dumping, but nowhere as egregiously bad. The romance felt very much like checking off a box.
The book ends very abruptly on a sheer cliffhanger, which honestly dropped my score a chunk by itself for how disappointing that was. I’m up for reading the next one, I just hope it doesn’t end as suddenly as this one did.
coffee_and_wool's review
adventurous
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mfrank's review
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
haliespages's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0