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everlaerian's review
1.0
I didn't see much if any of this dark fantasy here. TKB was more of a foundation to the story for book 2 and so on. None of that horror, disturbing themes. Tame would be the word.
At first, I thought this book had potential. But the characters felt bland and one-dimensional and are unable to deliver emotion in important instances. Everything is predictable from the characters, actions, plots and conclusions.
No one talks. So much information is being divulged yet no one takes the time to convene it to the appropriate parties. It becomes infuriating. I saw it as one of those parents and authority figures won't listen to children when there are problems. What happens then? The adults dies. The kids survive usually by running away. And they fight and win in the end and become better rulers than their parents. Yeah...
Our main protagonist, Byren, is the heir's twin brother. There are four things about Byren the reader is constantly reminded of.
One - He was born 7 minutes after his twin Lence. Too bad (depending on the context of the conversation.) Byren wants to live in the shadow of his brother as he is not interested in the throne. But this becomes a repetitive sentence in the 600 pages.
Two - He and Lence were always close but lately, his twin has been different.
Three - Byren always gets the shaft. He utterly can't get a break in this book. But this is the classic "the protagonist and "future savior from a prophecy" will get screwed over 24/7 only to triumph in the end." I love it when things go bad. The world is not an easy place to live in. But racking up continuously shitstorms even after coming up with plans to fix the previous shitstorm only made it worse for the "Byren will prevail in the end" plot.. arg..
Four - His doomed love interest (I'm not stupid). She has nothing redeeming, shows up at the start, middle and end of the book who is portrayed as "intelligent" and every man wants as a wife.
Second POV - Piro
Your classic future "warrior princess with secret Affinity magic".
She doesn't want to marry. She's a spitfire basically. Her purpose in the book? Create chaos all around her. And she never gets in trouble. Never. "Her reckless behavior is because she doesn't want to get married. Foolish little girl" This is how everyone in the book explains it.
Third POV - Fyn
Runt of the family sent away to the monastery because he was found to have Affinity. He is constantly threatened and framed so he decides to run away.
The plots are classic plots you see in every day books. If you've read more than 5 books and have the ability to formulate logical conclusions, nothing in this book will shock you. Nothing. The antagonists are easily painted. The family is doomed and you know it. Prophecies are being divulged left and right. Your foreshadowing and suspension factors are just sloppy. I hate prophecy books so much. Even more so when the book is filled with prophecies and seers just spilling the future fates to people and every single one of them say "it is only one of many possibilities. They could be wrong."
The most interesting thing in that book were the Servants of Palos but it was just a thing of the past whose only purpose was to be a reminder and one of the reasons for Byren to get the shaft.
Inconsistency - Affinity beasts are rare. I get that a fissure of sorts has returned but Byren encounters way too much Affinity beasts when he leaves the city. Felt like D&D random...
Inconsistency #2 - Homophobia seems to be only linked to the Cult of Palos. Felt like an easy way out from building a good story plot, background and character growth.
The magic system sounds interesting but is impressively underdeveloped and just sporadic. As one of my peeves where you can see the clear line between good and evil, magic in TKB falls under evil. In Rolencia where the story takes place, anyone found to have "Affinity" is sent away to learn and serve the monastery as it must be kept in check. So in Rolencia, it us a banned practice to have magical attributes and by law, you must resign yourself to the monastery to serve a God. But outside Rolencia, like Myrofynia, magic is out in the open and Rolencians see them as evil barbarians with corruption plaguing its people due to magical practices. Perhaps this system will be explored further in future installments.
I don't recommend it for dark fantasy fans. It doesn't feel like dark fantasy if you've read authors such as Abercrombie. Trust me.
At first, I thought this book had potential. But the characters felt bland and one-dimensional and are unable to deliver emotion in important instances. Everything is predictable from the characters, actions, plots and conclusions.
No one talks. So much information is being divulged yet no one takes the time to convene it to the appropriate parties. It becomes infuriating. I saw it as one of those parents and authority figures won't listen to children when there are problems. What happens then? The adults dies. The kids survive usually by running away. And they fight and win in the end and become better rulers than their parents. Yeah...
Our main protagonist, Byren, is the heir's twin brother. There are four things about Byren the reader is constantly reminded of.
One - He was born 7 minutes after his twin Lence. Too bad (depending on the context of the conversation.) Byren wants to live in the shadow of his brother as he is not interested in the throne. But this becomes a repetitive sentence in the 600 pages.
Two - He and Lence were always close but lately, his twin has been different.
Three - Byren always gets the shaft. He utterly can't get a break in this book. But this is the classic "the protagonist and "future savior from a prophecy" will get screwed over 24/7 only to triumph in the end." I love it when things go bad. The world is not an easy place to live in. But racking up continuously shitstorms even after coming up with plans to fix the previous shitstorm only made it worse for the "Byren will prevail in the end" plot.. arg..
Four - His doomed love interest (I'm not stupid). She has nothing redeeming, shows up at the start, middle and end of the book who is portrayed as "intelligent" and every man wants as a wife.
Second POV - Piro
Your classic future "warrior princess with secret Affinity magic".
She doesn't want to marry. She's a spitfire basically. Her purpose in the book? Create chaos all around her. And she never gets in trouble. Never. "Her reckless behavior is because she doesn't want to get married. Foolish little girl" This is how everyone in the book explains it.
Third POV - Fyn
Runt of the family sent away to the monastery because he was found to have Affinity. He is constantly threatened and framed so he decides to run away.
The plots are classic plots you see in every day books. If you've read more than 5 books and have the ability to formulate logical conclusions, nothing in this book will shock you. Nothing. The antagonists are easily painted. The family is doomed and you know it. Prophecies are being divulged left and right. Your foreshadowing and suspension factors are just sloppy. I hate prophecy books so much. Even more so when the book is filled with prophecies and seers just spilling the future fates to people and every single one of them say "it is only one of many possibilities. They could be wrong."
The most interesting thing in that book were the Servants of Palos but it was just a thing of the past whose only purpose was to be a reminder and one of the reasons for Byren to get the shaft.
Inconsistency - Affinity beasts are rare. I get that a fissure of sorts has returned but Byren encounters way too much Affinity beasts when he leaves the city. Felt like D&D random...
Inconsistency #2 - Homophobia seems to be only linked to the Cult of Palos. Felt like an easy way out from building a good story plot, background and character growth.
The magic system sounds interesting but is impressively underdeveloped and just sporadic. As one of my peeves where you can see the clear line between good and evil, magic in TKB falls under evil. In Rolencia where the story takes place, anyone found to have "Affinity" is sent away to learn and serve the monastery as it must be kept in check. So in Rolencia, it us a banned practice to have magical attributes and by law, you must resign yourself to the monastery to serve a God. But outside Rolencia, like Myrofynia, magic is out in the open and Rolencians see them as evil barbarians with corruption plaguing its people due to magical practices. Perhaps this system will be explored further in future installments.
I don't recommend it for dark fantasy fans. It doesn't feel like dark fantasy if you've read authors such as Abercrombie. Trust me.
miramanga's review
2.0
Regular review readers will know I despair of the type of writing that relies on one character not telling another character a CRUCIAL plot point for "reasons". Mostly dumb reasons. Even if the whole kingdom depends on the message being delivered quickly and clearly.
Or they're GOING to say something and then a thing happens and they don't get a chance.
Both these plot devices happen loads. Argh!
The story is full of melodrama and betrayal. And lots and lots of fighting which I found dull having to wade through.
And it's also full of magical beasts just wandering all over the kingdom ready to be slain. They're numerous, varied and incompetent and keep getting killed by good two. Spoilers - one twin is good one is bad.
The King is the dumbest of all. The Queen is useless and they all annoy me and they all just react and have no agency. And there was an unnecessary nasty crime at the end that was just schlocky and made me cringe.
So probably won't look up the rest of the series.
Or they're GOING to say something and then a thing happens and they don't get a chance.
Both these plot devices happen loads. Argh!
The story is full of melodrama and betrayal. And lots and lots of fighting which I found dull having to wade through.
And it's also full of magical beasts just wandering all over the kingdom ready to be slain. They're numerous, varied and incompetent and keep getting killed by good two. Spoilers - one twin is good one is bad.
The King is the dumbest of all. The Queen is useless and they all annoy me and they all just react and have no agency. And there was an unnecessary nasty crime at the end that was just schlocky and made me cringe.
So probably won't look up the rest of the series.
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