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blodeuedd's review against another edition
2.0
I am a bit torn when it comes to this review. I struggled with the book, it did not keep my attention. For that it was only ok. BUT the world building is just so rich. Mythology, politics, culture, fighting, everything is just so interesting. I do love the world. The story stagnated though.
Idris is still being good. Mari is still thinking her dad is bad, but nothing doing anything more. Corajidin is still being bad and wanting to take over everything. The leaders are still being idiots and should have Corajidin executed, but money can buy anything and everyone.
Ok lots happened, and nothing happened. People talked, thought about things, went back and forth. Accused each other of things they had not done. Fought. And then witches came. The end.
Something was missing, something that made me enthralled with book 1 (even if if it took two turns to finish it). But here I never became that enthralled, frankly I felt disappointed.
So the book was ok, the world was good. The world saves the rating, deserving? Maybe not. As it did not make me want to read more. A rating of the heart, not the mind.
1 day later. I changed my mind. Yes the world was good, but the mindless reading I did, no. Have to rate it just ok.
Idris is still being good. Mari is still thinking her dad is bad, but nothing doing anything more. Corajidin is still being bad and wanting to take over everything. The leaders are still being idiots and should have Corajidin executed, but money can buy anything and everyone.
Ok lots happened, and nothing happened. People talked, thought about things, went back and forth. Accused each other of things they had not done. Fought. And then witches came. The end.
Something was missing, something that made me enthralled with book 1 (even if if it took two turns to finish it). But here I never became that enthralled, frankly I felt disappointed.
So the book was ok, the world was good. The world saves the rating, deserving? Maybe not. As it did not make me want to read more. A rating of the heart, not the mind.
1 day later. I changed my mind. Yes the world was good, but the mindless reading I did, no. Have to rate it just ok.
tmarthal's review against another edition
4.0
The book starts off in a buildup mode, bringing more information to the reader. The world is large and built in the first book, but in a different city. Somehow everyone moves to another city (which isn't ravaged by the events in the first) and while the characters reference past events, they don't always seem to be driven by them. Like politicians of our own day, everyone seems to get over the deaths of retainers and civilians.
I really enjoy the expansiveness of the world, the magic system and the prime antagonist.
I really enjoy the expansiveness of the world, the magic system and the prime antagonist.
thiefofcamorr's review against another edition
Katharine is a judge for the Sara Douglass 'Book Series' Award. This entry is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
To be safe, I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the AA are over.
To be safe, I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the AA are over.
brewergnome's review against another edition
4.0
Picks up where the last one left off and is even better.
Where I couldn't quite "feel" the age of the world in the last one, it seemed more natural in this one.
It's interesting to watch the characters evolve as well, while I don't always agree with the choices characters make given their motivations, I do understand them, which is a difficult challenge. Barnes also manages a surprisingly large cast of characters without leaving the reader feeling that they're all cutouts.
I will definitely be continuing the series. I give 4 stars pretty rarely, but this one definitely rises to that criteria.
Where I couldn't quite "feel" the age of the world in the last one, it seemed more natural in this one.
It's interesting to watch the characters evolve as well, while I don't always agree with the choices characters make given their motivations, I do understand them, which is a difficult challenge. Barnes also manages a surprisingly large cast of characters without leaving the reader feeling that they're all cutouts.
I will definitely be continuing the series. I give 4 stars pretty rarely, but this one definitely rises to that criteria.
marktimmony's review against another edition
4.0
As some of you may have noticed, I read a lot. Luckily most of the books I pick up I enjoy. If I’m not enjoying them I put them down very quickly. There are too many books waiting to be read to waste time on those that just don’t ‘do it’ for you.
Within a page of starting Gardens of Stone (Book One in the Echoes of Empire series) I knew that I was going to enjoy Mark Barnes work, I even had a sneaking suspicion that he’d push his way into the upper echelons of those authors I rate as amazing.
He did.
The Obsidian Heart is the second book in the Echoes of Empire series and where GoS was a lot of world building and furious velocity that drops the reader into the middle of a war zone at the story’s start (a la Steven Erikson) OH slows the pace and turn from blood soak fields of physical battle to the Machiavellian backstabbing, plotting and jockeying for position that is the battle field of politics.
Ever building, Barnes leads the reader through the exotically beautiful capital of Shrian and the deadly power play of the Great Houses, while ply us with hints of the rich history of one of the most magnificently realised worlds I’ve had the pleasure to read. In fact my admiration of his creation wars with a jealousy that I didn’t think of it first! Read more here.
Within a page of starting Gardens of Stone (Book One in the Echoes of Empire series) I knew that I was going to enjoy Mark Barnes work, I even had a sneaking suspicion that he’d push his way into the upper echelons of those authors I rate as amazing.
He did.
The Obsidian Heart is the second book in the Echoes of Empire series and where GoS was a lot of world building and furious velocity that drops the reader into the middle of a war zone at the story’s start (a la Steven Erikson) OH slows the pace and turn from blood soak fields of physical battle to the Machiavellian backstabbing, plotting and jockeying for position that is the battle field of politics.
Ever building, Barnes leads the reader through the exotically beautiful capital of Shrian and the deadly power play of the Great Houses, while ply us with hints of the rich history of one of the most magnificently realised worlds I’ve had the pleasure to read. In fact my admiration of his creation wars with a jealousy that I didn’t think of it first! Read more here.
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