Reviews

The Way Into Darkness by Harry Connolly

crankyoldnerd's review

5.0

I'm finished with the series, and I'm sad because I enjoyed it so much. Not just because my name was in the thanks section at the end. I was bummed because it made the book look longer than it was :)

A great end to an excellent series. I hope there is more from this universe some day as it was a lot of fun to read.

You won't be disappointed if you love unique and entertaining fantasy that's not all unicorns and rainbows. People will die, not red wedding level oh my god cries of disbelief but good characters will not make it and that's great.

I didn't see the resolution coming the way it did either. Well done, had me fooled I thought it was gonna be the typical good guy finds weakness and exploits to win the day. Just as that started, hello left turn

Great series.

lyrrael's review

4.0

The former Peradaini Empire is a burned ruin of empty cities, abandoned farmlands, bodies and monsters running rampant, attacking any survivors they can find. Refugees huddle in the uncertain safety of walled cities. Crops remain unharvested. Provisions are scarce. Things look dire. But there’s still hope -- if Cazia and Tejohn can get a stolen magic to work, they might be able to fight back. This series really ought to be better known than it is. After a successful Kickstarter campaign got it onto the map, Connolly released the three books in quick succession. “Epic fantasy without the boring bits” was how he described it, and really? Very true. There’s no downtime in this, it’s disaster and then the epic attempt to save the world. Very cool.

gizmoto16's review

5.0

This book is fantastic. Often in a trilogy, the story degrades along the way until the last book is the weakest. This was the reverse. The story developed so that this is the best book in the series, with a very strong and satisfying conclusion. This is an epic battle to save the world, and a lot of times an author will focus on the epic-ness of it all and the massive scale of the situation. But where this book succeeds is in sticking with our two main characters and the effects they individually have in this fight.

Also, the mythology and world-building that went into this series is awesome! The various species, gods, portals and their interactions are intriguing. The pacing of reveals throughout is really good, giving just enough to keep you going and leaving all the important questions answered at the end.

If you like fantasy/adventure stories, definitely check this out!

matosapa's review

3.0

This was my favorite of a mediocre fantasy series. It wrapped up the major threads nicely and had a few surprises to spice things up. As I said in my review of the first book, his Twenty Palaces stuff is way better (but urban fantasy).

autumnnovels's review against another edition

2.0

2.5☆

mato's review

3.0

This was my favorite of a mediocre fantasy series. It wrapped up the major threads nicely and had a few surprises to spice things up. As I said in my review of the first book, his Twenty Palaces stuff is way better (but urban fantasy).

peregrineace's review

4.0

I backed this trilogy on Kickstarter based on a sizeable preview that the author posted on his site for free. I expected a decent story and instead got a fascinating fantasy trilogy that was an easy, entertaining read. The two distinct POV characters allow the reader to experience the tremendous variety of the world that Connolly has created. It follows the modern trend of having rare victories come at a high price, which I like. A lot of the story, like much of actual history, isn't wrapped up in a nice, neat, back-where-we-started, everyone-comes-together way, which I also appreciated. Even with that, Connolly doesn't leave anything feeling like it's dangling, forgotten.

If I had any gripe with the story, it's that some background events happen too fast and easily (for instance

Cazia's father, a man canny enough to blackmail the king with the lives of his sister and mother, offs himself after a single battle wherein he's shown up. I doubt a man that brazen would be so fragile.

) The overall plot is not as deep as most of the epic fantasy I read but it was a nice change of pace for a faster fantasy read.

I'll definitely be looking up Connolly next book and hope that he returns to this world which has a lot of interesting possibilities for future installments.

mngwinn's review

4.0

I rarely actually enjoy multi-book epic fantasy. This series was worth reading.

hawkeyegonzalez's review

3.0

This book is a mixed bag for me. There are things about it that I really enjoyed, like seeing TeJohn and Cazia working together again but this time after their individual experiences. Seeing their growth from their journeys and their acceptance and admiration of each other was a beautiful thing to read. There were also some genuinely emotional scenes as well, especially towards the end with TeJohn.

However, I didn't like the fact that just too many things were left open-ended. The book never states if the "resolution" had any real impact on the battle against the Blessing or on anything at all. The Tilkilit and ruhgrit are all but forgotten, and even Ivy and Kinz are thrown to the sideline halfway through.

Overall, this was a really good series. I just wish Connolly would have given himself more time to flesh out the last couple of chapters.

bethmitcham's review

5.0

I read this series in the worst possible way -- spread out over ages, and it's a book that is consistent all the way through, and things that happen in the beginning matter at the end. The characters are smart, and they are good at making connections. I loved the way it inspected fantasy tropes and sometimes used them and sometimes played against them. I loved how the two protagonists traveled almost as far in their relationships as they did geographically.