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willrefuge's review against another edition
3.0
6.5 / 10 ✪
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2022/08/27/the-winds-of-khalakovo-by-bradley-p-beaulieu-review/
Behold the Grand Duchy of Anuskaya, a collection of windswept archipelagos off the continental shelf of Yrstania. Here eyries serve the Landed, windships bearing goods and passengers amongst the isles as trade connects each duchy in the sea. But it is not so simple as just that. And while the duchies are at peace for the time, this will not always be the case.
Indeed, when the Grand Duke and his retinue are murdered by an elemental spirit, dissent threatens to tear the Grand Duchy apart. The Maharraht—a fanatical fringe group with the indigenous Aramahn—are widely suspected, but not all see the two as distinct. In fact, most Landed do not.
Nikandr is the heir of Khalakovo, a collection of seven isles in the center of the Great Northern Sea. When the Grand Duke falls, and the Maharraht spread their message, he is tasked with finding and retrieving Nasim, the boy believed to be a conduit for the elemental spirit. But this is easier said than done, as Nasim is one of the Landless—and a child prodigy who often exists more in Adhiya than he does in the material realm.
But when Nasim turns out to be more than just a prodigy, Nikandr is left with an impossible choice. To turn the boy over to the Grand Duke’s heir, or to use Nasim to try to cure the wasting plague that has been ravaging the isles. Either way, war is coming, but on which side does Khalakovo fall? And what does it mean for Nikandr and the two women in his life, each representing a different would-be foe?
—
It’s been several years since I first read the Winds of Khalakovo, and even now when it comes to mind I picture a flurry of images. Of walrus-tusk shell casings and complex magic. Of windships coasting above rough seas, windswept eyries and rugged archipelagos. Of stratified society and torrid affairs. And of a plot I still don’t fully understand.
Now, everything gets a bit clearer after the second installment, but is that really what you want to hear from a new series? That after the second book, you’ll kinda understand a bit more of what was happening in the first book, even if you may not have at the time. No, right? And though WoK certainly wins points for a complex and intricate, highly political plot—it also loses points for the inability to grasp said plot, even by the time the story ends. I mean, at its base level, I understand the book. Find the kid before anyone else does. Save the cheerleader, save the world. But where the stability of the duchies, the wasting disease, the political and cultural hierarchies fit into everything didn’t completely fall into place until after more glimpses of the world.
On one hand, it’s nice that the book evokes a deeper and more significant meaning even after you finish it. That you can come back and enjoy its hidden complexities down the line, when you’re working through Book #2 and 3. But on the other hand, that you pretty much HAVE TO read Book #2 to understand just what is going on in Book #1 is ridiculous. It’s a bit like World War II. You can take a glance and understand that Nazis are bad, but once you get into the history of it—the futility of the Weimar Republic, the anger and resentment it created in the youth, the destabilization of world markets during the Great Depression—everything gets a bit more blurry. Now imagine that instead of starting with “this is a Nazi” introduction to WWII, you started with the fluctuation of the price of grain in 1920’s USSR and the effect that had on the monarchies of Europe. I mean, you’ll reach the same destination in the end, but the journey there is remarkably different.
What can I say about the world-building, though? Rich and evocative, like an autumn breeze raising goosebumps along your arms as the lingering scent of woodsmoke fills your nose and you swear you can just taste cherry and apple cider even as you picture curling up in bed while a wicked wind whips through the darkened forest. I mean, it’s pretty much amazing. It’s everything I said in the opening paragraph and more. Wood and bone. Leather and ivory. Cinnamon and clove. Towering mountains and crashing seas. Airships and wind magic. Landed and landless. It’s… I can’t adequately explain how amazing I found the world-building. Very few worlds have ever drank me in quite like this one. That was why it hurt all the worse when I crashed out of it to puzzle out the plot.
The characters are mostly quite good. Very well written; complex, human, relatable—with one pretty glaring exception. But every story needs a villain, right? And often the villain’s motivations don’t have to make sense at first, that’s what hindsight and flashbacks are for. Nikandr, Rehada and Atiana are probably the strongest characters—which makes perfect sense, especially with the whole love-triangle going on. Ashan is remarkably strong considering he probably won’t be fully appreciated until the latter half of the tale, while Nasim is a bit weak, which again, is to be expected.
TL;DR
This is one where I completely want my opinion to be proven wrong. I want you to go out, pick this up, and love it. I want you to leave a glowing review, tell me how wrong I was. Only… I don’t really expect it. Over 1600 ratings on Goodreads, Winds of Khalakovo holds a 3.3 rating, meaning that it was firmly in the realm of Meh. Some people love the plot but hate the world. I loved the world, but was constantly infuriated with the plot. But I still want people to go out and read this—especially if you enjoyed the Shattered Sands, especially if you enjoy steampunk. What I absolutely do not want is for you to just look at the rating and then swear off reading it, for the world itself is an achievement that needs to be experienced. However, there is always more to read, and more out there for the enjoyment. And, at the end of the day, this just may be too divisive for that.
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2022/08/27/the-winds-of-khalakovo-by-bradley-p-beaulieu-review/
Behold the Grand Duchy of Anuskaya, a collection of windswept archipelagos off the continental shelf of Yrstania. Here eyries serve the Landed, windships bearing goods and passengers amongst the isles as trade connects each duchy in the sea. But it is not so simple as just that. And while the duchies are at peace for the time, this will not always be the case.
Indeed, when the Grand Duke and his retinue are murdered by an elemental spirit, dissent threatens to tear the Grand Duchy apart. The Maharraht—a fanatical fringe group with the indigenous Aramahn—are widely suspected, but not all see the two as distinct. In fact, most Landed do not.
Nikandr is the heir of Khalakovo, a collection of seven isles in the center of the Great Northern Sea. When the Grand Duke falls, and the Maharraht spread their message, he is tasked with finding and retrieving Nasim, the boy believed to be a conduit for the elemental spirit. But this is easier said than done, as Nasim is one of the Landless—and a child prodigy who often exists more in Adhiya than he does in the material realm.
But when Nasim turns out to be more than just a prodigy, Nikandr is left with an impossible choice. To turn the boy over to the Grand Duke’s heir, or to use Nasim to try to cure the wasting plague that has been ravaging the isles. Either way, war is coming, but on which side does Khalakovo fall? And what does it mean for Nikandr and the two women in his life, each representing a different would-be foe?
—
It’s been several years since I first read the Winds of Khalakovo, and even now when it comes to mind I picture a flurry of images. Of walrus-tusk shell casings and complex magic. Of windships coasting above rough seas, windswept eyries and rugged archipelagos. Of stratified society and torrid affairs. And of a plot I still don’t fully understand.
Now, everything gets a bit clearer after the second installment, but is that really what you want to hear from a new series? That after the second book, you’ll kinda understand a bit more of what was happening in the first book, even if you may not have at the time. No, right? And though WoK certainly wins points for a complex and intricate, highly political plot—it also loses points for the inability to grasp said plot, even by the time the story ends. I mean, at its base level, I understand the book. Find the kid before anyone else does. Save the cheerleader, save the world. But where the stability of the duchies, the wasting disease, the political and cultural hierarchies fit into everything didn’t completely fall into place until after more glimpses of the world.
On one hand, it’s nice that the book evokes a deeper and more significant meaning even after you finish it. That you can come back and enjoy its hidden complexities down the line, when you’re working through Book #2 and 3. But on the other hand, that you pretty much HAVE TO read Book #2 to understand just what is going on in Book #1 is ridiculous. It’s a bit like World War II. You can take a glance and understand that Nazis are bad, but once you get into the history of it—the futility of the Weimar Republic, the anger and resentment it created in the youth, the destabilization of world markets during the Great Depression—everything gets a bit more blurry. Now imagine that instead of starting with “this is a Nazi” introduction to WWII, you started with the fluctuation of the price of grain in 1920’s USSR and the effect that had on the monarchies of Europe. I mean, you’ll reach the same destination in the end, but the journey there is remarkably different.
What can I say about the world-building, though? Rich and evocative, like an autumn breeze raising goosebumps along your arms as the lingering scent of woodsmoke fills your nose and you swear you can just taste cherry and apple cider even as you picture curling up in bed while a wicked wind whips through the darkened forest. I mean, it’s pretty much amazing. It’s everything I said in the opening paragraph and more. Wood and bone. Leather and ivory. Cinnamon and clove. Towering mountains and crashing seas. Airships and wind magic. Landed and landless. It’s… I can’t adequately explain how amazing I found the world-building. Very few worlds have ever drank me in quite like this one. That was why it hurt all the worse when I crashed out of it to puzzle out the plot.
The characters are mostly quite good. Very well written; complex, human, relatable—with one pretty glaring exception. But every story needs a villain, right? And often the villain’s motivations don’t have to make sense at first, that’s what hindsight and flashbacks are for. Nikandr, Rehada and Atiana are probably the strongest characters—which makes perfect sense, especially with the whole love-triangle going on. Ashan is remarkably strong considering he probably won’t be fully appreciated until the latter half of the tale, while Nasim is a bit weak, which again, is to be expected.
TL;DR
This is one where I completely want my opinion to be proven wrong. I want you to go out, pick this up, and love it. I want you to leave a glowing review, tell me how wrong I was. Only… I don’t really expect it. Over 1600 ratings on Goodreads, Winds of Khalakovo holds a 3.3 rating, meaning that it was firmly in the realm of Meh. Some people love the plot but hate the world. I loved the world, but was constantly infuriated with the plot. But I still want people to go out and read this—especially if you enjoyed the Shattered Sands, especially if you enjoy steampunk. What I absolutely do not want is for you to just look at the rating and then swear off reading it, for the world itself is an achievement that needs to be experienced. However, there is always more to read, and more out there for the enjoyment. And, at the end of the day, this just may be too divisive for that.
kanissa's review
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this book sometimes. It was hard for me to really get into; it seemed very dense. The world-building was probably the most unique thing about the novel, but it was also one of the biggest roadblocks. It's not your average high fantasy setting. Beaulieu obviously takes his inspiration from Russia (around the 18th century?), which is a departure from my normal fare. I enjoyed that, but I also found that the use of Russian terminology (at least I assume it's real, and not made-up words) was extremely confusing. How am I supposed to know what a "strelet" is, let alone that "streltsi" is the plural? (From context: some sort of guard.) Eventually I grew accustomed to it, but it still bothered me every time I read one of those words. It didn't really add any flavor, so to me it seemed like a miss. (Does using "cherkeska" really improve upon "overcoat"?)
The story was interesting, if not terribly original. The point of view jumps around a lot, but I didn't find that too distracting. There was some unique ideas for the magical system (such as the women "taking the dark," but the majority was fairly standard elemental summoning.
Overall, I found it to be a nice departure from my normal medieval pseudo-Europe fantasy tales. The minor distractions and annoyances left an imprint on me, though. If there were a sequel, I would read it, but only if I had nothing else at hand.
The story was interesting, if not terribly original. The point of view jumps around a lot, but I didn't find that too distracting. There was some unique ideas for the magical system (such as the women "taking the dark," but the majority was fairly standard elemental summoning.
Overall, I found it to be a nice departure from my normal medieval pseudo-Europe fantasy tales. The minor distractions and annoyances left an imprint on me, though. If there were a sequel, I would read it, but only if I had nothing else at hand.
thelauramay's review against another edition
1.0
DNF at 15%. I just couldn't do it. I found it dull and couldn't get into it. I wanted to like it--so really, it's me that's failed here!
majkia's review against another edition
3.0
Steampunk with lots of air and sea ship confrontations as well as a pretty complex magical sort of world.
I listened to this and found it a bit hard to follow. Wasn't that happy with the reader, whose voice seldom got beyond a rather humdrum sort of sound.
I listened to this and found it a bit hard to follow. Wasn't that happy with the reader, whose voice seldom got beyond a rather humdrum sort of sound.
cnorbury's review against another edition
2.0
I tried hard to like this book, but not being an avid reader of fantasy/sci-fi, I struggled to maintain concentration while I read. Beaulieu is a good wordsmith, and the world he creates is well thought out, but the novel suffers from a plot that plods along and perhaps too many characters who come and go with such high frequency that we only get to know a few of them well enough to care about their fates.
I appreciate that he listed a cast of characters in the beginning of the book as well as a glossary at the end. I referred to both many times. However, those pauses to check a character or definition took me out of the moment and made reading the book seem more like an academic exercise and diminished the pleasure I expect to receive by reading a novel.
I will recommend the book to fans of the genre because I think the overall quality of the craftsmanship is good. But the story and the style didn't work for me.
I appreciate that he listed a cast of characters in the beginning of the book as well as a glossary at the end. I referred to both many times. However, those pauses to check a character or definition took me out of the moment and made reading the book seem more like an academic exercise and diminished the pleasure I expect to receive by reading a novel.
I will recommend the book to fans of the genre because I think the overall quality of the craftsmanship is good. But the story and the style didn't work for me.
dragontomes2000's review
4.0
This book was fantastic. Definitely a great way to start off my new reading year. The first book in this trilogy was everything I needed and more. There was so much great world building, character development, and action. This book is largely Russian inspired and it is quite prevalent, which I thought was a nice touch. The world of Anuskaya is huge and even though we don't visit every location the author does an amazing job describing to you the scope of this world. The cast of characters was amazing!! You pretty much follow three perspectives, Nikandr, the prince of Khalakovo, Atiana, a Vostroman princess and arranged fiance to Nikandr, and lastly Rehada, a motherless woman who has an interesting relationship with Nikandr. Each of their stories are widely different however the larger plotline is still at the center. I never once felt lost or confused about which perspective I was reading from.
My only tiny minuscule issue with this book was the magic system. At sometimes it can be very confusing because it revolves around spirits and each spirit has a corresponding name, unless you are so in tune with reading, the book doesn't really explain said spirit is this. You kInd of figure it out as you go. Which is fine for me but for others it might not so that is why I docked a star (more half a star but alas goodreads doesn't allow that).
In conclusion this book was such a fantastic start and thankfully I have the entire trilogy on hand so I can keep reading!!
P.S. Sorry if there are any typos or this review seems all over. I am writing this from my phone.
My only tiny minuscule issue with this book was the magic system. At sometimes it can be very confusing because it revolves around spirits and each spirit has a corresponding name, unless you are so in tune with reading, the book doesn't really explain said spirit is this. You kInd of figure it out as you go. Which is fine for me but for others it might not so that is why I docked a star (more half a star but alas goodreads doesn't allow that).
In conclusion this book was such a fantastic start and thankfully I have the entire trilogy on hand so I can keep reading!!
P.S. Sorry if there are any typos or this review seems all over. I am writing this from my phone.
majkia's review against another edition
3.0
Steampunk with lots of air and sea ship confrontations as well as a pretty complex magical sort of world.
I listened to this and found it a bit hard to follow. Wasn't that happy with the reader, whose voice seldom got beyond a rather humdrum sort of sound.
I listened to this and found it a bit hard to follow. Wasn't that happy with the reader, whose voice seldom got beyond a rather humdrum sort of sound.
wes919's review against another edition
3.0
This books had the potential to be a great story. Instead, it could not rise above mediocrity because of the author's unpolished style.
teholtheonly's review against another edition
4.0
Nice fantasy with a Russian bent and loved the arabic and Sanskrit names for the elementals too.Felt a bit slow in the middle but since it a debut novel and things can only improve.Looking forward to the future installments .last year and this year have been great for fantasy from Saladin's Arabic inspired Thrones to this one authors are exploring different cultures rather than the usual eurocentric fantasy milieu.