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A review by readundancies
The Tempered Steel of Antiquity Grey by Shawn Speakman
adventurous
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
We must first talk about the quality of the hardcover of this novel because it is aces. The embossing on the front with the Angelus symbol, the binding itself, and the overall feel of the book as a whole is impressive.
Which means we begin with a solid start.
We then follow with a map. A map which is interesting in that the font is a bit superfluous in it’s nature and style. Other than that, there’s nothing terribly noteworthy about it, but I appreciate it’s inclusion. Not sure it complements the story however because of the way the story is paced. A lot of things like travel are glossed over or they off-page which makes the map feel a bit irrelevant.
And to be honest, that’s where things take a bit of a turn. Maybe more than just a bit.
The writing is not what I would consider strong. It’s serviceable I suppose, but there’s nothing really distinct about it and I found it left me wanting. Character relationships are just not fleshed out, but the foundations are there, they just don’t grow into anything of substance. That and the characters are nothing special, but again, I think that’s because of the writing.
The world-building suffers from the rather lacklustre writing; it’s a plot-driven novel but I wanted more exposition especially in it’s sci-if fantasy setting to really get a feel for the world and become immersed. That never happened.
It also feels very young in tone. I know it’s YA, and I tried to be unbiased when considering my rating because it is marketed as such but it just felt very juvenile which did not appeal to me. The world and the themes that were tackled never really went into any depth which is a bit of shame because I do think there’s a great story somewhere in this book, but it’s not quite there for me. Perhaps if it was middle grade it would be a better fit?
The plot itself is probably the strongest aspect of the novel, but the pacing is almost too fast to truly appreciate and there was this constant motion of things happening that it felt rushed. Like, all of the important bits were covered but not in any great detail and thus not in any sort of memorable way.
I think there’s definitely some interesting concepts, like the different peoples and cultures and the whole human evolution out in space essentially creating a different species of humans but I never really connected to it and nothing really stood out.
So unfortunately, this wasn’t a winner for me which I’m more than a little disappointed about because this was one of my more anticipated reads of 2021. I’m not interested in picking up the sequel and wouldn’t really recommend this to anyone unless you’re actually a part of the target demographic (on the younger side of YA) and want to dip your toes into sci-fi fantasy to try it out.
Which means we begin with a solid start.
We then follow with a map. A map which is interesting in that the font is a bit superfluous in it’s nature and style. Other than that, there’s nothing terribly noteworthy about it, but I appreciate it’s inclusion. Not sure it complements the story however because of the way the story is paced. A lot of things like travel are glossed over or they off-page which makes the map feel a bit irrelevant.
And to be honest, that’s where things take a bit of a turn. Maybe more than just a bit.
The writing is not what I would consider strong. It’s serviceable I suppose, but there’s nothing really distinct about it and I found it left me wanting. Character relationships are just not fleshed out, but the foundations are there, they just don’t grow into anything of substance. That and the characters are nothing special, but again, I think that’s because of the writing.
The world-building suffers from the rather lacklustre writing; it’s a plot-driven novel but I wanted more exposition especially in it’s sci-if fantasy setting to really get a feel for the world and become immersed. That never happened.
It also feels very young in tone. I know it’s YA, and I tried to be unbiased when considering my rating because it is marketed as such but it just felt very juvenile which did not appeal to me. The world and the themes that were tackled never really went into any depth which is a bit of shame because I do think there’s a great story somewhere in this book, but it’s not quite there for me. Perhaps if it was middle grade it would be a better fit?
The plot itself is probably the strongest aspect of the novel, but the pacing is almost too fast to truly appreciate and there was this constant motion of things happening that it felt rushed. Like, all of the important bits were covered but not in any great detail and thus not in any sort of memorable way.
I think there’s definitely some interesting concepts, like the different peoples and cultures and the whole human evolution out in space essentially creating a different species of humans but I never really connected to it and nothing really stood out.
So unfortunately, this wasn’t a winner for me which I’m more than a little disappointed about because this was one of my more anticipated reads of 2021. I’m not interested in picking up the sequel and wouldn’t really recommend this to anyone unless you’re actually a part of the target demographic (on the younger side of YA) and want to dip your toes into sci-fi fantasy to try it out.