Sections
The Shadowed Sun is a worthy sequel to The Killing Moon, bringing a new set of characters that are as tragic and complex as the ones of the previous book. The novel has few surprises up its sleeve, but it still manages to offer a well-crafted story.
We follow three main points of view in the book. The protagonist is a young woman named Hanani, who is training to be a sharer in the Hetawa, becoming a healer that cures people by manipulating their dreams. One day, she receives the news that one of her assistants died when helping a man with his nightmares, which puts her future in the Hetawa in jeopardy: some of her colleagues were just waiting for a good excuse to expel her and [...]
Redemption’s Blade is a great fantasy novel that manages to smoothly transit between satire and pathos, subverting genre tropes to comic effect while developing anguished characters that find themselves lost in life.
The story begins when the great war for the fate of the world has already ended: the people have united and defeated the Dark Lord, here called the Kinslayer. It’s time to rebuild and move on, and the hero Celestaine, who delivered the final blow on the Enemy, is preparing to set on a new quest: she wants to get hold of a magical artifact capable of restoring the wings of an elven-like race broken by the Kinslayer.
After all, he may have been defeated and [...]
The review contains spoilers for the first book, The Final Empire.
The second volume of its trilogy, The Well of Ascension is a much more flawed book than its predecessor. Still repetitive and occasionally inconsistent, the novel is also full of genre tropes and problematic characterization, and even the titular MacGuffin is not used well, feeling much more like an afterthought than a force or goal that drives the characters.
The story begins months after the climax of the previous volume: the Skaa are now free workers, Elend Venture is king, and Kelsier’s troupe has become his advisors, but the city of Luthadel is besieged by enemy armies, with the main one being [...]
Gideon the Ninth is a mordant fantasy novel about a group of young necromancers taking part in a dangerous competition. Its strength lies in its snarky protagonist, whose voice can be felt throughout the whole narrative: her tone infects the narrator’s voice, interfering with the descriptions and the overall sense of humor. The novel’s plot and magic system can get a bit too nonsensical, but the characters are strong enough to make up for it.
The protagonist is Gideon, a young girl who lives in the Ninth House of necromancers, under the rule of another young girl, called Harrow Nonagesimus. They hate each other very, very much and are not subtle about it, frequently [...]
The first book of a trilogy, Mistborn: The Final Empire is a competent introduction to one of the biggest fantasy worlds created by Brandon Sanderson. With The Final Empire, the author is successful at creating a compelling cast of characters, which helps to save a narrative marred by repetitive prose and problematic symbolisms.
The setting is the great city of Luthadel, the center of a feudal empire that has in its foundations the constant exploration of the poor, the peasant class called Skaa. It frequently rains ash over the city, which is commanded by a man goes by the name “Lord Ruler” and, being immortal, is considered a fearsome god by his subjects, ruling [...]
The Sword of Shannara, a fantasy novel written by Terry Brooks in 1977, tells a classic, derivative story that lacks elements to make it stand out in the crowd. To make matters worse, its narrative is also marred by repetition and the author’s inability able to detach himself from his greatest inspiration: The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.
The protagonist of the book is Shea, a half-elf who, one day, receives a visit from a mysterious Druid, called Allanon, who explains to the young man that he’s the last descendant of the elven king Jerle Shannara and, therefore, the only one capable of wielding the mythical Sword of Shannara. His mission is to form a party to [...]