Rating: 7/10
Synopsis
Drawn by the shards of his obsidian heart, Khraen follows the path south. The islands, largely ignored by the Wizard’s Guild, have become a refuge for the unwanted of the world. Necromancers and sorcerers rule warring tribes haunted by the ghosts of savage and primal gods.
With each fragment Khraen discovers more of the man he was.
There was an Empire.
There was a god.
And she dreamed in blood.
Review
Overall: +7/10
Continues seamlessly from book 1. Author’s gritty yet offhand writing style fits the first person PoV to a T as we progress on Khraen’s journey to regain his lost heart and memories. An absolute page turner. Highly recommended. Can’t wait to dive in to next book.
Prose/Plot/Pace: +8/10
The book has enough gore to gross out Genghis Khan. Mike certainly goes all out … from casual talk genocidal soul feeding to demons, to necromantic upgrade to Human Centipede, it’s certainly has enough content to fill a Horror Theme Park … but Michael’s deft writing twists that into a detached curiosity rather than making me completely eew-out! Still rather than the gore, we only get the underlying emotional content as Khraen grapples with his morality. Lovely!
I know I’ll love a book when I read subtle poetic verses like “The Gods giveth, and the motherfuckers taketh away“. Beautiful, that I teared up a bit!
The plot moves a bit more sedate pace than book 1. The book focuses more on the internal conflict raging within Khraen as he grapples his own morality pitted against his self confessed one true love. We get to see more of the background filled in as more nuggets of history as revealed and the world gets clearer. The Bren’s interludes though fascinating to read don’t really help the pace either. Thankfully, they are brief.
Characters: +6/10
The two major characters are Khraen and Henka as their relationship takes a bulk of the plot. Very similar to book 1, Khraen is bloody brilliant and portrayal of inner turmoil is excellent making him a very unique characters in world of fantasy. Though have to admit that I wasn’t a big fan of his soapy teenaged whining of his love. Though it fits the character, I’d have preferred for him to be a bit more mature rather than hopelessly desperate making instinctive and idiotic decision purely for love. Time for him to choose his side and get on with it before the schtick gets repetitive.
Love Tien. Breath of fresh air. I always had a smile and enjoyed her segments the most.
Nhil is another intriguing character, I wish had more page time. His verbal fencing with Khraen is always a joy to read.
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