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    Darksoul

    Darksoul

    Anna Stephens

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    The thrilling sequel to GODBLIND, the biggest fantasy debut of 2017. The Wolves lie dead beside...

Within the Sanctuary of Wings
Within the Sanctuary of Wings
Marie Brennan | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
The world building (3 more)
The character development
The way it's approached as a real memoir
Just the writing in general
One of the best fantasy series around
This is a review more for the entire series as a whole.

Lady Trent has been an absolutely fascinating character to read about for the past few years and the character development you see happens naturally throughout all five books of her memoirs. As the final instalment of an amazing series, Within the Sanctuary of Wings is a suitable conclusion for her adventures and completely outstripped my expectations.

In a series of this size there's usually a dip of quality at some point, but somehow Marie Brennan was able to avoid that and kept the pace of the story going without a wasted word and a clear idea of where she wanted the story to go.
  
Heroes or Theives (Steps of Power #2)
Heroes or Theives (Steps of Power #2)
J.J. Sherwood | 2016 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The second book of Sherwood's epic fantasy series picks up the threads from the first, Kings or Pawns, and follows various characters in the aftermath of Saebellus' victory. Some of these are familiar, such as the defeated general Jikun, others are less so and some are completely new.

Once again the story doesn't follow the usual fantasy template. Where in the first book Saebellus was depicted as the main enemy and villain of the piece here shades of grey are cast on his character and his actions. Jikun himself is struggling to come to terms with his situation and is seemingly willing to risk everything to have some sort of revenge. Selemar is playing a risky political game, trying to invoke unrest whilst also acting as the head of the corrupt council.

Sherwood performs a tricky balancing act well, with so many stories to move forward that are only tangentially connected but each is handled effectively and told with an eye to both detail and character that keeps the reader involved in each of the plot threads.

As with the previous book there is a fair amount of political intrigue, although most is away from the claustrophobic council but is just as deadly for whoever is going to be on the losing side. The characters are constantly developing and the new characters introduced are perfectly judged and naturally intertwine with the story as it moves forward.

With this second work continuing in the excellent style of the first this series is a must read for any lover of fantasy.

Content rating: Some sexual references and language and some violence