This book was . . . hard to enjoy. It promises epic, which is does give, but feels as if it bit off more than it could chew into easily digestible pieces. So many characters, two prologues essentially, a lot of info dumping in the beginning. There's a lot of great here too. Though I felt there were too many characters to get the pace flowing well and stay in the flow, the characters were great. I just had a hard time falling in love with the book or staying in love when I did. I wouldn't discourage people from giving this book a try though.

First, this cover is stunning—it made me so excited to have on my Kindle's lock screen! The world building was very creative and explained in a way that was easy to understand, as was the magic system. The duality of light and dark within this book made this a very intriguing read, and the scenes flowed well together, especially as we wove in and out of action scenes. While the science fiction aspect was a little challenging for me, that is due to my lack of familiarity with this area and nothing to do with the quality of the writing. I did find the amount of POVs to be difficult to stick with, but, again, that could just be a me thing!

Thank you to Daniel Makk, Endless Equinox, and NetGalley for providing an ARC!

So. Many. POVs. (Let's see... Lax, Val, Ilumi, Dawb, Aiana, that random Razu guy, the Duke, and then the two prologues and the epilogue)

Grieving Gold is an epic fantasy with multiple POVs and one of the coolest magic systems I've ever seen. Characters can either "find" or "lose" aspects of themselves, such as courage, strength, lies, and even who they are as a person. The way this was portrayed was very intriguing, and I also liked the mixture of sci-fi elements and fantasy elements. Honestly, the worldbuilding was what kept me reading in the beginning.
My biggest issue with this book was the plot and the lack of direction for the first half. I know multiple POV stories in which characters don't immediately meet can feel slower, but this one genuinely confused me at points. Not only are there five "main" POVs to keep track of, but the reader frequently goes more than five chapters without hearing back from some of the characters. While I found the ending more interesting, I still feel like the majority of this book was set up for the sequel, and while that isn't an inherently bad thing, I think some pacing issues could be resolved.
Because there were so many characters, I'll focus on the main ones. I think Ilumi was my least favorite just because she never really got "involved" with the other characters (besides Dawb), and I still don't understand how she ties in completely. I also had issues connecting with Aiana, but she is probably one of the more intriguing characters, given where she lives. I liked both Val and Lax a lot, although I went back and forth between who I liked more (and I think I decided on Val?). Dawb gave major Fishcake from Mortal Engines vibes, and I think he was probably my favorite.
Fans of epic fantasies with unique magic systems and what I presume will be a found family of some sort will enjoy Grieving Gold and all of its twisty character dynamics.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!
3.5/5

Grieving Gold drops you in the world of Lumo No Se that is full of lore, mystery and magic. We follow the lives of five intertwining characters that are each trying to find their own path to survive in an apocalyptic world where darkness is held at bay by the three suns.

The amazing world that Daniel McDaniel crafted is just superb in every nitty gritty detail. Every character in the story is diverse and complex with their own flaws and personality. The magic and science system flows into the story without needing an exact explanation but lets the readers know how it works.

This is a beast of a book that is filled to the brim in information, which means it can be confusing if the reader glances past something. Since there are multiple POVs without a heading on who we're reading, it sometimes takes a minute for the reader to know where we're at since the characters aren't all in the same place. It's both a positive and a negative since each characters' actions impact another. The pacing does lag a bit towards the end since there's so much setup and action that it feels like the overall book is more of an introduction to the rest of the main series and there isn't a real climax that was reached.

This is a fantastic start to The Luminocity Seed series that can stand on its own while hooking the reader for the next.

I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

It took me a while to get into this one, with so many characters and such a complex world and magic system. I hate to say it, but this book needed a couple hundred more pages to flesh out the worldbuilding and build so many characters all at once. That said, this was a fun book, and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

I like the premise of this book, and I thought the worldbuilding and magic was genuinely interesting, and a new refreshing take on the fantasy genre, especially with the scientific elements and complex nature of the world. I think it is such a unique and interesting concept that I want to know more about. Unfortunately, the book was... kind of hard to get into, though that may just be a symptom of being the first book in a series, so I try not to be too critical of that, given how intriguing the overall premise is. There were a lot of characters and POVs and a lot of information about the world, history, and magic system which at times was confusing and convoluted. In my opinion, first books are generally not the strongest in a series, so I look forward to how the world will develop in subsequent novels.
The main thing that holds me back from really enjoying this book is the writing style. I'm just not a fan of it. There were some glaring mistakes in the writing, even in the first chapter, which made it made it all the more difficult to really get into the story. The author also seems to really, really love using similes (particularly describing the buildings as being "like fingers") which took me out of the story every time. It felt like similes were being used in nearly every paragraph. There was such an overuse of similes to describe things that it made it difficult to read because I was noticing it every time and then looking back at what I'd already read because there was another simile just two paragraphs prior.
I like the premise of the book/world and I think it has a lot of potential, but I don't think I'll be reading any sequels.

Not my usual genre of book but I was intrigued by this one. Very creative and I'd imagine a great read for fantasy fans. I may be converted!

This took me quite a while to connect and get the concept but once it clicked, the story took off for me at that point. The story mainly revolves around the character Lax who has the ability to find lies which gives him an advantage being a gentleman thief I thought. The world created is quite complex and it has a lot to learn. Power is fueled by blood cutting yourself trigger abilities. I hope there is more stories in the world and hopefully the second or third book will flesh out and complete the story.

This is one of the books that gripped me and pulled me in right from the start and would not let go
The setting of the South America-esque world feels incredibly lush and vivid, the blend of old style with new technology in a post-apocalypse society. The way the suns work is just incredibly fascinating, especially with the magic system tied into it. I cannot say I fully understand it, but that complexity and importance of light is what made it real.
Character-wise I enjoyed Lax and Ilumi the most, but all of the characters felt very distinct and intriguing, easy to like and follow, and when the individual stories crossed or connected, it was always a joy to see. I am not so sold o the side characters tho
The story itself... I like the individual arcs of the characters, but I am not sure of the overarching story. It remains a bit too undefined? Could be just because this is the first book and setup, although I do feel like it set up a lot, without giving enough answers
Where it lacks for me is the ending, which felt... not rushed, but in certain parts not as well set up. And again, lacking answers. The other thing which stood out to me a bit negatively was the writing style, because there were parts that showed that this is a debut. Also the ways the chapters ended. In the beginning i liked the dramatic cuts, but since they kept repeating they lost their power and slid into a bit of... drama for the sake of drama. BUT I can easily look this over. This is excellent work for a debut, and as someone whose first language is not english, and too learned to write in english, I do have to appreciate the dedication. Writing is hard, and writing in your second language is even harder (i did not expect the author to be hungarian, that came as a massive surprise, hello neighbor)

Premise and concept looked very promising and a perfect recipe for a High fantasy novel. I gave innumerable genuine attempts at this book, but its a very slow burn and has eventually landed me in a reading slump.
Every chapter a new character is introduced and we are not able to form any connection between them. It fails tremendously at generating interest and establishing the magic system even after 38%. I dont see any benefit of my time to keep pushing through it in hopes of finding out something interesting eventually.
Not worth the time. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to review the Arc and share my honest opinion.

Took a while to get into it, but then I couldn't stop reading it. A few mistakes here and there with tenses and grammar, but generally well-written. Not too stuck in describing every little detail, like Tolkien, and moves the action along at a decent pace.
The world-building is intriguing, and leaves you wanting to know more about what happened in the past. Definitely want to know more about how people are able to do 'findings'.
Characters are interesting, but as it's only the first in a series, leaves you with plenty of questions about them, their motives and how they are connected, which will hopefully be answered in the rest of the series!
I recommend giving this book a read if you like your fantasy with a healthy dose of science mixed in.

Rating: 3.8 stars

I don't know how to feel about this book, I like it and I am also very confused by it. It's an interesting world, with a mystery about it. Grieving Gold feels like a long intro for book to come.

I enjoyed individual plots of each character, but I still don't really get what is the plot of the book overall. In last 30% or so, individual plots start to combine more and more but the way the book ended felt very abrupt.

I like the approach of individual stories joining into one story, and what would have made this book much better if it ended with a more solid wrap up. Lax's story is the only one I feel stopped at a nice point. Dawb's maybe too. Both are a huge cliffhangers nevertheless.

World-building is nice, though maybe a bit slow. I feel way too confused about some aspects, though I think it may be on purpose.

With so many characters with their own stories, contributes to a feeling of reading first 100-15o pages of 500+ page book. I loo forward to the next one, as I am very very curious about this mysterious evil force. And gods, and Operators (who I believe to be lab people from the Intro), and what happened to the city in the past for so much to be lost.

NetGalley ARC honest review:

3.5/5

Upsides: the world building and themes of magic in this book are pretty unique, and a lot different than any other recent fantasy book I’ve read. It’s a completely new concept in terms of typical scifi/fantasy stories, which I liked. It isn’t tropey, the story gets quite complex with layers of betrayal, politics, hierarchy & layers of magic. Id say it has a ton of potential to be a really interesting series!!

Downsides: The 5-6 different character POVs start out overwhelming, and the first half of the book is more convoluted than explanatory. I think readers would benefit from a bit more backstory and detail, rather than jumping right into so many different characters. There were times when I wanted to ‘DNF’ because the storyline gets murky. This is a very very complex world (which could be quite interesting if it was developed further) but we aren’t given a lot of explanation as far as the history of the world or how the different types of magic work, so the differing POVs end up being confusing. I found myself having to re-read chapters to try and grasp what was going on because nothing was completely informative.

Overall: That being said, the book really picked up in the second half and I enjoyed the way the different character storylines began to converge. It definitely ended on a cliffhanger, and I’d look forward to reading the next book. I hope with the development of the trilogy some of the foggy details and descriptions become a bit more clear!

I must say, the world building in this book is tier A grade, I'm so in love with the world building in this book!
This book fallows 5 individual chars that do interlink at some point.
The characters a well thought through and built up, it was so interesting to get to know them. But you must take your time and maybe take some notes, otherwise it can be overwhelming. I can not wait to read more stories in part 2 “Crippling Crimson".

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for offering this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 20%

I wanted to enjoy this book as the summary had everything I wanted in a book (multiple POVs, diverse characters, an interesting magic system/world, etc.), but the writing made it parse through. From the very first page, I felt as though I was thrown into the deep end, and I never found my way out. The plot points were scattered and unrefined, there without much reason behind them. I rarely DNF, so I will likely give this another go, as I think the story has some potential and hopefully finds its footing as it progresses.

When I saw the cover and read the blurb thought about one of my top series/writer: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories by Fritz Leiber.
There something in the world building that seems to be inspired by Leiber's novels and I enjoyed it even if the pace it's a bit uneven at times.
3.5 upped to 4
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I was ready to champion this book because I really like this author and the project they're working on. I think the covers are absolutely excellent and the book definitely has the feel of a Cosmere novel by Brandon Sanderson, so I think it's accomplishing what was intended and a lot of people will really like these books.

There are just a couple things that kept pushing me away every time I thought I could get into it. Admittedly two of them are the result of the audiobook narrator and may not be related to the author at all-- 1. the voice actor puts on a falsetto for the female voices that makes them sound weak and dumb and just generally unlikable even when the narrative does not, 2. the voice actor puts on offensive stereotype accents for the "thugs" that felt uncomfortable to listen to.

The other thing that I found jarring was how often fatness was used as a shortcut to describe unlikable characters, or how the narration would disparage their multiple chins/etc. It's been awhile since I've encountered this in a book, and admittedly I know little of Hungarian culture or what's common/acceptable there so take this criticism with a grain of salt. But for my background, it felt really uncomfortable to read.

Apart from that, I felt about the same way reading this as I did when I recently started reading the Stormlight Archive for the first time and I think there will be an overlap in the audience that enjoys it.

DNF at 25%

Unfortunately, I just couldn't gel with this book. To me, it felt a little choppy with each chapter having a different POV with no link to others prior and I had a hard time keeping up with everything.

Other than this the world-building seemed fantastic. Gutted I couldn't do more.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of Grieving Gold by Daniel McDaniel!

I enjoyed this story. I don't want to summarise about the plot, as its definitely the type of book to go in blind (the blurb is enough)!

There's multiple POV's with different storylines, large amounts of world building and a unique magic system.

Really great start to what looks to be a great series!

The writing in this story is lovely. I started out really enjoying things, with engaging characters and excellent world-building... but things soon became just a bit too complicated.

The multiple points of view were tough to keep track of as so much was happening with everyone, and it wasn't immediately clear how they related. I found returning to the book difficult, as while it was clear who was narrating, so much had happened since I'd last 'heard from' them that it took a while to catch myself up.

I will be finishing this in due time as it certainly was enjoyable - the magical technology was especially interesting - but for now had to DNF at about 1/3 through.