Love love it! I was on the edge of my seat or bed, depending on where I was reading, and I could not put it down!

Well, I’m about halfway through the book now and it isn’t getting better. I tried, but it’s one non-stop eye roll for me. I may finish it, but only out of a sense of determination rather than any real curiosity or engagement with the characters or their plight.

So, let me start with what I did like. I liked the idea of the book. The description was intriguing, a boy born with a rune that could as easily kill him as grant him unheard of powers. I also liked Domadred, the pirate, and his crew. Interesting backstory, interesting personalities and potential. Good stuff. Then there’s the hint of sci-fi, talk of luminous (or should I say numinous?) beings who fought off the dark ones and then disappeared into the heavens. I like a hint of sci-fi.

But then again, ugh, so much detail, so much world building, it feels like I’m being hit over the head with it, or force fed it. Chapters of background where nothing real happens but the boy, Aleksi, walking down the street looking at stuff and ruminating about history and politics. A section on some sort of special tree, which I skimmed, and then later that chapter’s worth of exposition turned out to be needed to understand some other inane observation about the tree, but I didn’t care enough to go back and read the explanation. A bit about the Eastnortherners or the Westsoutherners, really? Just use northeastern or southwestern, and by the way, those should not be capitalized when used as general adjectives or a simple direction. Seems like the messed up cardinal directions were just more of the over-the-top world building.

Oh, and the writing/editing. Ok, so yes, the thing is obviously edited, at least for grammar and spelling. All the punctuation is there and seems appropriate, but every third sentence starts with “as such and such happens, he/she/it does something else.” It gets really obvious and really tedious, really fast. Yes, lots of really’s there. It earned them. And, just to be clear, I don’t need reminding every other sentence that Aleksi, or “the youth,” is the one the book is about. Please, some variety in the sentence structure, or some sentences that aren’t focused on what the youth saw, or did, or felt, or thought about, or remembered from his rather incredible and thorough studies at The Academy.

Now, let me be clear, I’m not one who scoffs at epic fantasy with a ton of details, not by a long shot. I love Lord of the Rings, The Death’s Gate Cycle, and The Wheel of Time, to name a few, and those are brimming with lore and details. But one thing they do, and this does not, is make me feel a connection to what’s happening and to whom it’s happening. And let me point out, stuff actually happens in those stories, meaningful stuff, and the rest just comes as it does, enriching the story, but not distracting from it. Not so in this one where mostly it’s just Aleksi walking about feeling sorry about his lot in life and re-reading that godawful letter from Rudra, his exiled mentor.

Ok, so that’s it. Now I’m going to attempt to finish reading this, but unless something amazing happens, I think this review speaks for itself. I didn’t care for this book, couldn’t get into it, and can’t see myself recommending it unless someone with a critical eye takes an axe to the fluff.

I received the review copy of this book from NetGalley, and while I didn’t exactly care for the book, I am grateful for being given the opportunity to read and review it.