Excellent second book, so glad book 3 is already out!

(4.5 🌟) As a mix of fantasy, Sci-fi and some clear gaming hints and tropes around this story I was already hooked into Burningblade and Silvereye very quickly and very happy to start the Blood of the Chosen.

But what genuinely surprised me and continues further with book 2, is the balance of this immersive world, the magic and the tech that is familar yet applied in a clever way. Mixing with some outstanding character writing and relationships, particularly between the two protagonists and their relative team members.

As I mentioned, there's a hint of video game tropes here with abilities and limitations such as Maya and her brother Gyre of either side of a centuries old conflict. Maya has a magic ability that forms as flames and creates a fire based sword thats definitely not a lightsaber apart from it being a lot like one...

Gyre has augmentations from a hidden race of magic weilding "Ghouls" that make him able to slow time down and move around a bit Dishonoured style. These both have their own limits a lot like you'd expect playing an RPG so I think this is a great story to get gamers reading!

But structurally and the twisting nature of the plot and the characters motivations and journeys are all what you'd get in a well written fantasy/Sci-fi Novel. Yes, it's full of action and feels almost thriller paced at times, in a good way, but it very much focuses on the relationships and evolution of characters.

I think this is the perfect book 2 as well, hits hard and moves you though more of the wider world but leaves you ready for book... Like now, where is it..?

My only mild criticism is the over use of "the thing" and the word "thing" as to describe regualrly appearing items or monsters. Maya has "the thing" in her chest, Gyre has his "thing" in his head, they fought and burned the "thing" ahead of them.

It got a bit much at one point towards the end and it's a shame as it broke a little of the immersive world where everything is full of much better use of language. This is the only THING however stopping me saying 5 stars, it's absolutely excellent outside of one (perhaps personal) gripe and I genuinely can't wait for the conclusion!

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Awfully read!

The story itself is great fun and I got this to listen to on the way to and from work when I am not reading the book on Kindle. However, I couldn't get through more than an hour due to the frankly woeful narrator. The male voices she puts on are comically bad. Which doesn't help when one of the two main characters is a male. The other voices are... not great either, but more natural. I would not recommend.

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Great story, over-enthusiastic narration

The writing and story are top-notch. The narrator is clearly very talented, but her performance of certain characters is so over-the-top that I had to grit my teeth to get through it.

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1 person found this helpful