I got this audiobook (which is incredibly done by the narrator, btw) and binged it in a few days. I just finished it a few moments ago and needed to come straight here to discuss it with someone, anyone!
I am finding it hard to discuss in a concise way what makes this book so incredible, so here are some bullet points of what impressed me:
– The Roman-Empire-inspired setting evokes a very distinct country and social structure that strongly impact the world these characters live in.
– The characters are all well-fleshed out and feel very much like complex, real people stuck in difficult situations.
– The author doesn’t handhold you when it comes to describing the worldbuilding or the magic system, but expertly feeds you information so that you learn it at the same time as the main character, Vis, learns it or you learn it from Vis directly himself (which gives a sense of how smart and capable he is as a leading character).
– The book has really strong themes about … colonialism isn’t the right word, but how culture and the identity of a country and its people can be demolished and “civilized”. The trauma that comes with this, the resentment of the oppressed, the entitlement of the oppressor… all of that plays major themes in this book. To me, it works as a great metaphor for how the common man suffers under late-stage capitalism, too, which made the book feel very relevant in this day and age.
– While the story has very adult content (in terms of human suffering, evil human actions, gore, violence, and horror), it also manages to set the latter half of the book in a school with a final exam (so to speak) that feels almost hunger games-y? But it’s done in such a way that feels very mature, with very high stakes, and not YA at all. I was stressed for Vis every time he had to spy or sneak around to uncover mysteries. The consequences he faces if he were to be caught are realistic for the setting, which makes the tension high and the consequences that he and other students face feel very real.
– While there were moments where I could predict what was happening in the story, much of it felts so original that I was at the edge of my seat wondering what Islington would do next.
– The climax of the story is very well foreshadowed, leads into a really satisfying outcome that is slightly cliff hanger-y. Despite the cliff hanger, I feel satisfied that I got what I needed out of this story and I’m really looking forward to the next installment in the series. Cliff hangers normally leave me frustrated, like the author is trying to use a “gotcha” to make you come back for the next book. But this book actually earned its cliff hanger and I’m eager for book 2.
– Vis’s backstory is revealed throughout the story bit by bit and I really felt for everything he went through. The author manages to toe that line between writing a tragic backstory and making his character go through trauma porn (that has no real reason to be that extreme). I really like Vis, who is a realistic, smart, capable guy with a strong set of morals. I would trust this guy as a leader.
I’m sure there are so many other things I could talk about that make this book excellent, but I’m just buzzing from how awesome this book made me feel while reading it. Like I’m coming down from a book high or something!
This is the first book I’ve read from this author and I feel like I should go read his other books now while I wait for book 2 to come out.
by Lisbeth_Salandar