Women in Fantasy
I was excited to see so many women in positions of power—in the councils, in their legends/stories, as sidekicks, as a protagonist. Bellator, who reminded me of Black Widow in a lot of ways, was the most obvious strong woman. But every woman who featured showed a different kind of strength—loyalty, love, patience. Mental, emotional, and physical strength were all displayed through these female characters, which was a welcome departure from clichés of “her personality is knocking people out + wearing spandex.”
Plot
There were multiple times that I thought I had the plot figured out, based on assumptions/clichés of the high fantasy genre. I was always wrong. If I assumed that no one else was going to be added to the cast of characters, someone who turned out to be one of my favorites joined the crew. If I thought that chapters of the novel would be taken up with a Journey-Through-The-Fantasy-World narrative, swordfights/higher stakes/so many people with their own motivations and goals that fought against Ealdred’s were introduced.
There were also quite a few plot twists that were well foreshadowed and caught me by surprise.
My only con is that during the climax, Ealdred didn’t seem to be an active participant. While Bellator was, of course, also a protagonist, Ealdred didn’t contribute much to resolving his side of the plotline during the main back-and-forth.
Worldbuilding/Setting
One of the best worldbuilding bits was the ‘origin myths/stories’ of how different civilizations and conflicts came to be. These stories flowed very naturally and felt similar to creation/origin stories told by real tribes and peoples today.
I think the setting/descriptions were largely carried by the choice to use present tense. It made the prose clip along, instead of drag during the descriptive parts. This world really felt rich and fully imagined, and the descriptions used so many strong sensory details.
Overall
My favorite bit of dialogue was:
“That’s settled,” she replies in her usual officious manner. “Now, let’s go kill some raiders, shall we?”
“Right behind you!” Uri cries with new enthusiasm, gripping his trident with both hands.
“Don’t let me spoil the fun,” I say miserably.
I'm excited for the next book to come out + see where my favorite characters end up as they keep chasing their goals.
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