This book starts off with a bang, as we see the destruction of the city of Jacarna in all its brutal glory. The world-building is anchored firmly from the get-go, with evil magical flying ships, and sinister Adepts willing to manipulate and kill anyone who stands in their way. Magic is subtly introduced in different ways throughout the rest of the book.
The Dungeons and Dragons influence is strong in this manuscript. The author does a good job of avoiding common fantasy tropes even as he weaves a complex web of characters who are either out to save this invaded world, or bring it to its knees. We get a lot of alternating chapters from different heroes and heroines’ point of view. We also follow some villains and traitors. All are complex, and their dialogue feels unique. Rarely do we get lost in the narrative or who’s who, despite the huge cast of characters. You felt each character’s struggles keenly, even the evil ones.
The pacing is spectacular, as the manuscript starts with an apocalyptic event, and the stakes keep getting higher and higher with every character’s failure to stop the inevitable. All the plots are engaging. My only quibbles are that with such a big cast of characters, some felt introduced a little late in the game. At the 75% mark there were still new characters being introduced. Some chapters were from the POV of interesting characters who then died; that time could have been given to characters who were introduced at the beginning of the novel, but who we don’t hear from again, and only briefly, at the very end of the book. Or the book could have been longer, though the ending felt satisfactory. Also there were quite a few editing errors that were jarring.
However, this was a heart pumping read and I am curious to read the next book in the Maingard Chronicles series!
I give this book 4 stars.
