Since I haven’t been reading as much as I have wanted to this year the YA Fantasy/Sci Fi category is the only category where I’ve actually already completed more than one of the nominees. I have no intention of actually finishing all of the other 15 books in this category before the deadline but I think I will try to read all of the books over the coming year and then do my own award before the 2022 round!
*SPOILERS BELOW*
This is the way the world ends… for the last time. The Moon will soon return. Whether this heralds the destruction of humankind or something worse will depend on two women. Essun has inherited the power of Alabaster Tenring. With it, she hopes to find her daughter Nassun and forge a world in which every orogene child can grow up safe. For Nassun, her mother’s mastery of the Obelisk Gate comes too late. She has seen the evil of the world, and accepted what her mother will not admit: that sometimes what is corrupt cannot be cleansed, only destroyed.
Essun in this final instalment of the series fell a little bit flat for me. Although we see her breakthrough and really start to become more invested in her Comm I found the majority of her storyline travelling with them to be tedious. She is unable to wield her powers as much as she could previous because she was turning to stone and I found when she is finally reunited with Nassun she could of tried harder to stop her instead of giving in.
Nassun’s character is quite morally grey but again she is only 10 years old for the majority of the storyline and was quite indoctrined by Schaffa. She puts her love for him above everything else and is willing to risk all of humanity just to keep him alive. I feel as if she should have more of an emotional connection to her mother than what is shown when they do reunite.
I think the twist with the Stone Eaters was a great addition to the storyline and gave us that much needed context as to why they keep popping up and are so invested in Essun and Nassun. I honestly can’t blame them for what they did and it was gratifying to see how their story came full circle and we understand why.
Overall I was still highly invested in the storyline and wanted to know how it was all going to wrap up and honestly I can say I was content! I just wish there was a little more action to make it more gripping. It was still just a lot of history and terminology to wrap my mind around. Loved the twists and all my questions pretty much got answered which is all I can ask for!
⭐️4/5 stars Solid ending to this great series!!
*Some spoilers*
This is the way the world ends… for the last time. The season of endings grows darker as civilization fades into the long cold night. Alabaster Tenring – madman, world-crusher, saviour – has returned with a mission: to train his successor, Essun, and thus seal the fate of the Stillness forever. It continues with a lost daughter, found by the enemy. It continues with the obelisks, and an ancient mystery converging on answers at last. The Stillness is the wall which stands against the flow of tradition, the spark of hope long buried under the thickening ashfall. And it will not be broken
I took me quite a few chapters to be situated back into the story simply because I read The Fifth Season back in February and some of the finer details and characters eluded me. But around the first 100 page mark I was pretty much reintroduced to everyone and very much invested back into the storyline.
Essun I think has evolved even more in this book than the first. We’ve learnt nearly all there is to know about her and her background and now we get to see how her previous experiences affect her choices moving forward. I think we definitely see how the Fulcrum has influenced her and from her run in with the Guardian we see that her old relationship with Schaffa has definitely left some scars. I like how committed she becomes to her new Comm and the banter between her and Ykka is very entertaining. She truly comes into her powers in this book and I can’t wait to see where she will go next!
I liked the inclusion of Nassun’s point of view. From her reaction to her brothers death and then the subsequent journey with her father afterwards and how she manipulates him through his love for her. It’s definitely an act of desperation to cling to the only parent she actually loves but we can see how it skews her perception of what a proper relationship with a father figure should be and why she latches on to Schaffa who actually listens and tries to understand her. Even though some of the choices she makes is questionable I remember that she is only 10 years old, incredibly impressionable and just a product of her surroundings. I can’t wait for the reunion she is going to have with her mother and I am excited to see their reactions to each other.
The Stone Eaters are what intrigues me the most. They’ve been very much present throughout the course of the series so far and we’ve only just started to learn more about them and their history. I’m still unsure of their motivations yet, we have some like Hoa and Antimony who are helping the Roggas and others who want the human’s to go extinct. Is Hoa actually being honest and honourable with his intentions or is he going to double cross Essun?
I find this book to be quite a bit slower pace wise than the previous. I found the writing to be a little bit harder to get into than what I remember from The Fifth Season as well. It’s very descriptive but there’s a lot of terminology to try and get your head around which I struggled with at times. Overall though I think this was a great continuation from the first book and I am for sure picking up The Stone Sky whilst everything is still fresh in my brain!
⭐️4/5 stars Immersive, surprising and ever evolving!
*A little Spoilery*
War has come to the Witchlands . . . and nothing will be the same again. Iseult has found her heartsister Safi at last, but their reunion is brief. For Iseult to stay alive, she must flee Cartorra while Safi remains. And though Iseult has plans to save her friend, they will require her to summon magic more dangerous than anything she has ever faced before.
The structure of the plot wasn’t a favourite of mine to be honest. I didn’t really like that we lost all of that time right at the start and then have to have flashbacks throughout the course of the plot to find out what happened. Once again Safi and Iseult have been torn apart and even though they are evolving and distinguishing themselves as characters we don’t see them together enough anymore.
I feel like this was definitely Iseult’s book as she figures out what it means to be the new puppeteer and her voidwitch powers. We witness her struggle with the guilt of having to kill so many people and being able to do it so easily and not giving in to that ‘monstrous’ side of herself that she feels is within her. She has many revelations and epiphanies and we learn so much through her about the truth of who the paladins actually are.
Safi’s storyline was a little stunted to begin with. I didn’t really care about the Emperor at all and I wasn’t as invested in what was going on with that. I did like the fact that we learnt more about the Hell-bards and their history and the restrictions that they have now that Safi is one of them.
Vaness and Vivia was a storyline I wasn’t sure where it was going. Definitely didn’t think that they would actually form a relationship which seems to be the direction it’s going. Having that weaved into Stix and Ryber and their adventures was very entertaining and had me wanting to find out what was going to happen next.
Overall the Paladin’s and Exalted Ones were brought into the story way too quickly for me. Had they been introduced right from Truthwitch at maybe I would be on board but right now I’m kind of confused as to who is who. You absolutely need to read Sightwitch to have any indication as to what was going on in this book and even though I only reread it a month ago I was still kind of like huh?
The only thing that is really pushing me forward is Iseult and Aeduan finally being reunited and Merik’s little appearance right at the end with those mysterious sisters. I have no idea what is going to happen next I just hope Iseult and Safi get a chance to sit down, catch up with us and let us as a reader take a breather.
⭐️3/5 stars I’m invested, the story just veered far from what I was expecting
*Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC for review!*
Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their souls can pass on; otherwise, they will rise as spirits with a ravenous hunger for the living. She would rather deal with the dead than the living, who trade whispers about her scarred hands and troubled past. When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia defends it by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a saint’s relic.
I feel like I didn’t get to connect enough with Artemisia before all the action happened. We get a brief example of the ostracisation that she felt living with the Gray Sisters and how much more comfortable she was with the dead than the other nuns. But then all the action starts and we are swept away into the story before I could form that bond with her. Throughout the plot we are given insight into what she had to endure growing up and why she acts the way she does which I appreciated.
I liked how Marguerite came back into the story. I didn’t think any of the nuns were going to be super relevant to the story since Artemisia leaves them so quickly but it was nice to have her come back in and give us some understanding about how people perceived Artemisia and the misunderstanding that could occur when people don’t communicate properly with each other.
The terminology in the book was a little hard to understand and completely wrap my mind around. Keeping track of all the different orders of the souls and the clergisy was difficult and wasn’t explained as well as it could of been I feel. We’re thrown straight into the action and all of these names and titles keep flying around and I wasn’t as rooted into the story as what I could of been if it was all just drawn out a little longer.
The same thing can be said for the setting and the structure of the plot. I found it quite difficult to picture where we were and what was happening a lot (which I found to be similar to Magaret Rogerson’s two previous books). We are just moving through so quickly and I wasn’t given enough description and I was lost a couple times and had to go back and reread a few pages.
Overall I really liked the concept, I thought it was highly original and compelling. I just would of liked the pacing to slow down and we can get situated with what’s happening before jumping into all of the action. The were some twists and turns throughout the course of the storyline that ultimately kept me turning the pages but was a bit underwhelming in the end.
⭐️3/5 stars The potential was there just lacking that oomph for me…
Amy Leigh Reads 