'Puts Samantha Shannon in the same league as Robin Hobb and George R.R. Martin. Shannon is a master of dragons' Starburst
‘Epic fantasy with added dragons. A blockbuster’ Guardian, Best Science Fiction and Fantasy
An enthralling, epic fantasy about a world on the brink of war with dragons - and the women who must lead the fight to save it.
A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens.
The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door.
Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.
Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.
Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.
This review was originally posted on Star Crossed Reviews I had seen this book on Instagram for many months and had it on my TBR pile for a little while. I saw Samantha interview Jay Kristoff last year and I knew I had to bump it up.
There are two things you should know about this book. The first is that it is a very large book and the second is it has a lot of world-building. I find big books quite intimidating. I'd much rather read a long series of shorter books than one big one. I enjoyed the book but it did take me a long time to read it. There were times when I thought I would never end. I think this book could have really benefited from being a series or duology to reduce the size of the book. So much happens in this book that I feel like I definitely missed something. I think I would need a re-read to really get everything but the book is so long that I just don't know if have the time for that.
There are 4 POV in this book all at different places in the world. There are lots of side characters too. The world is very intriguing but I felt like I struggled to connect with the characters. I want to try again because I wonder if it was just the timing for me (I read this at the beginning of lockdown and work was crazy). I was reading in snatched moments and short bursts which made the story very broken too.
I'm sorry that this is not a very helpful review but I hope you take something away from it.
