Published: August 2021
Pages: 364
No star rating – did not finish
Summary
A healer forced to become a killer for an empire that would grind his country to dust.
Kehlem, the sickly son of a widowed physician, has devoted his life to learning his father’s craft. Wanting to finally step out of his father’s shadow, he embarks on a project of his own, seeking out the help of Themia, the town’s newly arrived Alchemist and a rare wielder of magic.
But Themia has secrets of her own, secrets carried from the heart of the empire itself, secrets that would steal Kehlem away from his home and into the empire’s Academy for magic users.
The Isale Academy beckons, but can Kehlem survive the academy and its brutal regime? And if so, what would he have to become?
My thoughts
I read the book’s summary and wanted to love this one so bad. Also, look at this stunning edition from Page & Wick, its gorgeous but alas it wasn’t to be. I gave this a good run before I had to put the book down and hopefully I can put it in the hands of someone that will enjoy it more than I did.
What I didn’t enjoy:
The typesetting – this book continuously moves from one scene to another without a paragraph break. One sentence our main character (MC) is talking with a character. The very next sentence he’s talking to someone else, somewhere else, and it kept pulling me out the story. I found it frustrating for the story to jump so abruptly and it does it a lot!
The writing – the repitiveness became too much. I grew tired of being shown a scene, just for our MC to tell us everything we’ve just seen through his incredibly dull internal monologue. Not to mention the constant rhetorical questions.
Whether this is writing or pacing the characters jump through emotions so quickly it’s jarring to read. Theres a scene where our MC confronts someone, and its all over in half a page. The author grazes over these scenes and doesnt spend any time showing us what is happening, exploring how the characters are feeling, how they’re reacting, or why. This is such an important scene too, crucial for our MC’s development and the progression of the plot but the author rushes through it to get to the next part.
This is similar with our MC and how he feels about his best friend. One second they’re besties, the next, he’s basically in love with her and he doesn’t know how to tell her. It doesn’t make sense how we got from point A to point B, we’re just expected to go with it. It doesn’t feel genuine or realistic which I found disappointing.
I did like the plot, as obvious as it is what it’s happening, but I struggled to get through this one so it’s time to put it down and move on.
Would I recommend?
Yes and no. If the things that bothered me won’t bother you, then I’ve heard that this is a good fantasy book. There’s a reason most Goodreads reviews are 4 or 5 star, so there’s a definitely a following that love this book. But if these point would also disrupt your reading experience then I would suggest skipping this.