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MY ⭐️ RATING: 4.75/5
Format: Kindle Whispersync
BOOK DESCRIPTION
The scales have tipped. The battle for Namdhor, the north, and the entire realm of man was a sure victory for the orcs. But they lost.
Now, under the rule of a would-be-king, the armies of man fuel the war when they should be bolstering their defences. Only a few understand that time is against them, yet these few must fight alone if the dawn is to rise over Illian once more.
The heroes of the realm have banded together, but they cannot fight side by side. There is only one way they can win, seen by the oldest dragon and preserved inside the broken mind of a ranger.
From the shadows, The Crow muddies the waters, making it all the harder to see the path to victory. In the depths of The Bastion, where even time is his slave, the ancient necromancer has finished his work. The king is almost ready…
MY REVIEW
Quaintrell has done a masterful job with the long part of this story, laying out plans throughout to where everything began in the first trilogy, to where everything in the world currently sits with the final book in the second trilogy, Age of the King, while also setting the stage for the final trilogy, and an end to The Echoes Saga. The first two books of this trilogy set the stage to make the final battle in this even bigger, the monsters more ferocious, and the crowning of a new king. I absolutely love this series and I can’t wait to dive into the final trilogy!
There were some incredible scenes throughout AotK that completely blew me away and most of that came in part 4, which was just as near as perfection could be of a finale. Quaintrell’s ability to create such beautiful battles and fight scenes is almost second to none, of all things he’s good at, this is where his true mastery lies. I’ve been sucked into this world for a while now, and the one thing that always blows my mind is the battles, whether it’s with the orcs, dragons, giant spiders, a 1v1 between warriors or a completely new beast, it’s always breathtaking.
“The life of a true king is not one of banquets and balls. You will have to choose between life and death for your subjects, knowing that every choice can be the spark of rebellion and the beginning of war. If the arm is infected, you cut it off to save the body; never forget that.”
While his greatest mastery is in the action sequences of the novel, the characters and development of them are not far behind in that, yes Doran is still my favorite as he always brings just a little something extra to every scene he’s in and makes it all the better. But Vighon, Inara and Alijah are not far behind at all. What he’s done with these characters throughout this series was incredible to see unfold, how each one of them grew into something more than what they were before. I know it’s weird, but I still get the Star Warsy like vibes of some of the characters of who they are, what they represent like the Dragorn who feel very Jedi-like while Alijah and Inara are Luke & Leia, Vighon a bit Han Solo and The Crow who feels a bit like a mix of Vader & Sideous. The Crow is truly the best part of this trilogy, I love that there is a character that essentially lets the reader in on what will eventually happen, spoiling the story in a way, we just won’t know how or when it will all go down, which makes the journey to find out, all the more fun and exciting.
I still have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Steven Brands narration, I don’t actually hate it, I’m just not in love with it. The only bad thing I have to say about this is that I had the same whispersync audio production issues I had with Kingdom of Bones. Like I said before, it doesn’t hurt my experience with the story, but it does hurt my OCD brain hearing a sentence or paragraph finish and the highlighting several words behind, the most maddening part is that in part 4 it actually switches and the sentence is actually finishing after the highlight has passed it up. This is an issue that Podium needs to fix and probably why I’ll continue to suggest either reading it or listening to it and not whispersync’ing it like me.
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