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Eternal: The Gauntlet Trails
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March 14, 2026
I am SO annoyed! This book SHOULD be a five star read. Easy. But it isn't because it feels like it hasn't had the time put into editing.
The plot of this book. Incredible.
Here we are in a world where people have taken immortality shots, so everyone is theoretically immortal. And these immortals have this sense that they are superior and mortals should be killed off, and routinely are killed off.
At this point the immortal king and queen want to give up their ruling authority and therefore initiate the gauntlet trials to decide who Will rule. They have a daughter, Sky, who is automatically selected as a player in the trials. They believe her to be the first born immortal because she was born of the queen after she was made immortal. However Sky IS NOT immortal. She has been living mortal in secret, and now she is likely to be exposed.
Ok so this is JUST another games and trials book? No. The trials in THIS story are just the precursor to everything else after she is exposed in the trials. It looks at how mortals have survived despite their persecution by thr immortals.
What I love about the potential of this story is that O'Brien doesn't make it easy on our mortals, our heroes. Most of the time the heroes are on the edge of death against these villains (are they villains? They are much more complexly portrayed than that title suggests). These villains literally DO NOT STOP. Obrien does not go easy on her heroes, she does not go easy on her readers either. Her descriptions and writing is so emotive so graphic.
However, I had to correct so many spelling mistakes throughout EVERY paragraph of this book. Within sentences she is switching between past and present tense like it doesn't matter.
She uses the wrong words, such as chalet instead of chalice. There are just SO MANY errors in the writing that it is an insult to her readers. I would have DNFd based just on THAT fact. However, the story itself is compelling.
She also doesn't spend enough time at the start establishing the world we are in. Getting our buy in. Making us understand what this world is really like. Again, it feels like she has written a filler but forgotten to go back and edit once she understood the rest of the plot and what she was wanting the story to do.
These were my issues. They are big issues, and have dropped my rating on this down HUGELY. That said I have contacted the author and given this same advice. I want this book to be reworked to fix these glaring issues. Because this book is actually brilliant. But NO READER should endure this kind of disrespect from an author.
Some mistakes. All good. Especially from an indie author. But THIS MANY?! Come on!!
The plot of this book. Incredible.
Here we are in a world where people have taken immortality shots, so everyone is theoretically immortal. And these immortals have this sense that they are superior and mortals should be killed off, and routinely are killed off.
At this point the immortal king and queen want to give up their ruling authority and therefore initiate the gauntlet trials to decide who Will rule. They have a daughter, Sky, who is automatically selected as a player in the trials. They believe her to be the first born immortal because she was born of the queen after she was made immortal. However Sky IS NOT immortal. She has been living mortal in secret, and now she is likely to be exposed.
Ok so this is JUST another games and trials book? No. The trials in THIS story are just the precursor to everything else after she is exposed in the trials. It looks at how mortals have survived despite their persecution by thr immortals.
What I love about the potential of this story is that O'Brien doesn't make it easy on our mortals, our heroes. Most of the time the heroes are on the edge of death against these villains (are they villains? They are much more complexly portrayed than that title suggests). These villains literally DO NOT STOP. Obrien does not go easy on her heroes, she does not go easy on her readers either. Her descriptions and writing is so emotive so graphic.
However, I had to correct so many spelling mistakes throughout EVERY paragraph of this book. Within sentences she is switching between past and present tense like it doesn't matter.
She uses the wrong words, such as chalet instead of chalice. There are just SO MANY errors in the writing that it is an insult to her readers. I would have DNFd based just on THAT fact. However, the story itself is compelling.
She also doesn't spend enough time at the start establishing the world we are in. Getting our buy in. Making us understand what this world is really like. Again, it feels like she has written a filler but forgotten to go back and edit once she understood the rest of the plot and what she was wanting the story to do.
These were my issues. They are big issues, and have dropped my rating on this down HUGELY. That said I have contacted the author and given this same advice. I want this book to be reworked to fix these glaring issues. Because this book is actually brilliant. But NO READER should endure this kind of disrespect from an author.
Some mistakes. All good. Especially from an indie author. But THIS MANY?! Come on!!
Displaying 1 of 1 review