What do you think?
Rate this book
Far Called Trilogy #3
The Stealer's War
Weyland has been at war. Invaded by a technologically advanced enemy, the cities sacked, and what fragile peace remained torn apart by a civil war.
All anyone should want is a return to peace.
But Jacob Carnehan still wants his revenge; and if he can lure the invaders into the mountain he can have it. He can kill them all.
If he does, there may never be peace again.
If he doesn't, Weyland will never be free of the threat of invasion.
The northern horse lords are planning an attack. A future Empress is fighting to save her daughter. Jacob's son is trying to restore peace and stability to Weyland, alongside the rightful King. And behind it all is a greater struggle, which may spell the end for them all...
All anyone should want is a return to peace.
But Jacob Carnehan still wants his revenge; and if he can lure the invaders into the mountain he can have it. He can kill them all.
If he does, there may never be peace again.
If he doesn't, Weyland will never be free of the threat of invasion.
The northern horse lords are planning an attack. A future Empress is fighting to save her daughter. Jacob's son is trying to restore peace and stability to Weyland, alongside the rightful King. And behind it all is a greater struggle, which may spell the end for them all...
404 pages, Paperback
Published February 9, 2017
3 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Hunt
41 books346 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Stephen Hunt is a British writer living in London. His first fantasy novel, For the Crown and the Dragon, was published in 1994, and introduced a young officer, Taliesin, fighting for the Queen of England in a Napoleonic period alternative reality where the wars of Europe were being fought with sorcery and steampunk weapons (airships, clockwork machine guns, and steam-driven trucks called kettle-blacks). The novel won the 1994 WH Smith Award, and the book reviewer Andrew Darlington used Hunt's novel to coin the phrase Flintlock Fantasy to describe the sub-genre of fantasy set in a Regency or Napoleonic-era period.
Stephen Hunt is a British writer living in London. His first fantasy novel, For the Crown and the Dragon, was published in 1994, and introduced a young officer, Taliesin, fighting for the Queen of England in a Napoleonic period alternative reality where the wars of Europe were being fought with sorcery and steampunk weapons (airships, clockwork machine guns, and steam-driven trucks called kettle-blacks). The novel won the 1994 WH Smith Award, and the book reviewer Andrew Darlington used Hunt's novel to coin the phrase Flintlock Fantasy to describe the sub-genre of fantasy set in a Regency or Napoleonic-era period.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 11, 2016
It is with a heavy heart I write this review. Sad and frustrated is how I feel about the end of the Far Called series.
Sad, because I have heard from the author the loose threads left blowing carelessly in the wind at the end of the Far-Called series WILL NOT BE picked up and given the fourth book they need. I urge Stephen Hunt to GO INDIE and finish what has been started. Crowd fund the project and the cover!
Frustrated.
Yes, in many ways this book took far longer for me to read than it should have as, I will admit, I was frustrated and annoyed by the first half. The author puts his characters through hell, lets them glimpse daylight, then drags them deeper into hell. I think I found that, especially in regards to one character (see just below) a little too contrived.
Without going into too many spoilers, I'll just say my main point of contention was that Willow was wasted as a character. She was a courageous, plucky bad-ass who went to waste as a plot device impregnated and smothered by chloroform. I disliked her part in this story so much I am furious! As a woman, if I were forced into a marriage then raped, let alone pregnant to my rapist, I would not hesitate to have my womb evacuated. A better plot twist would have been to have Willow knowingly pregnant with Carter's child before her marriage, thus cuckolding her rapist husband.
Jacob Carnehan, the most awesome, interesting character, was not given enough air time in this book, instead sacrificed for POVs from Alexamir and even Leyla Holten who deserves to be gutted and choked with her own innards (may a horde of Yargans from my own books do this to her!). I really wanted more of Jacob and his brother, Barnaby. I feel that Stephen Hunt could write another series of prequels with gunslinging Jake Quicksilver as the star.
The second half of the book picked up the pace as many threads were tied off with unexpected battles and shifts of allegiance. Duncan continued to think with his dick and never really evolved, Carter also was lost in action and noise, which is really sad. I feel he was smothered, much like Willow. Cassandra came into her own as a character, but she's still too cold-hearted and Vandian to truly connect with. There was some teasing development of Sheplar Lesh and Kerge as characters - far more interesting characters than any of the Vandians- but their stories weren't resolved. The glimpse of the power play between Apolleon and Sariel was too small, and Apolleon's version of events revelatory and even humanising, but again, this came at the end of the book and as there's not going to be a fourth, we'll never know what happens.
In all, I enjoyed the last 150 pages more than the beginning but was left feeling like there should be so much more...
Sad, because I have heard from the author the loose threads left blowing carelessly in the wind at the end of the Far-Called series WILL NOT BE picked up and given the fourth book they need. I urge Stephen Hunt to GO INDIE and finish what has been started. Crowd fund the project and the cover!
Frustrated.
Yes, in many ways this book took far longer for me to read than it should have as, I will admit, I was frustrated and annoyed by the first half. The author puts his characters through hell, lets them glimpse daylight, then drags them deeper into hell. I think I found that, especially in regards to one character (see just below) a little too contrived.
Without going into too many spoilers, I'll just say my main point of contention was that Willow was wasted as a character. She was a courageous, plucky bad-ass who went to waste as a plot device impregnated and smothered by chloroform. I disliked her part in this story so much I am furious! As a woman, if I were forced into a marriage then raped, let alone pregnant to my rapist, I would not hesitate to have my womb evacuated. A better plot twist would have been to have Willow knowingly pregnant with Carter's child before her marriage, thus cuckolding her rapist husband.
Jacob Carnehan, the most awesome, interesting character, was not given enough air time in this book, instead sacrificed for POVs from Alexamir and even Leyla Holten who deserves to be gutted and choked with her own innards (may a horde of Yargans from my own books do this to her!). I really wanted more of Jacob and his brother, Barnaby. I feel that Stephen Hunt could write another series of prequels with gunslinging Jake Quicksilver as the star.
The second half of the book picked up the pace as many threads were tied off with unexpected battles and shifts of allegiance. Duncan continued to think with his dick and never really evolved, Carter also was lost in action and noise, which is really sad. I feel he was smothered, much like Willow. Cassandra came into her own as a character, but she's still too cold-hearted and Vandian to truly connect with. There was some teasing development of Sheplar Lesh and Kerge as characters - far more interesting characters than any of the Vandians- but their stories weren't resolved. The glimpse of the power play between Apolleon and Sariel was too small, and Apolleon's version of events revelatory and even humanising, but again, this came at the end of the book and as there's not going to be a fourth, we'll never know what happens.
In all, I enjoyed the last 150 pages more than the beginning but was left feeling like there should be so much more...
October 25, 2016
You can find a copy of this review at:
https://thequidnuncblog.wordpress.com...
I am a firm believer that Autumn is the best time of the year for magical reads, it is a season that flares up you senses and makes you more receptive to the unusual and magical. Besides it is the Halloween week, so I am always on the look for the extraordinary.
And this book is exactly the thing I was looking for. Enchanting and thrilling it will keep you hooked up right until the end. Stephen Hunt is a man of his letters, an incredible storyteller, a man with acute sense of humour that creates heroes of the olden times, when heroism actually stood for something more than muscles and big guns!
I delayed the writing of this review on purpose, because I haven're read books one and two, but know that I have done I can safely say it was the easiest, most charming fantasy I have read lately. The world building is a masterpiece and completely believable! The characters are real, evoking and, lets face it, they crack you up! It is a definite page-turner and I am sure you'd love it!
I see why many of the other people who read it say they are disappointed in the outcome of the story, but guys... that was the best choice Mr Hunt could make and if you give it a second read, you'll see it is more than appropriate.
https://thequidnuncblog.wordpress.com...
I am a firm believer that Autumn is the best time of the year for magical reads, it is a season that flares up you senses and makes you more receptive to the unusual and magical. Besides it is the Halloween week, so I am always on the look for the extraordinary.
And this book is exactly the thing I was looking for. Enchanting and thrilling it will keep you hooked up right until the end. Stephen Hunt is a man of his letters, an incredible storyteller, a man with acute sense of humour that creates heroes of the olden times, when heroism actually stood for something more than muscles and big guns!
I delayed the writing of this review on purpose, because I haven're read books one and two, but know that I have done I can safely say it was the easiest, most charming fantasy I have read lately. The world building is a masterpiece and completely believable! The characters are real, evoking and, lets face it, they crack you up! It is a definite page-turner and I am sure you'd love it!
I see why many of the other people who read it say they are disappointed in the outcome of the story, but guys... that was the best choice Mr Hunt could make and if you give it a second read, you'll see it is more than appropriate.
October 5, 2017
Published 2016. The third in the Far Called series and presumptuously billed as the end of the trilogy. Balderdash. I admire Stephen and his capability as an author but I going to call this book somewhat flat and ultimately unsatisfactory if it truly is the last in this series. Too many loose ends smacking of more to follow or worse than that, hurried writing as well as some dubious errors in referrals to previous events in book 2, etc., which left me scratching my head.
Also, Alexamir is given way too much space while other prominent characters are given short shrift.
Also, Alexamir is given way too much space while other prominent characters are given short shrift.
March 15, 2016
*copy from Netgalley in exchange for a review*
The Stealer's War is the third in Stephen Hunt’s “Far-Called” series. It’s an adventure story, filled with high-stakes duels, roaring battlegrounds, betrayals, romances, and some serious twists.
The world of The Stealer's war, as with the remainder of the Far Called series, is part of a far, far larger one. The narrative’s focus is largely on the nation of Weyland and surrounding areas, but there’s a greater tapestry visible around the edges. Weyland is a country edging slowly into an industrial revolution, a hereditary aristocracy gradually being subsumed into an industrialist class.
There’s some interesting room for conflict there, but Weyland is being torn apart by other means – divided between two feuding royals, one rather more heroic than the other, but somewhat less ably supplied. The former’s troops are now dispersed in guerrilla actions, an informal war from behind civilian cover. The author shows us the bloody reality of Weyland at war – hit and run strikes, ambushes, deaths of collaborators. Two books ago, it felt like the solid backdrop to a different story; it’s now wracked by fire, and feels far more fragile – but it’s a wonderfully realised country gradually falling into total war.
Then there’s Vandia. The superpower of the Far Called world, breaking armies of horses and crossbowmen using gunships and gauss guns, paying for their progress with a violent, competition-driven society which demands (and rewards) utter ruthlessness. We spent a good deal of time there in the previous volume – in this one, we’re following the “punishment expedition” sent to Weyland to nominally retrieve a lost Princess – and allow the settling of a few old scores out of sight. The Vandians are always a delight to read; they’re not, generally, bad people, but live within a system which causes and sustains untold misery. There’s discussion of how Vandian society remains in place, and we see a different, more human face to the Empire here – following a group of Legionnaires, along with a Weylander, as they drive forward on a rescue mission. Vandians, it seems, are people too; they’re just distorted off the norm by the society they’ve built.
Rodal also features heavily. We’ve heard it mentioned in previous books, the mountain kingdom, the Walls of the World, and even met one of its famed pilots. Now we get a little more – clambering the claustrophobic air ducts inside the mountainous cities; sailing the river with supply barges. Breathing the thin air alongside the soaring, brutal winds. Hunt makes Rodal feel distinct to everything we’ve seen so far – a more confined, but more pervasively spiritual world, with a martial bent.
And then, of course, there’s the nomads. Rodal’s oldest foe, breaking against the mountains. They’re familiar in a lot of ways, with a system of honour, a nomadic semi-democracy, and a tendency to settle disagreements with single combat. But there’s some lovely twists wrapped up in there – the way that the nomads are guided by a sorcerer who may be more than he seems. Or the witches that stare into the darkness of probability and guide the clans. There’s a complex society here, one it would be great to see more of. To be fair, that’s true of each of the conflicting groups the author has conjured. We largely see each society through the eyes of strangers to it, and pick up as much of the larger and smaller details as we can – there’s enough here for stories set within each of these places as well. Hunt’s world building has always been solid. After three books, he’s created a rich weave of cultures, traditions and societies which it’s a pleasure to be lost in.
As for the characters. Well, by this point in the story, we’re already familiar with most of them. There’s Pastor Carnehan, the priest-turned general, a master of total war, increasingly driven by his lust for vengeance. There’s his son Carter, who spends most of the text in the company of the cryptic Sariel, a half-mad bard who drifts in and out of being more than he seems. Carter is defined by his love for another, Willow Landor, whose tribulations took up some of the preceding text. It’s nice to see him less conflicted here, given a clear goal and at least theoretically, the means to achieve it. Sariel, by contrast, gets a bit more time – now more coherent, he feels like a man trying to play a long game whilst also working out how the pieces move. It’s interesting to see his development from insanity to the semi-humanity of this text. He feels like a person developing a conscience – or at the least some compassion – and trying to decide whether to keep it.
Willow – well, Willow spends an irritating amount of time getting captured. She really needs to get better at escaping or fighting. Still, in between bouts of horror, she does reasonably well. There’s some room for character development here, as she deals with the strains of unwanted motherhood, and the pressures of being…well, continually abducted or otherwise tormented. There’s little of the girl from the first book left now, or even the more hardened ex-slave from the one before . She’s focused now, cool, and able to drive her agenda with a great deal of talent – when she’s not being chloroformed or held at gunpoint.
There’s more, of course. The villains are, in the main, appallingly unpleasant. I’m not entirely convinced that between them they have a thimbleful of redeeming qualities. Still. As in Othello, there’s a pleasure in watching an unredeemable villain take apart the scenery to achieve their goals. There’s some interesting conflict in perception as we watch some characters prepare to defend Rodal, and others prepare to invade it, one way or the other, all for the best of motivations. This more subtle conflict between points of view is subtly done, managing to keep us sympathetic to all sides of the equation, tearing our empathy between the different factions, who seem unable to exist together. Of course, every so often, we’re given some time with some proper black-hearts as well. Hunt manages to keep his plates spinning, all of his protagonists feeling memorable, distinct, a vivid dance of personalities at large – and his real antagonists absolute sinkholes of villainy.
The plot – well, it’s a large book, and rather a lot goes on. I won’t spoil it, but will say this: by the end of the book, absolutely everything - from the characters relationships, to the Weyland civil war, to the broader political situation, to the larger conflict hinted at in the preceding novels – everything changes. We fight wars with the Vandians , guerrilla strikes with the Weylanders. Follow Willow’s struggles with her family at the capital of the villainous king. Care for refugees in Rodal, and ride with the nomads against it. There’s a lot of conflict here, both personal and in a storm of battles that look to redefine the world we came in to at the start of the novel. It’s a sea change, one which rumbles on ominously at an unrelentingly fast pace, gripping onto the reader and not letting go.
Is it worth reading? If you’ve not picked up the previous books in the series, I’d recommend starting there instead. High adventure and excitement abound here, but it needs context to be truly intriguing. If you’re already invested in the series, then you owe it to yourself to pick this one up – it’s an absolutely wonderful read, and I can’t wait to spend more time in the Far Called world.
The Stealer's War is the third in Stephen Hunt’s “Far-Called” series. It’s an adventure story, filled with high-stakes duels, roaring battlegrounds, betrayals, romances, and some serious twists.
The world of The Stealer's war, as with the remainder of the Far Called series, is part of a far, far larger one. The narrative’s focus is largely on the nation of Weyland and surrounding areas, but there’s a greater tapestry visible around the edges. Weyland is a country edging slowly into an industrial revolution, a hereditary aristocracy gradually being subsumed into an industrialist class.
There’s some interesting room for conflict there, but Weyland is being torn apart by other means – divided between two feuding royals, one rather more heroic than the other, but somewhat less ably supplied. The former’s troops are now dispersed in guerrilla actions, an informal war from behind civilian cover. The author shows us the bloody reality of Weyland at war – hit and run strikes, ambushes, deaths of collaborators. Two books ago, it felt like the solid backdrop to a different story; it’s now wracked by fire, and feels far more fragile – but it’s a wonderfully realised country gradually falling into total war.
Then there’s Vandia. The superpower of the Far Called world, breaking armies of horses and crossbowmen using gunships and gauss guns, paying for their progress with a violent, competition-driven society which demands (and rewards) utter ruthlessness. We spent a good deal of time there in the previous volume – in this one, we’re following the “punishment expedition” sent to Weyland to nominally retrieve a lost Princess – and allow the settling of a few old scores out of sight. The Vandians are always a delight to read; they’re not, generally, bad people, but live within a system which causes and sustains untold misery. There’s discussion of how Vandian society remains in place, and we see a different, more human face to the Empire here – following a group of Legionnaires, along with a Weylander, as they drive forward on a rescue mission. Vandians, it seems, are people too; they’re just distorted off the norm by the society they’ve built.
Rodal also features heavily. We’ve heard it mentioned in previous books, the mountain kingdom, the Walls of the World, and even met one of its famed pilots. Now we get a little more – clambering the claustrophobic air ducts inside the mountainous cities; sailing the river with supply barges. Breathing the thin air alongside the soaring, brutal winds. Hunt makes Rodal feel distinct to everything we’ve seen so far – a more confined, but more pervasively spiritual world, with a martial bent.
And then, of course, there’s the nomads. Rodal’s oldest foe, breaking against the mountains. They’re familiar in a lot of ways, with a system of honour, a nomadic semi-democracy, and a tendency to settle disagreements with single combat. But there’s some lovely twists wrapped up in there – the way that the nomads are guided by a sorcerer who may be more than he seems. Or the witches that stare into the darkness of probability and guide the clans. There’s a complex society here, one it would be great to see more of. To be fair, that’s true of each of the conflicting groups the author has conjured. We largely see each society through the eyes of strangers to it, and pick up as much of the larger and smaller details as we can – there’s enough here for stories set within each of these places as well. Hunt’s world building has always been solid. After three books, he’s created a rich weave of cultures, traditions and societies which it’s a pleasure to be lost in.
As for the characters. Well, by this point in the story, we’re already familiar with most of them. There’s Pastor Carnehan, the priest-turned general, a master of total war, increasingly driven by his lust for vengeance. There’s his son Carter, who spends most of the text in the company of the cryptic Sariel, a half-mad bard who drifts in and out of being more than he seems. Carter is defined by his love for another, Willow Landor, whose tribulations took up some of the preceding text. It’s nice to see him less conflicted here, given a clear goal and at least theoretically, the means to achieve it. Sariel, by contrast, gets a bit more time – now more coherent, he feels like a man trying to play a long game whilst also working out how the pieces move. It’s interesting to see his development from insanity to the semi-humanity of this text. He feels like a person developing a conscience – or at the least some compassion – and trying to decide whether to keep it.
Willow – well, Willow spends an irritating amount of time getting captured. She really needs to get better at escaping or fighting. Still, in between bouts of horror, she does reasonably well. There’s some room for character development here, as she deals with the strains of unwanted motherhood, and the pressures of being…well, continually abducted or otherwise tormented. There’s little of the girl from the first book left now, or even the more hardened ex-slave from the one before . She’s focused now, cool, and able to drive her agenda with a great deal of talent – when she’s not being chloroformed or held at gunpoint.
There’s more, of course. The villains are, in the main, appallingly unpleasant. I’m not entirely convinced that between them they have a thimbleful of redeeming qualities. Still. As in Othello, there’s a pleasure in watching an unredeemable villain take apart the scenery to achieve their goals. There’s some interesting conflict in perception as we watch some characters prepare to defend Rodal, and others prepare to invade it, one way or the other, all for the best of motivations. This more subtle conflict between points of view is subtly done, managing to keep us sympathetic to all sides of the equation, tearing our empathy between the different factions, who seem unable to exist together. Of course, every so often, we’re given some time with some proper black-hearts as well. Hunt manages to keep his plates spinning, all of his protagonists feeling memorable, distinct, a vivid dance of personalities at large – and his real antagonists absolute sinkholes of villainy.
The plot – well, it’s a large book, and rather a lot goes on. I won’t spoil it, but will say this: by the end of the book, absolutely everything - from the characters relationships, to the Weyland civil war, to the broader political situation, to the larger conflict hinted at in the preceding novels – everything changes. We fight wars with the Vandians , guerrilla strikes with the Weylanders. Follow Willow’s struggles with her family at the capital of the villainous king. Care for refugees in Rodal, and ride with the nomads against it. There’s a lot of conflict here, both personal and in a storm of battles that look to redefine the world we came in to at the start of the novel. It’s a sea change, one which rumbles on ominously at an unrelentingly fast pace, gripping onto the reader and not letting go.
Is it worth reading? If you’ve not picked up the previous books in the series, I’d recommend starting there instead. High adventure and excitement abound here, but it needs context to be truly intriguing. If you’re already invested in the series, then you owe it to yourself to pick this one up – it’s an absolutely wonderful read, and I can’t wait to spend more time in the Far Called world.
August 3, 2023
Oh boy, I'm conflicted about this one. On one hand, I love this world. It feels alive and real, and so do the characters. One or two may be quite cartoonish in their villainy but their behaviour made sense in the overarching plot. There are two plots I'm going to touch on (hopefully) without spoiling anything.
There's a certain character plot that had me furious. It included one of my least-favourite fantasy tropes, but also a lot of gaslighting/misunderstanding which had me wanting to hit something. Now this isn't bad writing, it made me feel things for the characters. But I got through it assuming there would be some sort of resolution between two of the characters at the end and there just... Isn't. They don't even see each other again.
The other plot concerns more of a sub-plot, although it's more like cosmic horror in its scope... It's happening in the background of everything and again it doesn't get resolved.
Now I understand there is a point to be made in not having everything neatly tied up. In real life things don't always get explained, good and bad guys don't get that they deserve, and eons old feuds don't end in the scope of a human lifetime. Some characters can accept this and move on, some will keep eternally fighting and nothing will change. I get all that.
But it also sort of feels like there could have been another book out of this but the author was really committed to keeping it as a trilogy.
I'm still marking this one highly as, like with the character plot that angered me, an author not giving you the ending you expect isn't bad writing. But to me it just didn't feel as satisfying as it could have been.
There's a certain character plot that had me furious. It included one of my least-favourite fantasy tropes, but also a lot of gaslighting/misunderstanding which had me wanting to hit something. Now this isn't bad writing, it made me feel things for the characters. But I got through it assuming there would be some sort of resolution between two of the characters at the end and there just... Isn't. They don't even see each other again.
The other plot concerns more of a sub-plot, although it's more like cosmic horror in its scope... It's happening in the background of everything and again it doesn't get resolved.
Now I understand there is a point to be made in not having everything neatly tied up. In real life things don't always get explained, good and bad guys don't get that they deserve, and eons old feuds don't end in the scope of a human lifetime. Some characters can accept this and move on, some will keep eternally fighting and nothing will change. I get all that.
But it also sort of feels like there could have been another book out of this but the author was really committed to keeping it as a trilogy.
I'm still marking this one highly as, like with the character plot that angered me, an author not giving you the ending you expect isn't bad writing. But to me it just didn't feel as satisfying as it could have been.
January 9, 2018
"Far-Called" series had a really rough start before becoming something very fun. Then in Volume 2 it went incredibly bleak, while piling up plot twist upon plot twins. Volume 3 had a lot of high expectations attached to it. And Hunt essentially delivered.
Why the qualifier? because although the main conflict and most characters' arcs get a nice conclusion in the end of the trilogy, the world is left ripe for more stories. Some of the backstory revealed here- concerning the nature of the Stealers' War--are (if true) pretty astounding, in terms of what they do for the plot. So I' left wanting more, and not fully satisfied, which is why it's a 4 rather than a 5.
IN terms of more technical stuff- Plot is intricate and fun, in a way only an action plot can be- there's plot twists galore and a few cliffhanger chapter endings, but nothing super-egregious. The pacing is pretty relentless-there's a lot of stuff for the plot to get through and events keep happening throughout. Not a lot of new characters are introduced- the plot's been pretty much established by now, and in this regard it feels very much like a conclusion of the story. Existing characters also appear pretty consistent with their previous descriptions, so no complaints in this regard.
In short: Hunt delivers a solid finish. If you liked the series so far, it's a worthy conclusion to these characters' story, that leaves a lot of potential promise for the world of Pellas.
Why the qualifier? because although the main conflict and most characters' arcs get a nice conclusion in the end of the trilogy, the world is left ripe for more stories. Some of the backstory revealed here- concerning the nature of the Stealers' War--are (if true) pretty astounding, in terms of what they do for the plot. So I' left wanting more, and not fully satisfied, which is why it's a 4 rather than a 5.
IN terms of more technical stuff- Plot is intricate and fun, in a way only an action plot can be- there's plot twists galore and a few cliffhanger chapter endings, but nothing super-egregious. The pacing is pretty relentless-there's a lot of stuff for the plot to get through and events keep happening throughout. Not a lot of new characters are introduced- the plot's been pretty much established by now, and in this regard it feels very much like a conclusion of the story. Existing characters also appear pretty consistent with their previous descriptions, so no complaints in this regard.
In short: Hunt delivers a solid finish. If you liked the series so far, it's a worthy conclusion to these characters' story, that leaves a lot of potential promise for the world of Pellas.
October 22, 2024
Promised much, delivered little. I toiled through this trilogy and, by the end, was rooting for no one at all. A real disappointment. I wasn't impressed with the corny speech, and many of the characters simply withered into irrelevance, to the point of ALMOST quitting before the finish. But that's something I've never done, and never will, so I endured this trilogy to the final page, taking much longer than usual to do so. Subjective, of course, so don't let the above sway you if it's singing its siren song in your direction. Shame.
April 24, 2016
No, I had not read book 1 and 2, should I have? Of course, but this book arrived and I was all, hmm, what else to do, than to try it. And to my surprise it actually worked.
So from what I gathered while easily slipping into the book was that in earlier books some kids got sold as slaves. One become a part of a harem. One seems to have hooked up with the Lady of the house. One was a prince whose family had been murdered. One had a father who was some kind of bad ass and he rescued them. Too bad I missed that cos that sounded intense!
What I had now was that I got thrown into a civil war. An evil empire helping the bad guy and a few characters I got to know. No idea who I should like or not so I made my own mind about them.
Duncan (the one who had hooked up with a princess), no, I can't say I liked him but then he was on the invading force, and I clearly liked the rebels. So booo Duncan.
Cassandra, she seems to have been kidnapped by the rebels and was no with a nomadic tribe. I liked her (dunno if I was meant to), but I liked her, but that man of hers, she could do better. But he did seem cute and brave.
Willow, she seems to have suffered. Oh and her stepmum needs to die. Do all men think with their tiny heads?
And yes a few more ;)
The world was interesting. They got everything from tech to not tech societies. And the contrast was so cool. The country they are in is also going to hell in a hand basket.
And then there was this twist at the end and I was surprised. Maybe it had been hinted at in previous books but I was left 0_0.
So it worked out. I read book 3 in a serious but the author was really good at just letting the reader in easy, it's not meant to be read like that. But I was never left wondering. I could just read.
So from what I gathered while easily slipping into the book was that in earlier books some kids got sold as slaves. One become a part of a harem. One seems to have hooked up with the Lady of the house. One was a prince whose family had been murdered. One had a father who was some kind of bad ass and he rescued them. Too bad I missed that cos that sounded intense!
What I had now was that I got thrown into a civil war. An evil empire helping the bad guy and a few characters I got to know. No idea who I should like or not so I made my own mind about them.
Duncan (the one who had hooked up with a princess), no, I can't say I liked him but then he was on the invading force, and I clearly liked the rebels. So booo Duncan.
Cassandra, she seems to have been kidnapped by the rebels and was no with a nomadic tribe. I liked her (dunno if I was meant to), but I liked her, but that man of hers, she could do better. But he did seem cute and brave.
Willow, she seems to have suffered. Oh and her stepmum needs to die. Do all men think with their tiny heads?
And yes a few more ;)
The world was interesting. They got everything from tech to not tech societies. And the contrast was so cool. The country they are in is also going to hell in a hand basket.
And then there was this twist at the end and I was surprised. Maybe it had been hinted at in previous books but I was left 0_0.
So it worked out. I read book 3 in a serious but the author was really good at just letting the reader in easy, it's not meant to be read like that. But I was never left wondering. I could just read.
April 20, 2016
I found this to be a very enjoyable book, I struggled to understand some of the politics in this book, but that was probably because I didn't read the earlier ones (I hadn't worked out that this was part of a series!)
The story itself is well written. I would definitely recommend this book (and series) particularly to someone who enjoys stories with deep political themes.
The story itself is well written. I would definitely recommend this book (and series) particularly to someone who enjoys stories with deep political themes.
September 20, 2016
An absolute page turner.
July 3, 2017
That cover is fantastic! I liked the characters and the action. A few plot threads are left sort of up in the air but a great read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews