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The Torch that Ignites the Stars

(Arcane Ascension #3)

Andrew Rowe (Goodreads Author)

4.10 · Rating details · 4,428 ratings · 259 reviews

After concluding their first year at Lorian Heights, Corin and his friends catch a train from their native Valia to the distant country of Caelford. For most, this would be a simple vacation. Corin has other plans.

-Meet Anabelle Farren, the eccentric owner of Farren Labs, and learn about artificial attunements.
-Seek out Warren Constantine, a previous Arbiter, for training ...more

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Kindle Edition, 571 pages

Published December 6th 2020

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Dec 08, 2020 Ryan McCoin rated it liked it

I am a longtime fan of Andrew Rowe and his books. I loved How to Defeat a Demon King and Sufficiently Advanced Magic was groundbreaking. However, I have some issues with this book. Below are some of those issues, in no particular order, but with some spoilers.

This story felt a little poorly planned and like the author didn't quite know what to do with it at times, like it was a placeholder to set up the next book. In the beginning portion of the book Corin goes over some enchanting projects that ...more

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Dec 08, 2020 Fritz rated it it was ok

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Preface: I have not read any of Andrew Rowe's other series. As with my other reviews, I tend to focus on negatives rather than positives since I believe critical reviews are more useful in determining whether something is worth reading or not. This means that despite primarily focusing on negatives, there were definitely parts of the book I enjoyed; I wouldn't have finished it otherwise.

I think there are a few big problems that are holding the book back. It still has an interesting world and I c Preface: I have not read any of Andrew Rowe's other series. As with my other reviews, I tend to focus on negatives rather than positives since I believe critical reviews are more useful in determining whether something is worth reading or not. This means that despite primarily focusing on negatives, there were definitely parts of the book I enjoyed; I wouldn't have finished it otherwise.

I think there are a few big problems that are holding the book back. It still has an interesting world and I could see why people might like the characters but my enjoyment of this series is dwindling.

The first issue is all the random tangents throughout the plot and dialogs. Worldbuilding is interesting to an extent but I found myself eventually just skipping paragraphs as characters (particularly Corin) would derail a conversation to talk at length about a topic that no (or little) plot relevance. Because of this, the dialog didn't feel like it had a natural flow to it.

These tangents extended to the plot lines too. The group would be on a mission to do something and then find out they needed to do something else first, but to do that they had to complete yet another pre-requisite and so on. What didn't help is that almost none of these plotlines were resolved, making it feel like nothing was really accomplished this book.

I also didn't like how the group's trust issues continue to drive plot points and force conflict where there were none to be had. I found myself rolling my eyes when they decided not to trust both the woman who teleported them and then also the guy she brought them to that they had been searching for.

I am still not sure I like Sera as a character. She was given a not-so-subtle nerf to try and balance her overpowered attunement and contracts but then it was solved through the power of deus ex at the end of this book. Jin literally just appears in the epilogue and gives them the magic flower that solves her problems. It feels strange to fix her this way when her quest to find a cure was an opportunity for character growth.

I know this is going to be controversial but I would rate this book a 2.5/5. The pacing issues caused by the tangents and some of the tower scenes (did we really need multiple pages of the gang looting the junk room?) had my interest waning at times. The meta plot had advanced in the previous two books however it felt as if little was accomplished in this book. I apologize for being this negative in a review but I quite liked the first couple books in the series and this one didn't live up to the expectations I had for it. ...more

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Dec 07, 2020 Mana rated it did not like it

Shelves: dnf

Got through 70% of the book and couldn't force my way through more. Basically, it's a book where there's a lot of Maybes, Mights, and Coulds, but where nothing actually gets accomplished.

I am not even sure why the main character is the main character at this point. He's one of the most boring characters I've ever read, (view spoiler) ...more

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Dec 09, 2020 Tushar Thakur rated it it was ok

Compared to the previous two books the prose has taken a nosedive, too much modern American colloquialism ruins my suspension of disbelief, add to that the numerous grammatical errors this book suffers from and you have got an amateurishly written book.
Plot-wise it was okay, the worldbuilding was much better with scenario rooms in the Spire climbing section being the most enjoyable part of the book. The overarching plot was lacking with many of the characters refusing to answer basic questions w ...more

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Oct 09, 2021 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2021-shelf, fantasy

You know, when it comes right down to knowing what you want and setting all your sights on it, and that little something has to do with magic systems, rules, developing your magic skills -- or just plain breaking the system -- then none of us of that *special* breed can go wrong with LitRPG books like this.

Hey, the tale is all progression, a little mystery, and a lot of learning. I LIKE this kind of thing. Hell, I love it.

And so I am here to say that Andrew Rowe is kicking some major ass again. ...more

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Feb 01, 2021 Kitty G Books rated it really liked it

I really enjoyed this book in the series, and I'm so glad there's so much more story to come. This is the third book following Corin and his family and friends as they learn about their attunements and the potential they have to create real-world changes. They are a tight-knit group including Mara, Patrick, Sera, Cecily, Keras and Corin, along with many others who pop in along the way. Each of them have their own magic system runes and attunements, and they're all fairly young and still figuring ...more

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Sep 08, 2020 fane rated it it was amazing

~~I really hope Jin Dalen doesnt get left behind, PLEASE. I want him to be part of the story.~~

_________________________________________________________

I loved the book. More world-building and expansion on the magic System. I enjoyed Corin's fight scene a lot and hope to see more of his combat capability next book (considering the epilogue, I think we will see a lot more action next book). And finally, Sera is getting a break she deserves, hopefully, (thanks Jin). Cannot wait for the next book. ...more

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Jun 10, 2021 Rob rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 20xx-sword, fantasy, author-male, own, read-2021, audio-book

Executive Summary: A bit of a slow start and some VERY clunky prose, But overall another fun entry in the series. 3.5 stars, rounded up.

Audiobook: I really like Nick Podehl and he once again does a great job here. He uses a variety of voices that makes each character distinct. There are parts of this book through no fault of his own that are a bit painful to listen to as "unabridged" audio, but not too many. Overall I really enjoy audio and will continue to do this series that way.

Full Review ...more

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Mar 07, 2021 Mike rated it really liked it

Reading this book gives me the rather odd feeling of oscillating between “this book is awesome” and “I should really just find this tedious, but I’m actually loving it.”

Let me explain. The Arcane Ascension series (of which this is #3, though there are some outrigger books that kind of complicate things) is LitRPG, so it’s got not only a story but lots of video game/role playing game elements packed into it. These need to be evaluated on their own merits, if I’m going to be fair.

The story is grea Reading this book gives me the rather odd feeling of oscillating between “this book is awesome” and “I should really just find this tedious, but I’m actually loving it.”

Let me explain. The Arcane Ascension series (of which this is #3, though there are some outrigger books that kind of complicate things) is LitRPG, so it’s got not only a story but lots of video game/role playing game elements packed into it. These need to be evaluated on their own merits, if I’m going to be fair.

The story is great fun. It’s got mysteries, adventures, challenges, and great characters. I particularly like that the protagonist and secondary protagonists, Corin and Sera, are brother and sister - they have a wonderful relationship, and it’s a nice change of pace to have zero sexual tension between the male and female leads. Throw in the fact that Corin is asexual (though not aromantic) and it’s just a nice read. I’m generally a big fan of romance plotlines, but having a book with that being a much toned-down element (it’s not gone completely) is very enjoyable.

The plot is nicely mysterious, and those mysteries are getting spun out at a good clip. The worldbuilding is a bit thin, mostly (I think) because Rowe wanted a world where he can do whatever RPG stuff he wants. It works. Lots to like here, in other words.

And the action is frequently interrupted for A) Corin to get super interested in the very fine technical points of how magic works, and B) literal dungeon crawls. As in “hey, let’s go through this dungeon and collect some loot and XP.” Though this book Rowe branches out a bit and has Corin doing tower defense as well. (note to Andrew, if you’re reading this: much as I appreciate Corin’s repeated use of the “pile of couches” item, he really should have had access to a Pea-shooter or a Wall-nut or Melon-pult or something.) I kept thinking these segments SHOULD be incredibly tedious, but they just … weren’t. It reminded me of nothing so much as the time I’ve spent over the years reading RPG books (by which I mean stuff like the Player’s Guide and Monster Manual) and the little inset booklets that used to come with video games and, to really date myself, things like the guidebooks they would publish that let you find all the hidden things in old school Final Fantasy games.

So … yeah. I firmly put this book, and series, in the “much more fun than they should be” column. Or maybe I’m just more like Corin than I’d like to admit. ...more

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Jun 12, 2021 Atlas rated it liked it

I liked it and, as per usual, the audiobook narration is superb. But The Torch That Ignites the Stars felt like a filler book - like if JK Rowling wrote about what Harry did on his summer holiday, all wrapped up in one book. This could have been Arcane Ascension 2.5.

It was fun, it had tower climbing and weird ethical conversations, but by the end it felt like Corin was exactly the same person as he was when the book started.

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Dec 10, 2020 Jeffrey Jones rated it liked it

I don’t really understand what happened with this book. I loved the first two. And I loved weapons and wielders. However suddenly everything seemed so inconsequential with the way things were going with this book. Many of the characters suddenly became extremely obnoxious. Sera, who I once thought was maybe one of the most interesting characters, now was almost completely unbearable in almost every scene she’s in. While Corrin... I mean, his personality seems to change from one thing to another ...more

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Dec 18, 2020 Vintagebooklvr rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Rowe does a wonderful job of world-building and it is a joy to read one of his books. This adventure explores part of the continent not visited before in the series and our intrepid travelers manage to visit another tower and discover another facet of the goddess.

A lot happens in the book but it doesn't always seem that things advanced much. Corin didn't get much done on his to do list. He met people but his objectives weren't really met. Some progress was made but it just seems like there shou ...more

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Dec 12, 2020 Sadie Rose rated it liked it

Aug 2021 Update: Listened to the audiobook this time around! Same feelings as before. Lots of fun, but not quite up to the previous books story wise.

The Torch that Ignites the Stars was a fun read, but it suffers from a pretty heavy case of middle book syndrome.

To start on a positive note, as I mentioned this book was a lot of fun. The challenges were a blast to read about and almost always played out differently than I expected, and it was great to spend time with the characters that I've come Aug 2021 Update: Listened to the audiobook this time around! Same feelings as before. Lots of fun, but not quite up to the previous books story wise.

The Torch that Ignites the Stars was a fun read, but it suffers from a pretty heavy case of middle book syndrome.

To start on a positive note, as I mentioned this book was a lot of fun. The challenges were a blast to read about and almost always played out differently than I expected, and it was great to spend time with the characters that I've come to love so much. Corin and Sera spend a lot of time together in this book, and seeing their bond as sibling continue to develop was lovely. We also get some expansion on the world, the magic mechanics etc. in this book that will definitely come into play later, although I do feel like maybe the information could have been delivered in a more satisfying way. It felt a little to easy, almost. .

One of the major issues with this book, though, is there's almost no progress made regarding the main plot of the book. I also never really got a sense of tension or high stakes. The fact that this book only takes place over a couple weeks, whereas the other take place over ~half a year severally limits the progress. Also, while the RPG influence was clear in the last two books but they still felt like full stories, this book really just felt like reading a D&D campaign were we jump from one quest to another. We spend a lot of time with the characters levelling up and learning some new things, and going on tangent quests. The characters as well, feel like they're levelling up far to easily in this novel, whereas the previous books felt much more natural. There's a lot of extremely overpowered characters in this series and that's not necessarily something that bothers me, and it's clear our main characters are going to end up in that camp eventually, but it feels like it's happening far to conveniently and quickly. I'm hoping in future books we get some serious hinderances to their power.

Also, if you haven't read Rowe's other books in the same world, I think there might be some confusion in this book. There's a lot of references to other characters/magics/etc. from other books, and while these have been alluded to in Arcane Ascension, I still think it's pretty dependent on having read the other books. There's also a multiple instances in this book where Rowe is clearly setting up for another companion book, which I get but it also takes a way from this series feeling self-contained.

Finally, we needed way, way more Patrick.

I get the sense from the author that he's aware this book is pretty different from the past two, and I'm hoping that means future entries will be back on par.

TL;DR: This isn't a bad book by any means, but it almost feels like it should have been shortened a bit and made into a companion novella tbh - like as entry 2.5, or something, rather than the third book in the series. Go into this expecting a fun D&D campaign like romp, rather than progression of the main plot. ...more

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May 21, 2021 Eric Allen rated it it was ok

TLDR: HAAAAAAAARD meh.

This book is pretty much just filler. It doesn't really seem to serve any purpose within the greater narrative of the series. Most of it is things we've already seen before, and is pretty underwhelming as this is the third time through without much of a change up. The things that the book tries to do differently from the previous two don't really work, because it falls into the same trap that Star Trek did with its holodeck episodes. People are watching Star Trek to see Sta ...more

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Dec 11, 2020 Venson Mascarenhas rated it did not like it

Waste of time reading this. This is probably the last book I'm reading from this series. ...more

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Apr 25, 2022 Julia Sarene rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy-all-subgenres, fantasy-litrpg

I enjoyed this a bit less than the second book.
The characters are still great, and I adore spending my time with them!

The pure stats and enchanting got a bit too much at times though. While it was perfectly balanced for me in book two, here I found myself wanting the story to move on every so often. Not necessarily because it was too much of stats and explaining, but because it wasn't nestled I to the story as much. There's one long piece where we just read what things he wants to make, and it' ...more

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Dec 07, 2020 Craig Willis rated it it was amazing

Excellent book 3

I've continued to love all of the series that Andrew Rowe writes, each one having a unique style and feeling even though they are set in the same world. However, the Arcane Ascension series has always been my favourite.

If you are reading a review for book three, you've probably already read the other two. If you have, this is more of the same, but better. Go buy.

If for some reason you've not read the other two, then my reviews on them would be better, but the series as a whole ha ...more

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Dec 07, 2020 Cameron rated it it was amazing

Long awaited - greatly enjoyed

I really enjoy these books. The series focuses on a character who has to work twice as hard with his attunement / magical abilities related to enchanting things to be a combat duelist. He has in many ways started to reach his peak at that - having used so many devices to compensate for magical abilities that are far from being intended to work in combat.

Seeing how far he has come is One of my favorite parts of this book. I look forward to a book 4, though imagine i ...more

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Dec 17, 2020 Gagnagagog rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobooks-tbh

Arcane Ascension always had the benefit of having better prose combined with a unique setting which made it the perfect entry and a staple for people enjoying the power-progression fantasy.

The third book however unfortunately did not live to my high expectations set by its predecessors. The frame of the story (i.e three different factions plotting to change how the powers are distributed in the world in the way they want) is fantastic, but got thrown so far into the back, that even though the st ...more

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Jul 24, 2021 Soo rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook

Notes:

I definitely like the tower sequences more than anything else that happened in the book. Happy to have gotten caught up on this series, but not sure if I'll continue to follow the books because I did not enjoy some of the other books written for the world. ...more

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Jan 06, 2021 Steve Naylor rated it liked it

Rating 3.0 stars

My enjoyment really decreased with this book. I guess the main reason is that I really couldn't understand the goals in this one. In the first book Cadence wants to get an attunement and find out what happened to his brother. The second book was more of the same. Get stronger and find out what happened to his brother. The was a pretty good balance between the action, the practical learning and the theoretical magical learning. This book deals with the time immediately after book ...more

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Dec 29, 2020 Louis Kalman rated it it was ok

Rowe has possibly the cringiest dialogue and characters I've ever read. Don't know why I bothered with this after reading the first book of his Keras series and how it had the same awful interactions. The rest is proficient enough but Rowe writes like he has never interacted with another human being outside of watching anime and talking to 'quirky' people on Twitter. Everyone pokes each other, "eeps", his dialogue with his sister is her trying to constantly sound witty and badass when it's just ...more

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Dec 24, 2020 Jay rated it did not like it

The author's time spent in video games becomes apparent, as the story is full of extended side quests that take place for no apparent reason, and dialogue that reads like it was picked from a dropdown box, all wrapped up in cover art far more exciting than anything you'll find inside (checklists! extended monologues on made-up details of magical systems that will be discarded when they're inconvenient! surprise ethical concerns!)

Why is it that authors think human beings say "Point."? I've heard ...more

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Dec 07, 2020 Frane Rogić rated it really liked it

A solid continuation of the series if not as good as the first 2 books, a lot of mysteries get solved and some new ones get introduced. It also seemed as this book had the classical middle book syndrome where the cast didn't have enough power to influence all the events that are happening so it served as a setup for the next 1 or 2 books.

...more

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Dec 10, 2020 Natalie rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 22, 2021 Tyler rated it liked it

It's fun. I read it fast. Some of the characters have funny lines. But it feels like empty calories. The plot doesn't seem to be going anywhere and Rowe's writing style/environments feel computer generated. Not sure this needed to be a whole novel to cover what amounts to a few weeks.

Rowe still struggles with properly setting up stakes in his world. Either his main characters survive ridiculous encounters that they should have no chance in. Or they go up against the simplest odds and they will o ...more

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Jun 28, 2021 Matt Vallee rated it liked it

3.5/5 stars

The Torch that Ignites the Stars once again follows Corin and company and once again picks up directly after On the Shoulders of Titans. The entirety of this book covers the students' summer vacation between their first and second years at the academy, consisting of the train rides to and from Caelford and the two-ish weeks spent visiting. Corin is on a mission from Tristan to seek out another arbiter which, as expected, doesn't end up being a simple task.

I'm quickly learning that "pr ...more

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Dec 07, 2020 Akshat Mishra rated it it was amazing

Great Book

Bit different than the other two but Another great addition to the series. A lot interesting characters were introduced this time around. It's a great base for what is to come next. ...more

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Dec 06, 2020 Brendan Coffey rated it really liked it

A Great continuation

A Great addition to the series. Solid Character work, and it expands the setting well. Though at this point, Chekov's left so many guns lying around, some of them are bound to start going off... ...more

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Dec 07, 2020 Dion Crump rated it it was amazing

Love it

Not many books can get me to put down another one to start it but Arcane Ascension is one of them.

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About Andrew Rowe

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Arcane Ascension (3 books)

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“everyone who exists is mentally compromised. We all accumulate false information over time, internalize it, and are influenced by it, consciously or otherwise. We are, in part, a product of these biases, as well as all other information we gather in our lifetimes.” — 4 likes

“For me, meeting new people was generally an unfortunate necessity, not an interest. Anabelle Farren might have actually been an exception for me, if I hadn’t been absolutely confident that she — or Nakht — was about fifty percent likely to obliterate me if I said the wrong thing. That sort of thing made it hard for me to be enthusiastic,” — 1 likes

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