A fun YA with solid characters.

Though it does have its problems, here we have a fun YA fantasy tale with strong, well developed characters and a simplified WoT-eske plot.

David Stifel gives us a solid audio performance with a good selection of voices. His female voices are better than a lot of male narrators, but his vocal inflections do leave something to be desired. My main critique here, however, is his lack of tempo changes throughout the text.

Right off the bat, I was immediately drawn to Inga. Almost from the first page we meet her on, you can feel how conflicted she is and how meeting Erick causes a radical shift in her world view.

And while they weren’t my favorite characters, Erick and Gabriel both hit me on a visceral level. They both have powerful motivations and conflicts that I couldn’t help but feel. All the more so because they spend so much time being diametrically opposed.

At first, the direct involvement of the gods turned me off a bit. But later on there are some things revealed about the gods that very much mitigate that.

There are numerous small victories throughout that really help these characters to build their confidence as each is learning to use the abilities they possess.

On a side note, I couldn’t help but laugh at the reversal in regard to fighting skills. The fact that the women are vastly more skilled than the men is kind of awesome.

Now, I do have a few critiques.

First, I really hate finding colloquialisms in fantasy that isn’t post-apocalyptic. I end up spending a ton of time trying to work out how such a phrase might exist in a medieval world instead of being invested in the characters and story.

And in most cases (this being no exception), I can’t come up with any reason such phrases might exist.

Second, and this is fairly minor, but there are a few instances where the wrong word has been used (such as ancestor when the author clearly meant descendant).

I find the dividing line between the different types of magic to be both arbitrary and very strange. Why earth, sky, and light? Apart from those being the powers of the gods who ostensibly govern magic, there is no real explanation given.

And lastly, I apologize if this is slightly spoilery, but I have a really hard time swallowing the main villain’s powers. I can get behind the idea that black magic is more powerful than light because it is a violation of the natural order. But the idea that a few centuries practicing it could make him more powerful that not only one, but (potentially) all three gods combined just seems more than a little preposterous to me.

Now, all that aside, the author told a good story that was fun to read and more satisfying that most YA fantasies.

While the end seemed rather short to be the final conclusion to an epic fantasy trilogy, it was exciting, well-paced, and ultimately came to a satisfactory close.

I would definitely recommend this book to any fan of YA fantasy, particularly if you’re looking for strong female characters that feel real and don’t end up overpowering every other character in the book.