Overall this book is enjoyable and entertaining. Its written well enough and has an interesting story line i wont spoil. I got the whole way to half way through book 3, but stopped. There are 5 issues that slowly but surely grated on me and i had to stop. These arnt really spoilers either. If you can get past these issues or if they just dont bother you entirely this is a good book. Travis Baldree is an amazing narrator and the book really does have a decent enough plot that will keep you interested. Yet these things got to me in the end.
1.The speech is unnatural. Every sentence is too well thought out and poetic. It feels rehearsed and a tad unrealistic.
2.The main character has a thing about not killing people. He only does it when he is backed into a corner and has no other alternative. If that doesnt bother you, fine, but thats the kind of stuff that just gets more people killed in the end. Several times he does this catch and release of bad guys that only come back to threaten him later. Its childish.
3.The magic is a tad lack luster. They can all project emotion and feelings, but in terms of actual fireball types stuff, its extremely extremely rare. Even the main character can only do wind gusts. So…meh
4.There is very little grey zone in characters. Its your either a raging a hole who likes to torture innocent people or your a righteous allie that fights to liberate the tributes. Literally no in between.
5.Lack of world building. For whatever reason there is literally one kingdom. One and only one for thousands of years with little to no expansion. I get there are these creepy dark abominations on their one border, but literally nothing? no other kingdom no expansion into the sea. Like nothing at all? k…
Like i said if your cool with the above, spare a credit. Its interesting enough.