Demir’s chapters are a mix of political intrigue, mystery, and war all while developing the magic system. I think some character perspectives were better than others but I really liked the writing style of this book so I didn't mind too much. It did slow the work down, and I found myself impatiently waiting for his chapters to be over so I could get back to the “real” story. And the reveal when it came was rather expected even if the overall why of it hasn't been explained completely yet.

The first with his tiring 'Lightning Prince' moniker is kinda corny, and the amout of navelgazing among these two were too much. Reformers in Ossa had a long and glorious tradition of dying publicly, killed by their peers for pushing societal reforms too strongly. He's lost his self-control and charisma of yesteryear, and is forced to use brute force to defeat his enemies. The goon behind him was well over six feet tall, thick and powerful and with the oft-broken fingers and battered face of a retired cudgelist.In some ways it was pure Brian McClellan, but it also held a lot of surprises, and alas, some disappointments as well. There are different types of glass that can give characters who use it temporary superpowers like enhanced strength, healing, etc.

IF YOU ARE IN THE TARGET AUDIENCE, OR THE GENRES/TROPES SOUND INTERESTING TO YOU, SHOULD YOU READ THIS? En general me ha gustado bastante, tanto a nivel de worldbuilding, a nivel de personajes y a nivel de la historia.

She says she found the twists predictable, but what I truly suspect is that her aversion for action and battle scenes came to the fore- she tends to skim these parts! He felt a gentle hand on his back while he spat out bile, then wiped his mouth on an offered handkerchief. There are several ongoing, linked storylines going at once, but they are done so well you don’t get confused by the jumps between characters.

Luckily, we started easing off the brakes again once we hit the second half, and with the introduction of some of the more, er, monstrous elements of the story, I found the last sections of the book really hard to put down. It started slowly, probably because I felt like I had seen this book one too many times but it fully captured me towards the end. Unfortunately, though, the reality currently is that I have spent 14 days trying to read this book and failing. Even exile is no solace for him, as he's dragged back into the very mires that sought to drown him earlier in his life. We begin with a miscommunication—one that leads to massacre and the ruination of a military rising star’s career.And, in years to come, he'll be heralded as one of the very elite authors to have ever penned a letter in the genre. AND BECAUSE there's no room for the Lovecraftian aesthetic in this engineering based system, is precisely why the aesthetic works so well here. The murder mystery of who killed Demir's mother and the other mystery of the secret society were also lackluster. There was something about him and his part of the plot that had me so dang intrigued every time he had a chapter. It was a visceral sport, and Demir felt that it defined the entire Ossan experience wonderfully—the way contestants broke their bodies for the chance at glory while everyone else cheered them on.

But if I were this books editor and I were tasked to improve upon this already good tension, I would suggest that the tall man assassin would attempt to kill all four of the different protagonists at different points. I'd compare it to it's use in the video game 'Bloodborne,' a game which is advertised and presents itself as traditional gothic horror (werewolves in London! I didn't feel that there really was a big mystery and watching the characters flail around and make no real progress was frustrating.

Conflicts, reveals, and reconciliations are never given any time to sink in, which ultimately robs these situations of any gravity.