James Islington

Apparently the magical school setting is so big now it's a subgenre in its own right. This one had a lot of hype online.
If you're going to set a book in a first person perspective (with no change of views either) you'd better have a sensational character to follow since it's the only voice the book will have. Vis ain't it. Islington makes a lot out of some basic knowledge of latin and has an interesting magic system in the form of "ceding will" - it just doesn't spring from the written page like it does in an outline. It's not particularly distinctive in the novel and might as well be any other handwaved magic explanation. As the first book in a series there's no satisfying conclusion (in fact in ends on a cliffhanger), and nearly all of it is just setting up future mysteries.
Could have used a shifting POV like ASOIAF to get some variety of character. Could have used a different structure with more definite concluded stories as the first part of a series (compare with something like the Expanse series).… (lisätietoja)

Whatever it is that I just finished reading, was freaking AWESOME. It's rare to run across something that starts out feeling a little too familiar (Red Rising) and ends up being unlike anything I've ever read before. But this book was that, in spades. Completely new magic system that reads both fantasy and sci-fi, a class system that is also brand new but recognizable, and tropes I thought I'd tired of, but which are presented in an exciting new way or turned completely on their heads. (orphan to royalty).

Though I think the dramatic personae could benefit from being presented up front (I spent half the damn book trying to figure out how to pronounce these names, and I took three years of college Latin), the rest of the story was beyond reproach. Incredible depth of character, world-building, geography etc... fast-paced but not too fast to miss the details that really make a story shine, plot points that are impossible to predict, but thrilling all the same, and world-building unlike anything I have ever read.

And another thing I appreciated? This book had some fantastic editing.

Definitely read it. And you'll definitely want to read it again!… (lisätietoja)