DNF at 95%. Reading this was a painful drag. Part of the reason for that is that this is grimdark fantasy a.k.a high fantasy dystopia. This means that the happiest these characters will ever be is in the beginning, and they didn't even start out very happy. It is a real downer. Put simply as someone who reads romances for the happy endings this genre just isn't my cup of tea. Like there is nothing that can make me enjoy Game of Thrones. Also trigger warning for rape. I hate it when rape is used as a narrative device but more on that later. The other part is just poor pacing. I don't think that Jennifer Fallon is a bad writer. There is good characterization and dialogue, but plot is her weakness. Whenever she needs the plot to move she uses literal deus ex machina having the gods appear as characters to make the plot do things. Like, she just has the god of love make the two mains fall in love, something which could have happened organically. This book is over three-hundred pages there is time for a romantic subplot. I think this is an interesting concept. It is probably the one of the few books I have read where a matriarchal society is not viewed in a positive light. Women in power make the same mistakes men do, and are just a susceptible to corrupting power. The author clearly views taking power through unscrupulous means as a bad thing because characters are punished for doing this, most notably R'shiel who gets raped after inciting a rebellion that she doesn't really believe in. This is just a really long drawn out political drama. The government of Medalon are atheists, but because they are a much smaller country they are pressured by monotheists into persecuting the polytheists. The fact that they are atheists makes them look really silly especially since the gods are demonstrably real. The polytheists also look really silly for putting their faith in the gods because the gods aren't really interested in helping people, but in helping themselves. The Harshini are pacifists, but that means that they are really useless in the face of conflict, and have to use other people to do their dirty work for them. Being heroic and honorable in this world like Tarja is viewed as abjectly silly because it is easier to follow the system than to rebel against it when you think it is wrong, and everyone is in it for themselves. The people in power will do whatever they must to keep it, even at the expense of destroying the things they are supposed to protect. I feel like the fun of fiction for me is to imagine that the world can be better than what it is currently, which is why grimdark fiction just really gets me down. ( )

The series is called Demon Child. I mean... DEMON CHILD!!! How could I NOT read it with such an insanely cool title?! Initially, I was drawn to this series because of The Lyre Thief, which just recently got released. But when I found out that Lyre Thief wasn't the first book in the series, I knew that I would have to start from the beginning. Which brought me here to Medalon.

Medalon is a small country bordered by the nation of Karien in the north and the nations of Fardohnya and Hythria in the south. The Sisters of the Blade rule Medalon with an iron fist, with an elite army of Defenders to enforce their rules. The Sisters forbid the worship of all gods, including the Harshini, a magical race that has been long extinct. They quash all signs of heathens with the force of the Defenders. And so, there is an uneasy peace. R'shiel Tenragan and her half-brother Tarja findd themselves caught up in a political battle when their mother takes on the role of the First Sister. In order to escape from her machinations, R'shiel and Tarja flee the Citadel for safer ground. But by fleeing, they incur the wrath of the Sisters and the Defenders, who hunt them as traitors. Meanwhile, in Hythria, Brak, a Harshini outcast, is tasked with finding the demon child, the half-human child of the dead Harshini king. But what does this have to do with R'shiel and Tarja?

I can see how I'm going to get hooked to this series! I really really liked this novel! When you read a lot of teen fantasy novels or standalone fantasy novels, there is a lot of world-building that gets missed. Not the case in this novel! You can tell the author spent a great deal of time envisioning this fantasy world; everything was well thought out and intricately put together. I felt like I was living in the story myself because it was so detailed! The story is interesting from page 1 and every perspective is explored at different intervals so you read about the situation happening in every country. There are some violent parts in the story, and rape does get brought up, so consider this your trigger warning! In general, I love power struggles; it's one of my favorite things about GoT, so I was really glad to see it expressed strongly in this novel.

I will admit, though, there were 3 things that I wasn't so happy about:

1) R'shiel is not a very strong protagonist; I wanted her to be more fierce but she was a lot more weak and stayed in the backseat while her brother took the main stage. Not that I didn't like Tarja, but I wanted to see some more badassery from her.

2) There is a romance element that made me feel really awkward. It should not have happened. Seriously, it just felt really weird and I have no idea why it came about that way and I really hope it somehow.... stops....

3) Brak's character is pretty much useless. He is supposed to find the demon child and bring them to one of the Gods but he literally does nothing except observe throughout the whole novel. It made me really annoyed because he could have had a more active role.

That being said, I still thought this was a really good novel. There was tons of action and duplicity and conniving characters and intrigue. The author really immerses the reader into this fictional world, and that allowed me to have a great experience while reading this novel. I will definitely be continuing with this series! ( )

This was a great start to a series! I really enjoyed the world created, the characters and the writing. It was paced well, intriguing, and fun to read.

We start the book by being introduced to R'shiel, a Novice in the Sisters of the Blade in Medalon. In Medalon, all religion is outlawed, and anyone practising worship is arrested by the Sisters. I really enjoyed learning about the history of this world and it's adjoining countries. The way that the world building was done was great, it didn't feel info dumpy and things were told to us throughout the book without being confusing or having me feel like the author was withholding information.

We also get to see a perspective from Brak - a Harshini/human man, part of the race that was "exterminated" by the Sisters. I really enjoyed seeing his perspective and how his story worked into it all as well.

I found the plot really intriguing, and well paced. I liked how the author wrote the story so that it really does feel like we need more books and how she created the situation we end up it. It was well crafted.

I enjoyed the characters and how they developed throughout the novel and how we got to know them. I did find some of the side characters to be a bit underdeveloped, but the had their place and their purpose and the author incorporated them well. I have a feeling some of these characters will show up more in the next book and we will get to see more of them.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and I'm glad that I accidentally bought the Lyre Thief without realizing I needed to read this trilogy first. Would recommend. ( )

Wat ben ik blij dat mijn Engels goed genoeg is om dit deel te lezen. Want na de eerste 3 boeken (Wolfsblad trilogie) is er niets meer vertaald en dat is echt zonde. Het zijn allemaal heerlijke boeken en dit '4de' deel is geen uitzondering. Ik ben zelf al begonnen in boek 5. ( )

I loved the concept of this book. It had all the things I have been missing in the past few fantasy novels I'd read. An interesting call to adventure, magic and characters from all parts of the world that was created.

I was drawn in almost instantly by an alternate version of power that didn't involve a king or queen, but the Sisterhood.

The concept of this book was good, but at times I felt was poorly executed. At times I felt it was rushed and very clichéd. I knew what was happening, but only because I'd seen it many times before. I suppose you could say I loved the plot, but the writing was only okay.

That being said, I was fortunate enough to have read another series The Tide Lords before this and it was one of my favourite series, so I know her writing improves!

The plot has interested me enough to keep me reading the next two! ( )