Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
Ilyas and Jem arrive in Nuriya to secure a trade deal on behalf of Lumi. But what Ilyas thought would be surprisingly easy turns out to be a whole lot tougher. Especially after he receives the news that he has a child.As Ilyas is distracted by his child, Jem falls into a whole new trouble with people who call themselves the Immortal Watch. But what they both don’t know is that they are just cogs in the scheme of a much more elaborate plan…
This book is all about its story. It is a story that has everything and would be near impossible to describe in a single word but if I had to that word would have to be ambitious. This story has gods, aliens, a supernatural war, interdimensional travel, bloody politics, a scramble for power, new hopes, crushing defeats, death and a search for a trade deal that started it all. And if I could get another word it would be interesting. This story is a high speed roller-coaster ride that just leaves you flipping the pages one after the other till the very end. I read this book in a single sitting, which definitely proves that I for one was hooked to this story.
My issues with this book are more morally inclined, I don’t like books with indiscriminate killing and there is a lot of that in this book, also the pig-headed MCs of this book didn’t help matters.
Olivia Helling has a gift she can make you hate and absolve a character in the span of one book. In the last book I faced this with Ilyas; this time around it’s Jem. What I came to realise is that while Jem’s behaviour and actions fit well against the background of the events taking place in Lumi, the same actions in Nuriya make him look unhinged.
The main focus of this story is on a war that took place between the gods and the members of the Immortal Watch ages ago and how that war has shaped the events that happen in this book. I won’t go into further detail as that would be a major spoiler but that aspect of this story is the best part of this book and is a thriller that twists and turns and leaves you all wringed out. But there is a subplot concerning Ilyas and Jem and their budding relationship and the strain that Ilyas’ discovery of being a father puts on it.
Personally Ilyas and Jem’s relationship seems woefully underdeveloped but as that underdevelopment was essential to the plot of the book, I let it go but it was still there in the back of my mind that there circumstances were unique in the extreme.
I liked Ilyas and I loved him throughout the book, especially as he finally gets Jem to see the fallacy of his actions. But their resolution seems a bit too hurried; I think they really need to work out certain things between them that were left unsaid at the end of this book. If there is going to be another book in this series I hope it focuses on their relationship.
Overall this is one hell of a book with an amazing plot that never lets up.
Cover Art by Lou Harper. I liked the cover but it doesn’t exactly match the image I had in my head, especially concerning the city of Nuriya which looks desert-like for a place with such fertile grounds. Also, the singular colour of the buildings didn’t fit with the colour loving Nuriyites.
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Book Details:
ebook
Published September 23rd 2016 by Olivia Helling
ISBN139780993918094
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series: Godsbane Prince
Published September 23rd 2016 by Olivia Helling
ISBN139780993918094
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series: Godsbane Prince
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 