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James Islington

Auteur van The Shadow of What Was Lost

6 Werken 2,918 Leden 58 Besprekingen Favoriet van 4 leden

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Werken van James Islington

The Shadow of What Was Lost (2017) 1,503 exemplaren
An Echo Of Things To Come (2017) 598 exemplaren
The Light of All That Falls (2019) 486 exemplaren
The Will of the Many (2023) 322 exemplaren
The Licanius Trilogy (2019) 7 exemplaren

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Algemene kennis

Geboortedatum
1981-04-19
Geslacht
male
Nationaliteit
Australia
Geboorteplaats
Victoria, Australia
Woonplaatsen
Victoria, Australia
Beroepen
novelist

Leden

Besprekingen

I kept getting Stormlight Archive vibes, which is a compliment to Sanderson, but thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this series. It did take the oh-so-excellent narration by Michael Kramer to fully get me engaged, but once I did, the storyline set its hooks in me.

The only problem that I had was the seemingly utter stupidity of the teenaged protaganists. Maybe I'm too far removed from that age, and just don't remember how stupid I was, but it seems to be my new pet peeve in books.

I've already purchased the audio and Kindle versions of book #2, An Echo of Things to Come.
… (meer)
 
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jazzbird61 | 37 andere besprekingen | Feb 29, 2024 |
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).
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A.Godhelm | 2 andere besprekingen | Oct 20, 2023 |
Seems interesting enough, at least enough to read the next book.
 
Gemarkeerd
levlazarev | 37 andere besprekingen | Oct 18, 2023 |
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!
… (meer)
 
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BreePye | 2 andere besprekingen | Oct 6, 2023 |

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Statistieken

Werken
6
Leden
2,918
Populariteit
#8,774
Waardering
4.0
Besprekingen
58
ISBNs
51
Talen
5
Favoriet
4

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