I liked it. It isn't as highly crafted as other fantasy novels but is still a fun read. The story weaves political machinations, sibling rivalry, knights and chivalry, a rocky romance between two unlikely people, assassination attempts and an uneasy temporary truce between two clans among the daily life of living in a castle and at King's Court. Thor still seems unsure of what to do but when the going gets tough, he somehow manages to overcome the odds stacked against him. He isn't hero material but has the potential to become the greatest of them all ... if he can figure out what his powers mean and how to control them. At the rate he's going, it will be quite a few books away but I still think it's worth the read.

Very good continuation of the story. Leaves you on a cliff hanger tho! On to book 3 pronto.

The writing in these novels is bad in many ways, but I can't help but be drawn in to the story and the characters' lives, all the same. I just laugh when parts are poorly written or redundant, and carry on listening. The audiobooks are pretty good, as long as they're sped up; the reading pace is way too slow at 100%. I find that 120% is just right. The narrator does a good job of various voices and accents.

I'm trying to separate the quality of writing from the story being told, but sometimes the poor writing strains the story. One such example is how Thor constantly finds himself in situations where a little magic would help tremendously, yet the author creates a physical fight scene in which Thor should ultimately lose, until finally the magic wells up and spills out of him. Why does he not ever instantly think of magic, and try to call it up? It's incredibly unbelievable that he would be caught off guard and surprised by it appearing, after the first or second time that it happened. It's hard to get through those scenes.

I like what's happening with some of the characters, especially Godfrey and Gwen, as related to their father's death and their subsequent character growth. Kendrick and Reece are excellent people from the start, noble and compassionate, and they continue being enjoyable and likable. Gareth is a despicable person, of course, as is McCloud, and they're prime examples of how interesting it can be to read stories from the perspective of the bad guy. I love seeing inside their heads and following their perspectives in some of their scenes. I'm so glad their POVs are included.

These books are really hard to rate and review, because I honestly think of so many aspects to pick apart and scorn while I also am fully invested in the characters' stories and the world they're in. The overall story is quite compelling, but could be much more so if edited a lot better and rewritten a bit. My opinion teeters in the middle of good and bad, and I've settled on 3 stars.

This books are poorly written but I can't stop reading them! Someone help me!

More of the same old chewed up and spit out, cliched plot lines, boring, one dimensional characters, amazing coincidences that only ever work in the favour of the protagonists, and terrible grammar.
How can any author mess up the classic hero on a quest, I do not understand, and how this book, or anything this author has written made it to the bestseller list is a miracle.
Don't think twice, just skip this and thank me.

This book was a bit of a let-down, but mostly completely my fault. After reading 'rise of the dragons' I excitedly bought this and read most of it thinking it was book 2 of that series. Only very late on did I realise it's from a different series altogether!! So my constant feeling of 'how do all these new characters relate to the first book? And where are the dragons?!' was answered by 'I am reading the wrong book'.

So! This book itself, was very readable, but not a lot seemed to happen and the characters were not particularly gripping or memorable. Still, out of my own guilt of making this mistake, I'm giving it 3 stars :)

Well, I did enjoy this one more than the previous one.

There were still a lot of copyediting/revising issues that drove me crazy.

And I swear if Thor said one more time that the king was like a father to him I was going to scream.

But there was a better balance of character development and I really do want to know what happens in the big picture.

This also doesn't end so much as stop. If I didn't already have the other ones that would annoy me enough to keep me from reading further, but since I have them I figure I might as well keep going for now.

I'm probably not the right demographic for this book/series. If I remember rightly, I got it for free, having been notified by one of the many cheap/free book deal emails you can sign up to and it didn't make any mention that this was a young adult series. Even then, I think there will be young adults out there who have more discerning tastes.

It's not all bad - something about the characters draws you in and while I have no plans to buy book three at present, I wouldn't rule it out in a moment of weakness in the future, if only to see how all the many cliffhangers are resolved. (The problem will probably be that there will be even more cliffhangers at the end of the next volume, and the next, and the next...)

If you are happy with the unexplained - for example how an energy barrier works in what is a pseudo-medieval world - strange and unlikely creatures - "He saw a long, purple snake, nearly the length of the boat, with a dozen heads on it, spaced out all along its body." - passages that makes on sense and should probably have been proof read - "He detected movement and looked over to see that his attendants were not there." So, what had made the movement, then??? - then it's possible you will enjoy this book more than I did.