This is a delightfully fun classic fantasy novel, beautifully narrated by Brenock O'Connor and made compulsively readable by the mysteries - big and small - woven throughout.

It's a bit slow to start and probably a bit too long, but it nonetheless had me hooked till the very end; the worldbuilding is fascinating, hinting at much more to come, the plot engaging, well-paced and full of fun twists and turns (though Lukan's exceptional luck does ocassionally lean towards glaringly obvious plot armour). Lukan is pretty generic as fantasy protags go, but not offensively so, and Flea - the street urchin turned Lukan's guide/sidekick/friend - is a highlight among the supporting characters, bound to become a reader-favourite. Their dynamic is deeply endearing. I do have some criticisms - kinda sucks that the only fat character in the story is a stereotype, for example - but I definitely want to see where it all goes from here.

Overall, yeah, it doesn't really bring anything new to the genre, but it sure is FUN, so [shrugs] I really can't wait to get my hands on the sequel, especially with the great setup at the end of this book 🫶

(Thanks to Quercus Audio and Netgalley for the ARC!)

 The Silverblood Promise - James Logan (ARC) 

⭐️ -3.5

📱

This story follows Lukan as he travels to the city of Saphrona to investigate his father’s murder and soon finds himself very much in over his head.

I feel a bit mixed about this…

To start with the positive, this was a really fun time. It was really fast paced and familiar (in a good way) fantasy mystery and the ending left me definitely interested in picking up the next one. I really liked our little gang and the beginnings of a found family dynamic between them.

I think that the comparison to Scott Lynch is accurate, I can definitely see parallels between Lukan and Locke, both idiots who are too charming and lucky for their own good.

My main issue with this was the writing unfortunately. There was a lot of info dumping and a lot of telling, not showing which just made it feel a bit clunky to me.

A lot of the humour in this reminded me a bit of Sanderson’s humour which, unfortunately, is my least favourite part of Sanderson’s writing but if it works for you then the humour in this likely would as well.

I think that if you’re more of a plot reader and if you like fast paced books then this will work for you better than it did for me. I kept wishing we had a bit more time to sit with the characters and get to know them and their feelings more but that’s just my preference, I like slow books a lot more!

So yes, I’m definitely interested in picking up the next one and I think there are a lot of people who will like this more than I did as my issues are mostly just preference (I mean I guess any review is but you know what I mean lol).

‼️ Warnings: a bit of mild body horror elements, vomiting (there’s weirdly a lot of vomiting in this book)