Ever have someone telling you a really interesting anecdote and someone else interrupts with a boring, only vaguely related story? That's how Ian Irvine writes.

It starts off with the main character telling a story about this fictional universe, which for me is tantamount to beginning a college lecture with a long, growling fart.

Of course it goes on to establish some interesting characters, some rather gripping descriptions, and a brisk, engaging pacing. But ever so often, sometimes without warning, there will be several dull pages explaining the history of their world.

Most of the modern sword n' horses fantasy we owe to one Mr. Tolkien, but they often forget the things he actually did right. Though functioning in an elaborate world, [b:the Lord of the Rings|34|The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)|J.R.R. Tolkien|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1298411339s/34.jpg|3204327] books never felt bogged down by history. All the characters functioned knowing their own history, and only explained something if someone else didn't already know that aspect of another character's culture. Those books are full of appendixes covering all the crap he didn't feel the need to discuss in the context of the story.

And that's fine, if you're so curious about a passing comment that you need to know more about elf history, go wild, but the rest of us don't care. Appendixes, like maps, are metadata I can accept in regards to fantasy, as it removes some of the burden from the story. A lot of Irvine's history explanations about the multiples races should have been cut out and moved.

But you know what it does have in the back? A glossary, my nemesis. And why you ask? Because it contains names like Llian and Yuggur, and suggests that the double consonants are said as two separate sounds. I don't know why you would do that.

The 2 stars is really for spite, because without the 20 or so pages of needless exposition it's really a solid 3.