The biggest hurdle for me in this book was the first person omniscient perspective and the lack of access to characters’ internal monologues. I can’t remember the last time I read a novel with this perspective and I was shocked by how much distance it put between the reader and characters. And that was compounded by how much more attention was given to the plot compared to the emotional state of characters. It left me feeling uninvested in the story for about the first half until enough was revealed about the characters for me to care. Some of this is, I’m sure, personal taste and not being used to this kind of perspective. But overall I do think that balance was off, with too much focus on plot to the point were many important worldbuilding details were just told to the reader rather than revealed through specific scenes. 

Despite these things, I did enjoy a few key aspects of the book:

Some of the characters were standouts for me: Tas, Fizban, and Matafluer. I thought the handling of kender was very interesting and they did a good job demonstrating how there were still stakes for Tas despite him not necessarily feeling fear. Fizban brought a degree of levity to the story that was necessary and left me with many questions. And Matafleur just melted my heart.

I also appreciated that some problems expected to be outside of the characters’ capacity to deal with were handled in ways that didn’t automatically give them “power ups”. The team had luck on their side. But every external factor that aided them first harmed them / their plans.

The description of locations in the book, particularly how characters envisioned their relationships to those places, was compelling. While some locations were very typical fantasy, my interest in these places was enhanced by how the characters viewed them.

Overall, this book was a solid 3 stars for me. While a couple factors significantly affected my enjoyment, there were still enough pieces I liked to keep me reading.