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A review by book_scent
Illborn by Daniel T. Jackson
5.0
2nd read: 5 stars
It’s still fantastic and I will forever be recommending this book to anyone who loves character-driven epic fantasy! I enjoyed my reread immensely - I’ll be diving straight into book 2!
1st read: 5 stars
An absolutely brilliant book! I wish I could give even more stars. It simply blew me away!!
After seeing ILLBORN around a few times and hearing nothing but amazing things, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and get started. Because of that, my expectations were set pretty high … and wow, did ILLBORN deliver. It still astounds me that this is a debut, because it definitely didn’t read like one! The writing was smart, the characters so well fleshed out, the story intriguing from the get-go (that prologue!!), and the world-building incredible … I was sucked in from the beginning.
We follow 4 characters, and usually I prefer one POV over the other, but here I felt invested in all of them. I loved following their different storylines. They all had a very distinct voice and just felt so real which made it very easy to tell them and their chapters apart. The character work here is really top-notch! Seeing how and where they all started, and where they end up being by the end of this book is incredible (and this is only the beginning of what I’m sure is going to be an epic fantasy saga). It’s amazing how much character development Daniel T. Jackson was able to fit into these pages with so many main protagonists to focus on. Also … boy, does he know how to end a chapter! One character’s chapter would end and I would actually think about skipping ahead to see what was coming next. But somehow I did manage to stick to the intended reading order (I may have risked a glance once or twice, though ^^) and as soon as I started the actual next chapter, the next POV, I was invested in that particular character again. The anticipation of them finally meeting was killing me … I just couldn’t wait for their paths to cross, and to find out how their storylines intertwine. We do get some of that in ILLBORN, but since this is “only” the beginning of the story, there’s still a lot of crossing & intertwining to be done in future books! I cannot wait!!
The world-building feels big and imaginative, without being too overwhelming. The author manages to establish a world that can stand on its own and could easily exist somewhere out there. The story in book 1 focuses on a few specific locations, of course, but you can feel that there’s a lot more out there, and I’m sure we will explore more corners of this world in books 2 through 4. Also, it was interesting so see religion being a focal point in this story, and I am very intrigued by the various angles that are being explored here. Like many things, faith can act as a unifying force for good and provide peace & strength, or it can be used as a tool to further agendas and oppress opposing views, causing a lot of pain & hurt along the way. Daniel T. Jackson does a fantastic job of portraying the manifold facets as well as the impact and ramifications of such a powerful means, without blaming religion itself. People are responsible for their own actions.
Yes, with more than 700 pages ILLBORN is quite chunky, but don’t let that deter you. I literally flew through the chapters, because I just needed to know what was going to happen next. I started Friday night and was done by Sunday - even though there were things I was supposed to do, haha, but I simply couldn’t put this book down. And once I was done, I just wanted more … more pages, more chapters, but I guess that will have to wait until the sequel ^^
All I can say is: READ THIS BOOK!! ILLBORN is easily one of the best beginnings to a fantasy series I have ever read, and has firmly secured its spot as one of my favorite reads of this year … maybe ever. I still keep thinking about the characters and wondering what all this is building up to. The sequel is by far one of my most anticipated future releases. 2023 can’t come soon enough … I just need the next book!!
It’s still fantastic and I will forever be recommending this book to anyone who loves character-driven epic fantasy! I enjoyed my reread immensely - I’ll be diving straight into book 2!
1st read: 5 stars
An absolutely brilliant book! I wish I could give even more stars. It simply blew me away!!
After seeing ILLBORN around a few times and hearing nothing but amazing things, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and get started. Because of that, my expectations were set pretty high … and wow, did ILLBORN deliver. It still astounds me that this is a debut, because it definitely didn’t read like one! The writing was smart, the characters so well fleshed out, the story intriguing from the get-go (that prologue!!), and the world-building incredible … I was sucked in from the beginning.
We follow 4 characters, and usually I prefer one POV over the other, but here I felt invested in all of them. I loved following their different storylines. They all had a very distinct voice and just felt so real which made it very easy to tell them and their chapters apart. The character work here is really top-notch! Seeing how and where they all started, and where they end up being by the end of this book is incredible (and this is only the beginning of what I’m sure is going to be an epic fantasy saga). It’s amazing how much character development Daniel T. Jackson was able to fit into these pages with so many main protagonists to focus on. Also … boy, does he know how to end a chapter! One character’s chapter would end and I would actually think about skipping ahead to see what was coming next. But somehow I did manage to stick to the intended reading order (I may have risked a glance once or twice, though ^^) and as soon as I started the actual next chapter, the next POV, I was invested in that particular character again. The anticipation of them finally meeting was killing me … I just couldn’t wait for their paths to cross, and to find out how their storylines intertwine. We do get some of that in ILLBORN, but since this is “only” the beginning of the story, there’s still a lot of crossing & intertwining to be done in future books! I cannot wait!!
The world-building feels big and imaginative, without being too overwhelming. The author manages to establish a world that can stand on its own and could easily exist somewhere out there. The story in book 1 focuses on a few specific locations, of course, but you can feel that there’s a lot more out there, and I’m sure we will explore more corners of this world in books 2 through 4. Also, it was interesting so see religion being a focal point in this story, and I am very intrigued by the various angles that are being explored here. Like many things, faith can act as a unifying force for good and provide peace & strength, or it can be used as a tool to further agendas and oppress opposing views, causing a lot of pain & hurt along the way. Daniel T. Jackson does a fantastic job of portraying the manifold facets as well as the impact and ramifications of such a powerful means, without blaming religion itself. People are responsible for their own actions.
Yes, with more than 700 pages ILLBORN is quite chunky, but don’t let that deter you. I literally flew through the chapters, because I just needed to know what was going to happen next. I started Friday night and was done by Sunday - even though there were things I was supposed to do, haha, but I simply couldn’t put this book down. And once I was done, I just wanted more … more pages, more chapters, but I guess that will have to wait until the sequel ^^
All I can say is: READ THIS BOOK!! ILLBORN is easily one of the best beginnings to a fantasy series I have ever read, and has firmly secured its spot as one of my favorite reads of this year … maybe ever. I still keep thinking about the characters and wondering what all this is building up to. The sequel is by far one of my most anticipated future releases. 2023 can’t come soon enough … I just need the next book!!