This book started out interesting with a motley assortment of characters and a fun magic system but things took a turn for the... how do I put it?... generic HR Gieger. Or perhaps the cheesy death cult from the second Riddick movie? Whatever the case, the setting and character changes lost my interest. I abandoned the book around 80%. DNF. ( )

A rather interesting first book. I look forward to reading the other side of the story in Of Shadow and Sea. I really want to know more about the world the author has created. ( )

Very different kind of story. Almost YA in tone, but not juvenile. Some "battles" are a bit more dragged out than they really need to be, but overall, it was a one-sitting kinda of read. You want to know what happens with the main character (even though he doesn't seem to have normal human feelings for his "friends"... they are a bit more disposable than one would expect from a character who is otherwise, pretty decently written.) ( )

Really enjoy the world and characters. This feels like an assassin vs pirate story, with the twist of it being set in a fairly Lovecraftian horror setting. Or at least some variation on those concepts.

I've read 3 of the first 4 books in this series, and i'll give them all about the same review.

As I said above good world and characters. but the decision to split the narrative like Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow has mixed results in my opinion. I would have prefered instead of 4 books, 2 larger books, with quite a bit of the 'retelling' of scenes being trimmed down. A decent part of the length of each book is retelling moments we already saw from one perspective. I don't feel like it made the books better.

So my review is 3 stars because of this extra rehashing of plot points we already knew dragging down the pacing for me. If it was edited together into 2 books, so Of Sea and Shadow of Shadow and Sea were blended together into one book, the story/characters/world building of that one book is probably a 4 star book for me.

I'm looking forward to future entries in the world. ( )

Really enjoy the world and characters. This feels like an assassin vs pirate story, with the twist of it being set in a fairly Lovecraftian horror setting. Or at least some variation on those concepts.

I've read 3 of the first 4 books in this series, and i'll give them all about the same review.

As I said above good world and characters. but the decision to split the narrative like Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow has mixed results in my opinion. I would have prefered instead of 4 books, 2 larger books, with quite a bit of the 'retelling' of scenes being trimmed down. A decent part of the length of each book is retelling moments we already saw from one perspective. I don't feel like it made the books better.

So my review is 3 stars because of this extra rehashing of plot points we already knew dragging down the pacing for me. If it was edited together into 2 books, so Of Sea and Shadow of Shadow and Sea were blended together into one book, the story/characters/world building of that one book is probably a 4 star book for me.

I'm looking forward to future entries in the world. ( )