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Manifestation #3
Sanctuary
Bridges have been burnt, and Raysha needs out.
So with the opportunity to travel and leave Darius behind, she jumps at the change and drags the Misfits along with her. Tension is rising between the nations of Erasted and Nhami, and problems plague the border towns. And through it all winds one question she cares about above all others. Why are spirits being hunted? And how can she find a way to protect them, and strike down those who dare try and harvest their hearts.
So with the opportunity to travel and leave Darius behind, she jumps at the change and drags the Misfits along with her. Tension is rising between the nations of Erasted and Nhami, and problems plague the border towns. And through it all winds one question she cares about above all others. Why are spirits being hunted? And how can she find a way to protect them, and strike down those who dare try and harvest their hearts.
551 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 14, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 15, 2023
Brilliant entry in the series
In my opinion, this is the best entry in an already excellent series. Characters and the interactions between them remain the best part. All characters feel fully fleshed out and distinct, as well as consistent and interesting. Interactions between them are believable and relevant. The progression aspect of this book is the best in the series. It is crunchy enough to be meaningful and satisfying, but does not feel too detailed and cumbersome. The fight scenes also remain believable, showing that Raysha is really an inexperienced fighter with a couple of huge advantages and not some once-in-a-millennium genius that steamrolls everyone at her level. I am really loving this series and can't wait for the next one.
In my opinion, this is the best entry in an already excellent series. Characters and the interactions between them remain the best part. All characters feel fully fleshed out and distinct, as well as consistent and interesting. Interactions between them are believable and relevant. The progression aspect of this book is the best in the series. It is crunchy enough to be meaningful and satisfying, but does not feel too detailed and cumbersome. The fight scenes also remain believable, showing that Raysha is really an inexperienced fighter with a couple of huge advantages and not some once-in-a-millennium genius that steamrolls everyone at her level. I am really loving this series and can't wait for the next one.
November 20, 2023
(This review has spoilers past the first two points.)
This series has really suffered in this book. Part of that is I think that the book needed more time in the oven, but some seem more basic.
I would say there are two major problems:
1) Raysha is just boring at a progression level. She has been rendered completing uninteresting from her initial appearance. In book 1 she had a major advantage for a major demerit and a strong, driving motivation. In book 2 that demerit was gone but she was still struggling to manifest a core identity and the tournament structure and the physical nature of her improvements made the progression satisfying. But now all the progression is just sitting on her ass and thinking about things. It's hard to make that interesting and this book did not accomplish it. And it's definitely not helped by Raysha being utterly overpowered. She now has amazing aeon control, a massive pool to draw from, and now a bonded spirit to amplify and split her concentration with. There's no tension here to the progression, Kardan even said it--it's just another day for Raysha when she makes some kind of progress. It has no significance. I don't care, why would I? The story certainly isn't giving me a reason to. And then the story puts it into overdrive in the last half of this book.
2) There's just a general lack of motivations. And it's frustrating because it should be so easy to give them motivations and tensions to make their characters interesting. Raysha started with a very solid motivation, and it was resolved in the first book, but was then supplemented by her desire to love and protect the spirits. This played well enough into the second book. But here it's basically absent until like 70% of the way through the story. Is this a major motivation for her or not? Vashi wants to protect and help his sister, but that should have more tension with his desire to return to Shirin; he needs to live his own life. Leyli is not the worst off---the story tries to address it--but she needs more than just a general curiosity to create any tension. Kardan is the worst because it seems like the story could so easily create some good bitterness between him and Raysha with her constantly being ahead of him.
Some more spoilery, miscellaneous things that aren't as structurally problematic but still really pulled me out the story:
-Leyli's advancement isn't talked about all. She really feels likes a extra wheel, not accomplishing anything notable. Even Kardan got at least a brief mention of what his advancement required. If she's not going to do anything interesting then just kill her off.
-I cannot believe that the bandit plotline was so wasted. I thought it was dramatic irony when Raysha killed them because it was so obvious that they weren't the ones who slaughtered the village. 8 people entered that village, but the bandits only had 4 of notable power and none of them wielded knives. If they had killed that village they should have been killed a myriad of ways. Also, they were in a completely different part of the country and if there's one bandit group then there's probably another (nevermind how some random village in the middle of nowhere managed to capture a bandit to begin with). This SHOULD have been a wake up call to Raysha about how dangerous she has become and how easy it would be for her to let her anger rule her into making deadly mistakes. Not the bandits didn't deserve it anyways, but that's why it could have been effective. Again, Kardan being the mouth of truth--he keeps calling her a monster. Raysha letting her anger turn into an actual monster would actually have been fascinating character development. But instead it's always righteous and correct when Raysha gets angry. Because that's how anger always plays out--in fantasies about anger. There's a reason for that.
I had some hope she was maturing out of this until we got that "I'm not angry, everyone else is just an asshole" line.
-A lot of telling, especially around powers. The nature of Enlightenment is delivered via a letter, and later the narration just tells us about the ability to physically enter soul spaces. Really dull. These should be things organically introduced to the audience. And then they spend like half the book just talking about what they're doing.
-A lot of weird anachronisms. Some mid-sized village has a healer who understands the nerve system, and in general character demonstrate an understanding of metallurgy, the microscopic universe, even some advanced physics. Also, BDSM revolving around leather for some reason? The setting can't make up its mind--are these people stuck at a medieval level of technology or not? Because I can entirely believe that they might gain these understandings via their aeon powers, but that doesn't seem to then follow through in creating a setting that follows from that. Most people don't develop aeon very far, so a strong scientific understanding should have a heavy application in their day to day lives.
-Raysha literally lampshades how you shouldn't advance in combat, and then does it. It's not funny, or ironic, or addressed. Are we advancing in combat or not?
-God save me from soulseeds. It makes sense in the setting but now everyone in the story gets to be a power parasite. I doubt the series' ability to not make this a total crutch in advancing characters moving forward.
I'll probably give the fourth book a shot but I'm not feeling a ton of hope.
This series has really suffered in this book. Part of that is I think that the book needed more time in the oven, but some seem more basic.
I would say there are two major problems:
1) Raysha is just boring at a progression level. She has been rendered completing uninteresting from her initial appearance. In book 1 she had a major advantage for a major demerit and a strong, driving motivation. In book 2 that demerit was gone but she was still struggling to manifest a core identity and the tournament structure and the physical nature of her improvements made the progression satisfying. But now all the progression is just sitting on her ass and thinking about things. It's hard to make that interesting and this book did not accomplish it. And it's definitely not helped by Raysha being utterly overpowered. She now has amazing aeon control, a massive pool to draw from, and now a bonded spirit to amplify and split her concentration with. There's no tension here to the progression, Kardan even said it--it's just another day for Raysha when she makes some kind of progress. It has no significance. I don't care, why would I? The story certainly isn't giving me a reason to. And then the story puts it into overdrive in the last half of this book.
2) There's just a general lack of motivations. And it's frustrating because it should be so easy to give them motivations and tensions to make their characters interesting. Raysha started with a very solid motivation, and it was resolved in the first book, but was then supplemented by her desire to love and protect the spirits. This played well enough into the second book. But here it's basically absent until like 70% of the way through the story. Is this a major motivation for her or not? Vashi wants to protect and help his sister, but that should have more tension with his desire to return to Shirin; he needs to live his own life. Leyli is not the worst off---the story tries to address it--but she needs more than just a general curiosity to create any tension. Kardan is the worst because it seems like the story could so easily create some good bitterness between him and Raysha with her constantly being ahead of him.
Some more spoilery, miscellaneous things that aren't as structurally problematic but still really pulled me out the story:
-Leyli's advancement isn't talked about all. She really feels likes a extra wheel, not accomplishing anything notable. Even Kardan got at least a brief mention of what his advancement required. If she's not going to do anything interesting then just kill her off.
-I cannot believe that the bandit plotline was so wasted. I thought it was dramatic irony when Raysha killed them because it was so obvious that they weren't the ones who slaughtered the village. 8 people entered that village, but the bandits only had 4 of notable power and none of them wielded knives. If they had killed that village they should have been killed a myriad of ways. Also, they were in a completely different part of the country and if there's one bandit group then there's probably another (nevermind how some random village in the middle of nowhere managed to capture a bandit to begin with). This SHOULD have been a wake up call to Raysha about how dangerous she has become and how easy it would be for her to let her anger rule her into making deadly mistakes. Not the bandits didn't deserve it anyways, but that's why it could have been effective. Again, Kardan being the mouth of truth--he keeps calling her a monster. Raysha letting her anger turn into an actual monster would actually have been fascinating character development. But instead it's always righteous and correct when Raysha gets angry. Because that's how anger always plays out--in fantasies about anger. There's a reason for that.
I had some hope she was maturing out of this until we got that "I'm not angry, everyone else is just an asshole" line.
-A lot of telling, especially around powers. The nature of Enlightenment is delivered via a letter, and later the narration just tells us about the ability to physically enter soul spaces. Really dull. These should be things organically introduced to the audience. And then they spend like half the book just talking about what they're doing.
-A lot of weird anachronisms. Some mid-sized village has a healer who understands the nerve system, and in general character demonstrate an understanding of metallurgy, the microscopic universe, even some advanced physics. Also, BDSM revolving around leather for some reason? The setting can't make up its mind--are these people stuck at a medieval level of technology or not? Because I can entirely believe that they might gain these understandings via their aeon powers, but that doesn't seem to then follow through in creating a setting that follows from that. Most people don't develop aeon very far, so a strong scientific understanding should have a heavy application in their day to day lives.
-Raysha literally lampshades how you shouldn't advance in combat, and then does it. It's not funny, or ironic, or addressed. Are we advancing in combat or not?
-God save me from soulseeds. It makes sense in the setting but now everyone in the story gets to be a power parasite. I doubt the series' ability to not make this a total crutch in advancing characters moving forward.
I'll probably give the fourth book a shot but I'm not feeling a ton of hope.
November 17, 2023
This time I couldn't reread the earlier book as preparation. Still, I skim-read the starting few chapters and went through my chapter-wise notes for the second book. The short summaries at the start of the third book helped as well.
Overall, this was another good entry. It was similar to the first book's plotting style — travel, training, fights and some mysteries uncovered. And of course, plenty of banter and slice-of-life scenes. It'd have been better if Shirin could've joined as well. And Octavian only got a few scenes. However, that'd likely change in the next book and I'm also looking forward to the return of Hlaya!
I especially enjoyed Raysha and Xora helping each other and progressing further. Vashi and Leyli pitching in with suggestions were great and Kardan continued to be the punching bag for the jokes. Qaeldicras made a huge impression. The details about the magic system and the different ways to shape individual preferences were done well. Wasn't a fan of the sub-plot with Miskar and the one with the brigands was a tad too gruesome for my tastes.
At the end of the second book, we only had a vague clue that the team would be leaving the academy. There's a much clearer picture this time around, and it promises plenty of intriguing revelations and action scenes.
Overall, this was another good entry. It was similar to the first book's plotting style — travel, training, fights and some mysteries uncovered. And of course, plenty of banter and slice-of-life scenes. It'd have been better if Shirin could've joined as well. And Octavian only got a few scenes. However, that'd likely change in the next book and I'm also looking forward to the return of Hlaya!
I especially enjoyed Raysha and Xora helping each other and progressing further. Vashi and Leyli pitching in with suggestions were great and Kardan continued to be the punching bag for the jokes. Qaeldicras made a huge impression. The details about the magic system and the different ways to shape individual preferences were done well. Wasn't a fan of the sub-plot with Miskar and the one with the brigands was a tad too gruesome for my tastes.
At the end of the second book, we only had a vague clue that the team would be leaving the academy. There's a much clearer picture this time around, and it promises plenty of intriguing revelations and action scenes.
November 25, 2023
Good read and continuation
I enjoyed reading this book. The character development is present, however, I felt as if some of the humor was forced and maybe this is just my personal views on humor and taste. I prefer humor that is a little bit more dry, and often times the main character Raysha is too overt, bubbly, and happy go lucky with her thoughts and dialogue.
Again this is likely just my own personal traits clashing with those of the characters. Otherwise, reads like a good slow and gradual progression story
I enjoyed reading this book. The character development is present, however, I felt as if some of the humor was forced and maybe this is just my personal views on humor and taste. I prefer humor that is a little bit more dry, and often times the main character Raysha is too overt, bubbly, and happy go lucky with her thoughts and dialogue.
Again this is likely just my own personal traits clashing with those of the characters. Otherwise, reads like a good slow and gradual progression story
January 10, 2024
Definitely my favourite book in this series. I thought it did a better job of balancing the cozy fantasy vibes as they travelled and grew their abilities, as well as with the action as they fought for their lives, instead of just a tournament setting. Rayasha is still a hothead but getting better and the team element made for an entertaining fights
November 15, 2023
not holding interest
It’s just meandering along without any kind of urgency. While the team does have a mission, it’s not entirely clear that the rewards will be worthy of note.
I keep on finding other things to do instead of read. Which tells me this isn’t working
DNF
It’s just meandering along without any kind of urgency. While the team does have a mission, it’s not entirely clear that the rewards will be worthy of note.
I keep on finding other things to do instead of read. Which tells me this isn’t working
DNF
November 19, 2023
OK that was really fast.
Enjoyed it a lot, love the worldbuilding and the traveling. Less fighting than before but that was OK. Surely reading the next one :)
And also thank you on finding Unsouled.
Enjoyed it a lot, love the worldbuilding and the traveling. Less fighting than before but that was OK. Surely reading the next one :)
And also thank you on finding Unsouled.
April 27, 2024
Great Continuation!
Great story. Characters are fleshed out. Progression is steady and well defined. The power and political system keep getting more complex and I love it. Excited for the future books.
Great story. Characters are fleshed out. Progression is steady and well defined. The power and political system keep getting more complex and I love it. Excited for the future books.
November 18, 2023
It takes a while to get going, but once it does it’s good.
December 16, 2023
I loved this story! The sibling dynamics were fun. Magic explanations were sometimes too technical, but still interesting.
February 6, 2024
Great read
I enjoyed reading this book very much and I recommend this book to anyone who likes LitRPG and progression type of books with lots of action.
I enjoyed reading this book very much and I recommend this book to anyone who likes LitRPG and progression type of books with lots of action.
May 31, 2024
Interesting premise
November 24, 2024
3.5/5
January 9, 2025
This series is really good. I love the banter especially, it’s really fun and very genuine. The story is awesome too, definitely recommend.
January 26, 2024
Forget high standards, all I want is a good story. But this one just doesn't deliver. The world, sure, it's detailed, but it feels lifeless. And the magic system? Don't even get me started. It's not intricate, it's an impenetrable labyrinth of rules and jargon that sucks the air right out of the story. Imagine entire chapters bogged down in rune analyses and power level calculations – yeah, not exactly thrilling.
This obsession with explaining every magical minutiae suffocates the characters and plot. I never got invested in anyone because they were too busy spouting technical jargon to actually, you know, feel emotions. It's like reading a dusty spellbook, not experiencing a story.
Look, I'm not against complex magic systems. Some do it brilliantly. But this one? It's a convoluted mess that overshadows everything else. Maybe if the author dialed back the technical specs and focused on crafting compelling characters and a driving plot, the story could have actually taken off.
But as it stands, this book is a hard pass for me. If you're looking for a story that grabs you and doesn't let go, steer clear. Maybe magic system enthusiasts will get a kick out of its arcane complexities, but for me, it was a major turn-off. I'll be searching for a story with heart and soul next time.
This obsession with explaining every magical minutiae suffocates the characters and plot. I never got invested in anyone because they were too busy spouting technical jargon to actually, you know, feel emotions. It's like reading a dusty spellbook, not experiencing a story.
Look, I'm not against complex magic systems. Some do it brilliantly. But this one? It's a convoluted mess that overshadows everything else. Maybe if the author dialed back the technical specs and focused on crafting compelling characters and a driving plot, the story could have actually taken off.
But as it stands, this book is a hard pass for me. If you're looking for a story that grabs you and doesn't let go, steer clear. Maybe magic system enthusiasts will get a kick out of its arcane complexities, but for me, it was a major turn-off. I'll be searching for a story with heart and soul next time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 23, 2023
A strong next book. Normal aspects of soul-visualisation and levels of soul improvement, but we finally get to the meat of why the last 3 books are happening (the original baddies are nothing vs other baddies).
We get strong improvement and the next book looks to be another epic story - though hopefully more than just the immediately-telegraphed arc.
This is becoming a firm-favourite series that is drifting into the Cradle / Mage Errant space of success (though with more of a traditional soul space aspect than them).
Can't wait for the next books - and look forward to seeing some previous characters returning
We get strong improvement and the next book looks to be another epic story - though hopefully more than just the immediately-telegraphed arc.
This is becoming a firm-favourite series that is drifting into the Cradle / Mage Errant space of success (though with more of a traditional soul space aspect than them).
Can't wait for the next books - and look forward to seeing some previous characters returning
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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