The Trials of Descent

The Menocht Loop #6

by Lorne Ryburn

Ian thought two affinities was the height of power. He was wrong. After five grueling years of training under Ancient Ash, Ian and Maria return to Karanos, ready to take on Achemiss. Hidden within an unreachable plane, the elusive necromancer is their ultimate target. To confront Achemiss, Ian must infiltrate the black faction, a task requiring him to attend the Hall of Ascension’s gathering. He adopts a new persona—a powerful master emerging from ages of seclusion. Joined by Maria and a new ally, Ian finds himself a surprise player in the Hall's newest game. While competing, he must also validate his disguised identity to all. A single mistake could reveal his secrets and spell his doom. Ian must show everyone the power of an ancient.

Genres: Fantasy

563 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 18, 2023

About the author

Lorne (also known online as caerulex) is an avid reader who strives to write the kinds of stories she would like to read. Besides web serials, her favorite series tend toward grimdark fantasy, such as The Broken Empire Trilogy by Mark Lawrence and The Acts of Caine by Matthew Woodring Stover. The Menocht Loop is her second book series, which she began after publishing Apex Predator as an online web serial.

When she isn’t writing, Lorne enjoys time spent with loved ones and traveling the world. She spends her days as an AI/machine learning software engineer.

Reviews

[Alejandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was far far better than the last few installations, not as good as book 3 but it has finally sort of paid of the Ascendant realm (Which I still do perceive as fairly weak in comparison to the first three books). We get to see alot of the machinations be worked through and whilst I am quite tired of all the god damn teasing this author does, seeing many of the plotlines come together near the end was intriguing.

The plot with this one was so so, I don't think I could really ever say the plot-lines for these books have ever been the clearest or sanest but I've enjoyed them a fair bit. There is alwasys the everpresent problem with less relevant or even unneeded parts that don't play as significant a role in the story to rear their head but this book had that problem less than the last two installations. Somehow these books are always too short but too long simultaneously.

Cover art is pretty cool, narrator is still quite solid.
3.75-4*

[Ethan Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

enjoyable

Like how we saw a ton of Ian’s development throughout the story. The overall goal of his progress bore a lot of fruit as well. Large lead up to the end with not the ultimate conclusion though all the events seemed to suggest it. So I wonder what will happen next. I really hope it’s not a Dragonball Z type of climax with an entire book involving a play-by-play action when real-world time is subsecond but they are ancients so we’ll see. Looking forward to the next (final?) one.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had this book for months. Seems I'm getting rid of some of my old stock.

This book was misleading. When I picked it up and saw the cover, I thought they would be going back to "earth" (his home planet), and this would be the end of the series...

Well I wasted an entire thought. This isn't the end, it ended on a cliffhanger, but there is another book (maybe it is out, didn't check) after this. I really don't know if I can read it. We will see.

3/5 Stars

[Daniyal Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book. Looking forward to the next one

As the title says, I liked this book a lot, Ian was amazing and the faction stuff was super interesting. I love the fact that each faction is being developed properly and its not all black and white even with their names being so simple.

I am wager for the next book

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

Got pretty interesting about halfway through. Enjoyed this one more than any other since Ian ascended. Looking forward to book 7.

[Shahbaz Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Book 6 of The Menocht Loop Series) but not taged with the other five?

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the most 3 out of 5 series I've read. That's not an insult, it's enjoyable but lots of plot holes and some dragging.