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Echoes of Imara #1
To Whatever End
Veterans of a past war, Daro and Cecily left the politics and turmoil of their kingdom behind, making a home for themselves where they can live in peace. An unexpected attack fractures their quiet existence and although Cecily narrowly escapes with her life, Daro is taken captive. He awakens to a world where his captors exact complete control. Forced to wear a mask and given a number instead of a name, he endures crushing psychological torture, conditioning him to be an experimental subject in a madman’s bid to bend the laws of Wielding magic.
As Cecily turns to old friends and attempts to mend broken alliances in her desperate search for her husband, Daro struggles to hold onto the shattered pieces of his mind. No sacrifice is too great to bring Daro back, but as the days tick by, he may succumb to his captors, becoming another living weapon in a growing army of abominations.
As Cecily turns to old friends and attempts to mend broken alliances in her desperate search for her husband, Daro struggles to hold onto the shattered pieces of his mind. No sacrifice is too great to bring Daro back, but as the days tick by, he may succumb to his captors, becoming another living weapon in a growing army of abominations.
402 pages, Paperback
First published December 11, 2014
18 people are currently reading
665 people want to read
About the author
Claire Frank
8 books37 followersClaire is a fantasy author whose debut novel, To Whatever End, released in December 2014. She's a lifelong fan of both fantasy and sci-fi and loves being able to contribute to the awesomeness of the genre.
She writes classical fantasy with character driven stories, action, suspense and a lot of emotion. She loves exploring themes of love, loss, heartbreak, loyalty and redemption and walking with a character as they fail, rise and try again. Fantasy offers much more than an escape, but a beautiful landscape to explore what it means to be human.
Her follow up novel, the next in the Echoes of Imara series, will be released in May 2015.
She writes classical fantasy with character driven stories, action, suspense and a lot of emotion. She loves exploring themes of love, loss, heartbreak, loyalty and redemption and walking with a character as they fail, rise and try again. Fantasy offers much more than an escape, but a beautiful landscape to explore what it means to be human.
Her follow up novel, the next in the Echoes of Imara series, will be released in May 2015.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
November 2, 2016
This is an unusual book in a couple of ways. For one thing, the main protagonists are a happily married couple. When Daro is kidnapped, Cecily sets out to find and rescue him. No, no, that’s not the other unusual thing. Surely it’s not unusual for a woman to rescue a man?
The second unusual thing is that this story is set some years after a major upheaval in the kingdom. The old king was overthrown and his son and heir killed in a bloody war which Daro, Cecily and their friends helped to orchestrate. The first section of the book, where we meet the companions in ones and twos, and they mull over the previous events and remind each other of this or that close shave or dramatic moment, made me wonder if I’d strayed into the second part of a trilogy. Actually, no, this is the first part. But dammit, that sounds like an interesting adventure they had. I’d really like to read about that. It’s not until this story starts to take off that I stopped yearning to hear about the war.
The plot, as already mentioned, revolves around the kidnapping of Daro by people who appear to have almost impossibly powerful abilities. It took a while to get to this point, but the getting there was not uninteresting. The contrast between Daro and Cecily’s present rustic retreat and the grand city of Halthus, where Cecily is part of the nobility, makes for an interesting introduction, and there are plenty of neat little details along the way that made me smile with pleasure. This is an author who knows how to get the world-building right and drip-feed snippets of information at just the right moment.
But then Daro is whisked away, and the section of the book that deals with what happens to him was, for me, a highlight. His interactions while in captivity came to life and crackled with tension in a way that the more routine city-based scenes never quite did. Partly this is (perhaps) because civilised cities, even magical ones, don’t quite have that fantastical allure for me. And partly this is because Cecily spends a great deal of time sitting around unable to act because - well, reasons. It makes her seem quite passive at times, although when she does get a chance to act, and she and the gang sally forth for an encounter, she more than makes up for all the waiting.
A very small niggle: when Cecily and pals do get an idea of what to try next, it seems to come out of the blue. Sometimes it’s more a chance piece of information, or pure instinct, that drives things forwards. I would have liked a little more deduction, and less randomness, but it wasn’t a problem.
One aspect I really liked about this book is the beautifully worked out magic system. I can’t profess to understand all the nuances, but there’s a lot of subtlety to it. Magic users are called Wielders or Shapers, depending on whether they can manipulate energy or matter. There are various different types. Cecily is an unusually strong Wielder, trained at the powerful Lyceum to enhance her capabilities even more than normal. I loved the way she could Push or Pull - making someone fall over by Pushing their knees, for example - and she also has Awareness, so she can feel where rooms and people are in a building, for instance. Such a useful ability to have.
The other main characters have Wielder abilities too, and sometimes it felt as if they were only there to conveniently make guards run away (by filling their minds with fear, another cool ability) or pick a lock. The rest of the time the companions were mostly cannon fodder, or foils to sit round a table discussing The Situation with Cecily (there was a lot of discussing went on). I confess that I got them muddled up a great deal, but that’s just me.
Eventually the plot blossoms into the expected big confrontation. The battle scenes in the book are done superbly. I’m not a big fan of magical battles, as a rule, but here I always knew exactly what was going on, and who was doing what to whom.
The ending - I’m not going to say anything about the ending, except that the author has set up one of the cleverest lead-ins to the next book that I’ve ever come across. Can’t wait to find out how this one gets worked out. Recommended for fans of traditional epic fantasy who like an intriguing magic system. A good four stars.
Footnote: the author’s husband is a Lego enthusiast, so he made some models of locations in the book, which you can see here.
The second unusual thing is that this story is set some years after a major upheaval in the kingdom. The old king was overthrown and his son and heir killed in a bloody war which Daro, Cecily and their friends helped to orchestrate. The first section of the book, where we meet the companions in ones and twos, and they mull over the previous events and remind each other of this or that close shave or dramatic moment, made me wonder if I’d strayed into the second part of a trilogy. Actually, no, this is the first part. But dammit, that sounds like an interesting adventure they had. I’d really like to read about that. It’s not until this story starts to take off that I stopped yearning to hear about the war.
The plot, as already mentioned, revolves around the kidnapping of Daro by people who appear to have almost impossibly powerful abilities. It took a while to get to this point, but the getting there was not uninteresting. The contrast between Daro and Cecily’s present rustic retreat and the grand city of Halthus, where Cecily is part of the nobility, makes for an interesting introduction, and there are plenty of neat little details along the way that made me smile with pleasure. This is an author who knows how to get the world-building right and drip-feed snippets of information at just the right moment.
But then Daro is whisked away, and the section of the book that deals with what happens to him was, for me, a highlight. His interactions while in captivity came to life and crackled with tension in a way that the more routine city-based scenes never quite did. Partly this is (perhaps) because civilised cities, even magical ones, don’t quite have that fantastical allure for me. And partly this is because Cecily spends a great deal of time sitting around unable to act because - well, reasons. It makes her seem quite passive at times, although when she does get a chance to act, and she and the gang sally forth for an encounter, she more than makes up for all the waiting.
A very small niggle: when Cecily and pals do get an idea of what to try next, it seems to come out of the blue. Sometimes it’s more a chance piece of information, or pure instinct, that drives things forwards. I would have liked a little more deduction, and less randomness, but it wasn’t a problem.
One aspect I really liked about this book is the beautifully worked out magic system. I can’t profess to understand all the nuances, but there’s a lot of subtlety to it. Magic users are called Wielders or Shapers, depending on whether they can manipulate energy or matter. There are various different types. Cecily is an unusually strong Wielder, trained at the powerful Lyceum to enhance her capabilities even more than normal. I loved the way she could Push or Pull - making someone fall over by Pushing their knees, for example - and she also has Awareness, so she can feel where rooms and people are in a building, for instance. Such a useful ability to have.
The other main characters have Wielder abilities too, and sometimes it felt as if they were only there to conveniently make guards run away (by filling their minds with fear, another cool ability) or pick a lock. The rest of the time the companions were mostly cannon fodder, or foils to sit round a table discussing The Situation with Cecily (there was a lot of discussing went on). I confess that I got them muddled up a great deal, but that’s just me.
Eventually the plot blossoms into the expected big confrontation. The battle scenes in the book are done superbly. I’m not a big fan of magical battles, as a rule, but here I always knew exactly what was going on, and who was doing what to whom.
The ending - I’m not going to say anything about the ending, except that the author has set up one of the cleverest lead-ins to the next book that I’ve ever come across. Can’t wait to find out how this one gets worked out. Recommended for fans of traditional epic fantasy who like an intriguing magic system. A good four stars.
Footnote: the author’s husband is a Lego enthusiast, so he made some models of locations in the book, which you can see here.
June 7, 2016
The blurb for this one sounded great, but it fell flat for me personally. I almost declared it a DNF on a couple of occasions but stuck it out. The storyline sounded original but I think my problem was that I didn't connect to any of the characters. Also, the plot seemed to drag at times. Very slow moving read. I am glad it was offered as a kindleunlimited though. I'd still give this writer another try.
September 13, 2016
To Whatever End by Claire Frank explores the underutilized relationship of a married couple in a fantasy book and it works really well. This book is not about two young lovers that meet each other during some fantastic quest but a slightly older couple that has been married for a few years. Because the reader knows that these lovers have an already established and strong relationship, we become much more invested in the story when something goes seriously wrong for one of the two.
Daro and Cecily are veterans of a war where they ousted one King for another. They are now married together and living their life in relative safety. When they go back to the kingdom's capital things go awry as Daro is kidnapped by a group of men in black with magical powers beyond anything Cecily has ever seen. Cecily, along with the group that first worked together in the uprising, must now find and rescue her husband before he succumbs to the mental reconditioning that may create a monster.
To Whatever End starts off as a comfortable fantasy read that lures the reader into a calmness as we fall in love with the marriage that Daro and Cecily have. When Daro is kidnapped, things turn much darker. The psychological torture that Daro must endure by the individuals that kidnap him is at times a difficult thing to read. It never crosses any boundaries but it also builds tension within the story because it puts Cecily and their friends on a timer. If they don't find Daro quick enough, the man they all knew may disappear. Cecily's resolve and strength during this period of time of trying to find her husband, searching for clues in the capital city, really showcases the strength of her character.
The magic system in this story is entertaining and reminds me some of some of the powers the X-Men have. All of the magic is focused around doing something with mental energy. All the people doing magic can do it to various degrees of effectiveness and with different powers. One individual can cause rocks he throws to blow up while another person takes the energy from his surroundings. Cecily herself is powerful, being able to push and pull different things. All of this magic will seem rather familiar and nothing groundbreaking to most readers.
Claire Frank writes To Whatever End in a simplistic way that gets to the point. I think the thing lacking the most in this story is Frank's ability to turn a phrase. There just isn't any sentence that makes you think or you recognize as good writing. Most of the vocabulary used is rather mundane and she could definitely expand on some themes in a more poetic way. This is her debut novel too and I'm hoping to see some improvement in the sequels.
To Whatever End is a quick book with a rescue plot that really works because of the reader's connection to the two main characters. I really enjoyed the side character that worked with Cecily to find Daro. One of the bad guys with Daro is highly enjoyable and I hope to see more of him in the future. Overall the book knows where its strength is, the relationship, and uses that effectively, but there wasn't anything else that made me excited while reading it. Solid debut fantasy that I liked but I hope that the sequel is more ambitious. Worth reading to read about a married couple and a conflict that comes between them.
3/5
13/25 Possible Score
2(OK) - Plot
3(Good) - Characters
2(OK) - World Building
2(OK) - Writing Style
3(Good) - Heart & Mind Aspect
Daro and Cecily are veterans of a war where they ousted one King for another. They are now married together and living their life in relative safety. When they go back to the kingdom's capital things go awry as Daro is kidnapped by a group of men in black with magical powers beyond anything Cecily has ever seen. Cecily, along with the group that first worked together in the uprising, must now find and rescue her husband before he succumbs to the mental reconditioning that may create a monster.
To Whatever End starts off as a comfortable fantasy read that lures the reader into a calmness as we fall in love with the marriage that Daro and Cecily have. When Daro is kidnapped, things turn much darker. The psychological torture that Daro must endure by the individuals that kidnap him is at times a difficult thing to read. It never crosses any boundaries but it also builds tension within the story because it puts Cecily and their friends on a timer. If they don't find Daro quick enough, the man they all knew may disappear. Cecily's resolve and strength during this period of time of trying to find her husband, searching for clues in the capital city, really showcases the strength of her character.
The magic system in this story is entertaining and reminds me some of some of the powers the X-Men have. All of the magic is focused around doing something with mental energy. All the people doing magic can do it to various degrees of effectiveness and with different powers. One individual can cause rocks he throws to blow up while another person takes the energy from his surroundings. Cecily herself is powerful, being able to push and pull different things. All of this magic will seem rather familiar and nothing groundbreaking to most readers.
Claire Frank writes To Whatever End in a simplistic way that gets to the point. I think the thing lacking the most in this story is Frank's ability to turn a phrase. There just isn't any sentence that makes you think or you recognize as good writing. Most of the vocabulary used is rather mundane and she could definitely expand on some themes in a more poetic way. This is her debut novel too and I'm hoping to see some improvement in the sequels.
To Whatever End is a quick book with a rescue plot that really works because of the reader's connection to the two main characters. I really enjoyed the side character that worked with Cecily to find Daro. One of the bad guys with Daro is highly enjoyable and I hope to see more of him in the future. Overall the book knows where its strength is, the relationship, and uses that effectively, but there wasn't anything else that made me excited while reading it. Solid debut fantasy that I liked but I hope that the sequel is more ambitious. Worth reading to read about a married couple and a conflict that comes between them.
3/5
13/25 Possible Score
2(OK) - Plot
3(Good) - Characters
2(OK) - World Building
2(OK) - Writing Style
3(Good) - Heart & Mind Aspect
March 24, 2015
Refreshingly familiar and disarmingly unique
To Whatever End is the sort of fantasy story that comes around rarely. One that can capture your attention with the idea of the familiar, but also surprise you with something very unique.
In Claire Frank's debut novel, the story of Cecily and Daro, two powerful weilders, is unique because the story begins with them already married, and the war of succession completed.
This story is about what can happen when the most important thing in the world has been taken from you. For Cecily, it is her husband, Daro, who is abducted by those seeking to break him mind and use him as a weapon. So while his capture has potential ramifications for the world as a whole, Cecily embarks upon her course of action not to save the world, but save someone that is her entire world. Where it gets interesting is that the world's need for stability and security does become a matter of conflict in Cecily's efforts.
For a first time, independently published novel. Claire Frank has done an amazing job in providing a high quality product. Care and attention to detail has been definitely a priority on this novel. I highly recommend this book.
To Whatever End is the sort of fantasy story that comes around rarely. One that can capture your attention with the idea of the familiar, but also surprise you with something very unique.
In Claire Frank's debut novel, the story of Cecily and Daro, two powerful weilders, is unique because the story begins with them already married, and the war of succession completed.
This story is about what can happen when the most important thing in the world has been taken from you. For Cecily, it is her husband, Daro, who is abducted by those seeking to break him mind and use him as a weapon. So while his capture has potential ramifications for the world as a whole, Cecily embarks upon her course of action not to save the world, but save someone that is her entire world. Where it gets interesting is that the world's need for stability and security does become a matter of conflict in Cecily's efforts.
For a first time, independently published novel. Claire Frank has done an amazing job in providing a high quality product. Care and attention to detail has been definitely a priority on this novel. I highly recommend this book.
February 2, 2017
Interesting heroic fantasy, that follows a woman who tries to find and rescue her abducted husband.
It is following a closed group of characters in one city, do it is not a big, epic book, but rather an was read with enough characters and magic abilities to keep the story interesting, but not overwhelming with tons of worldbuilding or lineages to follow.
The relationship between Cecily and Daro is well developed, and does not feel like "romantic fantasy" at all, but simply is as a normal part of their lifes. (I was a bit worried about that, as I dislike any romance in my normal fantasy.)
They both have had an interesting life before, and a lot of old comrades with different skills come in to help out. I liked the main characters and most of them really had a good developed individual personality that was believable.
Some of the fight scenes felt a but wooden, that is half a star missing, and another half for some not perfectly well rounded scenes or dialogue.
Overall it was a really good and entertaining read though, so I'll happily give out four stars!
It is following a closed group of characters in one city, do it is not a big, epic book, but rather an was read with enough characters and magic abilities to keep the story interesting, but not overwhelming with tons of worldbuilding or lineages to follow.
The relationship between Cecily and Daro is well developed, and does not feel like "romantic fantasy" at all, but simply is as a normal part of their lifes. (I was a bit worried about that, as I dislike any romance in my normal fantasy.)
They both have had an interesting life before, and a lot of old comrades with different skills come in to help out. I liked the main characters and most of them really had a good developed individual personality that was believable.
Some of the fight scenes felt a but wooden, that is half a star missing, and another half for some not perfectly well rounded scenes or dialogue.
Overall it was a really good and entertaining read though, so I'll happily give out four stars!
March 7, 2015
Claire was kind enough to provide me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
This is one of the hardest reviews I've had to write so far.
The main reason for this is because it's excellent, but it's not the sort of fantasy that I'd typically read.
To Whatever End has a fantastic cover, great prose, superb editing and a solid and enjoyable story.
Despite this, I'm only giving it three stars. Why?
The premise is an interesting one, with the protagonists being a married couple who have settled down after having had their big adventure/quest already completed. It's not often we're granted this perspective and Frank is to be commended for having chosen this.
The couple are eventually split, with Daro being captured and experimented upon and Cecily desperately trying to save him.
The setting is good, the exposition is timely and the work for the most part is well-paced. It really is a quality piece of work that has been put together here, above and beyond what most people would expect from a self-published début.
Unfortunately, while the presentation is flawless, the story itself suffers in spite of its execution.
The cover depicts a struggle that I think occurs near the beginning of the book, and you certainly get a First Blood feel from it, expecting Cecily to go on a one woman rampage upon losing her husband. While she does fight back, she solicits the help of a number of characters who we previously had no idea existed.
This is the big problem with the original premise: the characters need no introduction to the protagonist but still require fleshing out to the audience. Without the necessity of Cecily getting to know these individuals, the reader has no clue as to who they are. This could be solved with reams of exposition or carefully placed dialogue but the situation prohibits this from occurring. As a result, I found myself simply not caring for anyone save Cecily.
Now we come to our next problem: Cecily herself.
While Claire Frank makes a concerted effort not to turn her into a Mary Sue character with all the answers, the entire story revolves around Cecily in a way that should have become apparent by reading this review up to this point. I've mentioned Cecily six times in the last few paragraphs and the other protagonist once.
Cecily is the central focus of just about everything, and it becomes tiresome after a while. She's all the other protagonist Daro can think about, she's all one of the early antagonists can think about. She's the plot device used to turn things around in spite of her not even being there at the time. There's even one scene where we have someone bowing to her in a ridiculous display of subservience which was meant to come across as loyalty. This is because she's also responsible for everything to do with the two factions she grapples with.
Again, the problem here is that we don't know exactly what it is that Cecily has done to deserve this reverence. There's brief allusions to her past exploits in saving the kingdom somehow, but without being there to witness it there's an issue of the reader simply not having enough information to empathise.
At no point in the text did I fear for Cecily's life. The plot armour that's prevalent in many high fantasy works was present here, though not to quite the same obnoxious effect.
That was the other thing that To Whatever End lacked, an edge to distinguish itself from the pack. Claire Frank is quite... frank (sorry Claire) in her biography about the matter, saying that she writes Classical Fantasy. Given that this is the intention I'll not be harsh on her for that. I do feel that her work could improve if she took a leaf from Robin Hobb's book(s) and allowed Cecily to suffer even more.
The primary antagonist was a cardboard cut-out. He lacked any kind of development and while his meddling motives were laid out, his execution of them prevented him from being taken seriously as a threat. It only served to weaken my perception of the other powers in question given how poorly they fared against him without Cecily's intervention.
I feel that with an extension to the tale and a little more exposition at the expense of pacing, this book could have got me much more invested in the ancillary characters outside of our lovestruck couple.
My last gripe was that the introductory section of the book was a little too long and while the pace picked up considerably it could throw some readers.
Now that might seem like plenty of reasons to only give this three stars as opposed to four, but in truth the quality throughout this work battled against my own issues with the text to such a degree that I was torn for quite some time throughout the tale.
To Whatever End is a quality classic fantasy tale with good pacing for the most part, and for those of you who want a good fantasy read with a strong heroine and a mature romance then this is perfect.
I'll most likely be picking up the sequel when it comes out, as I feel that some of my issues with the début may well be put to rest by doing so.
There's potential for a great fantasy series to emerge from these humble but polished beginnings, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.
This is one of the hardest reviews I've had to write so far.
The main reason for this is because it's excellent, but it's not the sort of fantasy that I'd typically read.
To Whatever End has a fantastic cover, great prose, superb editing and a solid and enjoyable story.
Despite this, I'm only giving it three stars. Why?
The premise is an interesting one, with the protagonists being a married couple who have settled down after having had their big adventure/quest already completed. It's not often we're granted this perspective and Frank is to be commended for having chosen this.
The couple are eventually split, with Daro being captured and experimented upon and Cecily desperately trying to save him.
The setting is good, the exposition is timely and the work for the most part is well-paced. It really is a quality piece of work that has been put together here, above and beyond what most people would expect from a self-published début.
Unfortunately, while the presentation is flawless, the story itself suffers in spite of its execution.
The cover depicts a struggle that I think occurs near the beginning of the book, and you certainly get a First Blood feel from it, expecting Cecily to go on a one woman rampage upon losing her husband. While she does fight back, she solicits the help of a number of characters who we previously had no idea existed.
This is the big problem with the original premise: the characters need no introduction to the protagonist but still require fleshing out to the audience. Without the necessity of Cecily getting to know these individuals, the reader has no clue as to who they are. This could be solved with reams of exposition or carefully placed dialogue but the situation prohibits this from occurring. As a result, I found myself simply not caring for anyone save Cecily.
Now we come to our next problem: Cecily herself.
While Claire Frank makes a concerted effort not to turn her into a Mary Sue character with all the answers, the entire story revolves around Cecily in a way that should have become apparent by reading this review up to this point. I've mentioned Cecily six times in the last few paragraphs and the other protagonist once.
Cecily is the central focus of just about everything, and it becomes tiresome after a while. She's all the other protagonist Daro can think about, she's all one of the early antagonists can think about. She's the plot device used to turn things around in spite of her not even being there at the time. There's even one scene where we have someone bowing to her in a ridiculous display of subservience which was meant to come across as loyalty. This is because she's also responsible for everything to do with the two factions she grapples with.
Again, the problem here is that we don't know exactly what it is that Cecily has done to deserve this reverence. There's brief allusions to her past exploits in saving the kingdom somehow, but without being there to witness it there's an issue of the reader simply not having enough information to empathise.
At no point in the text did I fear for Cecily's life. The plot armour that's prevalent in many high fantasy works was present here, though not to quite the same obnoxious effect.
That was the other thing that To Whatever End lacked, an edge to distinguish itself from the pack. Claire Frank is quite... frank (sorry Claire) in her biography about the matter, saying that she writes Classical Fantasy. Given that this is the intention I'll not be harsh on her for that. I do feel that her work could improve if she took a leaf from Robin Hobb's book(s) and allowed Cecily to suffer even more.
The primary antagonist was a cardboard cut-out. He lacked any kind of development and while his meddling motives were laid out, his execution of them prevented him from being taken seriously as a threat. It only served to weaken my perception of the other powers in question given how poorly they fared against him without Cecily's intervention.
I feel that with an extension to the tale and a little more exposition at the expense of pacing, this book could have got me much more invested in the ancillary characters outside of our lovestruck couple.
My last gripe was that the introductory section of the book was a little too long and while the pace picked up considerably it could throw some readers.
Now that might seem like plenty of reasons to only give this three stars as opposed to four, but in truth the quality throughout this work battled against my own issues with the text to such a degree that I was torn for quite some time throughout the tale.
To Whatever End is a quality classic fantasy tale with good pacing for the most part, and for those of you who want a good fantasy read with a strong heroine and a mature romance then this is perfect.
I'll most likely be picking up the sequel when it comes out, as I feel that some of my issues with the début may well be put to rest by doing so.
There's potential for a great fantasy series to emerge from these humble but polished beginnings, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.
September 17, 2015
I really enjoyed this. I'm always interested in fantasy with a married couple as the main characters, and To Whatever End fit the bill nicely. Cecily and Daro are trying to live a quiet life after fighting in a revolution that put a new king on the throne, then Daro is kidnapped by a corrupt magician/scholar for nefarious purposes, and Cecily has to draw on the help of their former comrades-in-arms to find and rescue him.
There's a very cool magic system, which Cecily is quite adept at using, and a lot of exciting action and fights, magical and mundane. They're intense, but also clearly described and easy to follow. The parts of the books where Daro is being used and experimented on and gradually losing his former identity are gripping, as is the journey of one of the antagonists, another subject of the evil wizard's experiments, from his identity as Number One back to who he used to be.
The book has a lot of backstory (the revolution) and extra characters connected to that backstory (Cecily's friends whom she calls on for help) that should really be their own book, and I hope the author will write that book someday! In this book, going into all that kind of slows down the action at first, though once Daro is kidnapped the pace picks up very nicely. With so many characters, I never really got to know or care about more than a couple of them. Most of them were just names to me. Also, Cecily has the potential to be a truly badass character, but with so many other people hanging around helping her, she isn't quite challenged enough by her situation to fully reach that potential.
I also never really got a sense of what Cecily and Daro feel for each other and why they're together (also part of the backstory, which again I would love to read if the author ever writes it!). I would have loved to delve deeper into Cecily's emotions and thoughts, what Daro means to her and how the possibility of losing him forever makes her feel.
The prose is very smooth and polished, though again I felt it was somewhat lacking in raw emotion in Cecily's parts of the book. There's a lot of violence, but minimal swearing and no on-screen sex.
Overall, I highly recommend To Whatever End to readers looking for an exciting, magical fantasy adventure where the roles are switched and the woman comes to the rescue of the man.
There's a very cool magic system, which Cecily is quite adept at using, and a lot of exciting action and fights, magical and mundane. They're intense, but also clearly described and easy to follow. The parts of the books where Daro is being used and experimented on and gradually losing his former identity are gripping, as is the journey of one of the antagonists, another subject of the evil wizard's experiments, from his identity as Number One back to who he used to be.
The book has a lot of backstory (the revolution) and extra characters connected to that backstory (Cecily's friends whom she calls on for help) that should really be their own book, and I hope the author will write that book someday! In this book, going into all that kind of slows down the action at first, though once Daro is kidnapped the pace picks up very nicely. With so many characters, I never really got to know or care about more than a couple of them. Most of them were just names to me. Also, Cecily has the potential to be a truly badass character, but with so many other people hanging around helping her, she isn't quite challenged enough by her situation to fully reach that potential.
I also never really got a sense of what Cecily and Daro feel for each other and why they're together (also part of the backstory, which again I would love to read if the author ever writes it!). I would have loved to delve deeper into Cecily's emotions and thoughts, what Daro means to her and how the possibility of losing him forever makes her feel.
The prose is very smooth and polished, though again I felt it was somewhat lacking in raw emotion in Cecily's parts of the book. There's a lot of violence, but minimal swearing and no on-screen sex.
Overall, I highly recommend To Whatever End to readers looking for an exciting, magical fantasy adventure where the roles are switched and the woman comes to the rescue of the man.
January 23, 2016
This is an absolutely fantastic book. The characters are genuine, and the story is fascinating. I found myself unable to put the book down the more I read. The magic system is unique, and the characters, while walking the gray area at times, are easy to believe in and get behind. Even the villains are awesome and I found myself rooting for one in particular more than once.
A great book in a great world, and I can't wait to read more
A great book in a great world, and I can't wait to read more
January 11, 2015
Great book with wonderful prose.
All the better when I was able to interview the author :)
http://t.co/CNfKr60uUx
All the better when I was able to interview the author :)
http://t.co/CNfKr60uUx
January 15, 2015
I enjoyed this book. I look forward to reading the next one in the series.
January 12, 2024
I wanted to like To Whatever End, I really did but I'm giving up. The pace of this novel is just too damned slow.
I'm a fan of the slow burn, but you always start the story with a question. In "Alien", the question is, "Why did the ship bring the crew out of hypersleep so early?" You get this right away, and then the film takes its time getting you the answer. In this book, author Claire Frank makes the reader endure 20% of the novel before she gets to the question, and in my view that is way, way too long. I get that Frank wants to introduce the world and the side characters, but that stuff can be done after the reader understands the main conflict. Flashbacks are your friend, Claire.
Also, the best stories are economical; they pack as much into as little space as possible. This story, however, seems to operate on the principle of one thing at a time, so there is a chapter where a meeting is held. A chapter in which the main character goes to see someone and can't find him. A chapter in which help is sought and is not received. Again, a slow burn is fine, but it actually has to burn. This story barely smolders
I think the lessons from To Whatever End are to get to the point quickly, and not to waste the readers' time. It's too bad Frank missed both.
I'm a fan of the slow burn, but you always start the story with a question. In "Alien", the question is, "Why did the ship bring the crew out of hypersleep so early?" You get this right away, and then the film takes its time getting you the answer. In this book, author Claire Frank makes the reader endure 20% of the novel before she gets to the question, and in my view that is way, way too long. I get that Frank wants to introduce the world and the side characters, but that stuff can be done after the reader understands the main conflict. Flashbacks are your friend, Claire.
Also, the best stories are economical; they pack as much into as little space as possible. This story, however, seems to operate on the principle of one thing at a time, so there is a chapter where a meeting is held. A chapter in which the main character goes to see someone and can't find him. A chapter in which help is sought and is not received. Again, a slow burn is fine, but it actually has to burn. This story barely smolders
I think the lessons from To Whatever End are to get to the point quickly, and not to waste the readers' time. It's too bad Frank missed both.
July 13, 2017
Good read...Great start for a series...Now ready for Book 2
Thanks to KU, I find myself exploring outside my normal reading genre. When I came across this book I realized I was familiar with author so gave it a read. That being said, I did enjoy the book. While it was a slow start, I found myself intrigued and drawn into the storyline. When the book came to its end the main purpose had been met, although I found myself still questioning some things. I will be getting book 2 upon the return of this one .
Thanks to KU, I find myself exploring outside my normal reading genre. When I came across this book I realized I was familiar with author so gave it a read. That being said, I did enjoy the book. While it was a slow start, I found myself intrigued and drawn into the storyline. When the book came to its end the main purpose had been met, although I found myself still questioning some things. I will be getting book 2 upon the return of this one .
May 4, 2017
Rated it 3.5 but it was better than a 3 so it gets a 4. To Whatever End is what I would call a comfort read. It was easy to read, kept my interest, had nice, not great but nice characters, and a totally insane bad guy. I actually really enjoyed the read. I actually would consider continuing the series some time. Just don’t know when.
March 15, 2018
An interesting book and a clear start to a series. I wasn't so clear about the "normal" magic but over time the rest of the story grew on me.
May 11, 2022
3.5 / 5
December 25, 2015
I liked the world that was built. I thought though that some chapters just didn't move very much. I kept waiting for the story to progress and nothing was happening. Building characters is one thing, progressing the story is something else. Over all I enjoyed it and will read the rest of the series.
June 28, 2015
Lovely fantasystory. A bit classic but with enough twists to make it interesting and engaging. Many characters but i did really like all the main characters and wished the book were actually longer! Much potential there for a great series.
January 4, 2019
Took me a few chapters to get into the story. It starts and continues from an adult woman's perspective but there is clearly a lot of backstory that we dont know about. One of those books tbat can have an entire series of prequels. But once i accepted the favt that we were staying in that time period and wouldn't be doing flashbacks i got absorbed. I have read a lot of fantasy books. Like a lot I'm very nerdy. This one was very different nice and refreshing not just the same old same old with a slightly different plot line. I loced it. However by the time i finished reading it the others we're taken off KU so i don't know what happens next.
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