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Black Dogs #2
The Mountain of Iron
Black Dogs: The Mountain of Iron is the second of two volumes chronicling the adventures of young Lyra, sole survivor of the massacre of her family's estate. After learning in the first volume that things at the House of Diamond are not what they seemed, Lyra and her companions set out to Anu'tintavel to pass the news on to the elves. They are joined by Spite, a Ferran; Gunnar, a Slothan; and Kuroinu, a woman with an unusual past from the Tchang empire. After a long journey, they arrive at Anu'tintavel to find the battle with Vade already in full swing. Lyra has come a long way since the beginning of her journey, and the talents she has developed come in handy in many surprising ways.
Be sure to pick up Black Dogs Part One, the start of Lyra's story!
Be sure to pick up Black Dogs Part One, the start of Lyra's story!
424 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
61 people are currently reading
227 people want to read
About the author
Ursula Vernon
80 books1,520 followersUrsula Vernon, aka T. Kingfisher, is an author and illustrator. She has written over fifteen books for children, at least a dozen novels for adults, an epic webcomic called “Digger” and various short stories and other odds and ends.
Ursula grew up in Oregon and Arizona, studied anthropology at Macalester College in Minnesota, and stayed there for ten years, until she finally learned to drive in deep snow and was obligated to leave the state.
Having moved across the country several times, she eventually settled in Pittsboro, North Carolina, where she works full-time as an artist and creator of oddities. She lives with her husband and his chickens.
Her work has been nominated for the Eisner, World Fantasy, and longlisted for the British Science Fiction Awards. It has garnered a number of Webcomics Choice Awards, the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story, the Mythopoeic Award for Children’s Literature, the Nebula for Best Short Story, the Sequoyah Award, and many others.
Ursula grew up in Oregon and Arizona, studied anthropology at Macalester College in Minnesota, and stayed there for ten years, until she finally learned to drive in deep snow and was obligated to leave the state.
Having moved across the country several times, she eventually settled in Pittsboro, North Carolina, where she works full-time as an artist and creator of oddities. She lives with her husband and his chickens.
Her work has been nominated for the Eisner, World Fantasy, and longlisted for the British Science Fiction Awards. It has garnered a number of Webcomics Choice Awards, the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story, the Mythopoeic Award for Children’s Literature, the Nebula for Best Short Story, the Sequoyah Award, and many others.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
February 10, 2019
“The House of Diamond” was obviously a juvenile work, but it was mainly so by omission, in the sense that Vernon wasn’t quite good enough to write the story she wanted. “The Mountain of Iron”, on the other hand, tends to be juvenile by commission, with Vernon trying to fill the void in the book with a lot of bad ideas that she has, thankfully, since grown out of. The idea at the center of the first book — sheltered, bookish teen becomes badass warrior woman — was good enough, when combined with a nice cast of characters — the fiercely protective dog-soldier Sadrao, the Dark Lord’s runaway son Trent, the odd-couple lesbian scouts Jacyl and Sinai — to carry a rather shambolic plot. But Lyra is now a badass warrior, meaning that the central idea no longer applies, and all Vernon has to replace it is a quest to overthrow the Dark Lord, since that’s what one does in epic fantasy novels, and a bunch of extremely teenage musings about sex. The Dark Lord was practically absent for the first book, and stays that way for the first half of this one: the questing party goes through an endless assembly-line of perils, but there’s no indication that they are connected, and no sense of the Dark Lord as a lurking menace, except perhaps for Trent, who is still scarred by what happened to him. Those scars make Trent the most interesting character in the story, but he is largely sidelined so that Lyra can muse for pages (and pages) about sex (surprisingly often while naked) in a not particularly interesting way. Much of the musing is done to Kuroinu, who seems to have been introduced solely in order to give Lyra a human woman to talk to/a possible lesbian love interest. (Kuroinu’s backstory is so similar to the central relationship of C.J. Cherryh’s “The Paladin” that I think Vernon must have stolen it directly, though it’s possible that this is simply a case of convergent evolution due to the limited imaginations of Western authors when it comes to medieval China.) This part of the book ends with a big battle, which isn’t too interesting: subsequently Lyra ends up in the Dark Lord’s fortress (the titular mountain) and gets to spend some pages (thankfully not as many) musing in a rather teenage fashion about rape, before the final confrontation, which doesn’t make a ton of sense. At one point the person explaining what has been going on adds that he will not bore Lyra with details: the reader gets the sense this is because Vernon knows that the details don’t add up.
This would be more tolerable if the characters were better, but the new ones are generally less interesting. Gunnar and Spite are, respectively, big, slow, and stolid and small, fast, and feisty: if their are other aspects to their personalities, we never see them. Kuroinu is less one-dimensional but we never really learn much about her or her motivations. And Senna is probably the worst part of the series. Rescued at the beginning of the book, she is just as helpless as Lyra was at the beginning of the first book. But she’s prettier and more comfortable with her sexuality, and one can’t help but see the resentment of a bookish outsider against the pretty, popular girls in her treatment. The teenage Vernon can’t see the similarities between Senna now and Lyra then, so Senna is not given the chance to transcend her handicaps: instead, she is used as an object lesson to Lyra that most people can’t help themselves, and so Lyra has to protect them. The obvious problem with this categorization of people into sheep and wolves is that sheep simply don’t transform into wolves, and yet that is, metaphorically speaking, exactly what Lyra spent the first book doing. Senna, in contradiction to everything the first book was about, is denied such an opportunity, and finally killed off because, since Vernon won’t allow her to do anything, she has no role. (Well, she does provoke a certain amount of jealousy in Lyra, but there’s never any real belief on anyone’s part that she could seduce Trent away, so that comes to nothing.) Unfortunately, the lesson that some people are just set apart from others turns out to be the main takeaway from the book, greatly lessening its force. “The House of Diamond” was a fun enough read, despite its deficiencies, but “The Mountain of Iron” ends up being more of a slog, best avoided by all but Vernon’s most dedicated fans.
This would be more tolerable if the characters were better, but the new ones are generally less interesting. Gunnar and Spite are, respectively, big, slow, and stolid and small, fast, and feisty: if their are other aspects to their personalities, we never see them. Kuroinu is less one-dimensional but we never really learn much about her or her motivations. And Senna is probably the worst part of the series. Rescued at the beginning of the book, she is just as helpless as Lyra was at the beginning of the first book. But she’s prettier and more comfortable with her sexuality, and one can’t help but see the resentment of a bookish outsider against the pretty, popular girls in her treatment. The teenage Vernon can’t see the similarities between Senna now and Lyra then, so Senna is not given the chance to transcend her handicaps: instead, she is used as an object lesson to Lyra that most people can’t help themselves, and so Lyra has to protect them. The obvious problem with this categorization of people into sheep and wolves is that sheep simply don’t transform into wolves, and yet that is, metaphorically speaking, exactly what Lyra spent the first book doing. Senna, in contradiction to everything the first book was about, is denied such an opportunity, and finally killed off because, since Vernon won’t allow her to do anything, she has no role. (Well, she does provoke a certain amount of jealousy in Lyra, but there’s never any real belief on anyone’s part that she could seduce Trent away, so that comes to nothing.) Unfortunately, the lesson that some people are just set apart from others turns out to be the main takeaway from the book, greatly lessening its force. “The House of Diamond” was a fun enough read, despite its deficiencies, but “The Mountain of Iron” ends up being more of a slog, best avoided by all but Vernon’s most dedicated fans.
February 14, 2019
I'm getting old. Every time I read 'lay' where I'm expecting 'lie', my hackles rise. I know it's not a big thing, but there it is. I like Ursula Vernon's imagination, the way she tells a story, so I read her books, but every 'lay' or 'laid' that does not conform to my old and creaking Britspeak sets my teeth on edge. Damned, as my French friends might say.
Ok - the book. Ms Vernon says she wrote this when she was 16/17. This is an amazing piece of writing for a 16/17 year old. In fact, it's pretty good for any age. The heroine is sympatico - although her bildung zips by rather quickly - from library rat with a head full of stardust and a pudgy body to Clint Eastwood mercenary bodyguard with muscles of steel in six months is admirably rapid progress. The main villain is grimly villainous and the supporting cast suitably fun-loving and lethal. An enjoyable read. The foreshadowing is tad heavy-handed in places, but there you go.
Ok - the book. Ms Vernon says she wrote this when she was 16/17. This is an amazing piece of writing for a 16/17 year old. In fact, it's pretty good for any age. The heroine is sympatico - although her bildung zips by rather quickly - from library rat with a head full of stardust and a pudgy body to Clint Eastwood mercenary bodyguard with muscles of steel in six months is admirably rapid progress. The main villain is grimly villainous and the supporting cast suitably fun-loving and lethal. An enjoyable read. The foreshadowing is tad heavy-handed in places, but there you go.
July 31, 2025
I love Vernon with the strength of a thousand suns. I know she must have heavily reworked it before it was published, but knowing she wrote this story when she was a teenager is flabbergasting to me. It tackles incredibly delicate emotional situations with a nuance that feels precious, especially in a novel with a teenage protagonist going through hell. There is a lot of violence, and none of it is gratuitous. There is also a lot of love.
I am grieving the loss of these characters, who I'll never again be able to meet for the first time, no matter how many times I re-read this. I wish Orbit would reprint this duology as well so I could get a copy without having to import it from the US.
I am grieving the loss of these characters, who I'll never again be able to meet for the first time, no matter how many times I re-read this. I wish Orbit would reprint this duology as well so I could get a copy without having to import it from the US.
August 16, 2021
An immediate follow-on from The House of Diamond (Black Dogs #1)
In the Mountain of Iron, Lyra, Trent and Sadrao are journeying to warn the elves of danger from Trent's wizard father, Vade, along with Spite and Gunnar, an acerbic Ferran and a giant Slothan. A storm of cataclysmic proportions separates Lyra from her companions and she's trapped in a cave system full of sentient, evil hyena-people. She escapes, but accepts hospitality from the wrong person, and meets Kuroinu. Lyra is devastated when Trent is recaptured by his father, but it's not the only shock she'll receive. Lyara's new talents, learned on the journey, are going to come in handy for a battle she never expected to have to fight.
Apparently these rwo books were written when Ursula Vernon was still in her teens, so . They show the development of the writer that is
In the Mountain of Iron, Lyra, Trent and Sadrao are journeying to warn the elves of danger from Trent's wizard father, Vade, along with Spite and Gunnar, an acerbic Ferran and a giant Slothan. A storm of cataclysmic proportions separates Lyra from her companions and she's trapped in a cave system full of sentient, evil hyena-people. She escapes, but accepts hospitality from the wrong person, and meets Kuroinu. Lyra is devastated when Trent is recaptured by his father, but it's not the only shock she'll receive. Lyara's new talents, learned on the journey, are going to come in handy for a battle she never expected to have to fight.
Apparently these rwo books were written when Ursula Vernon was still in her teens, so . They show the development of the writer that is
Read
October 18, 2021So. I'm ambivalent about this series. On one hand, very good, great characters and interesting plot and well-written. Loved Sadrao, Kuroino, Sinai. Jegger. Spite.
On the other, so many crises, handily resolved, felt a little glib. Till it got really real and people died. It felt very fairytale, in the sense that so much happens and so many people turn up, and then they disappear from the story never to be heard from again. Not sure I'm a fan.
Another thing - what's with all the leaving other people to hang? In the first book: rescuing Lyra from slavers but no thought given to the others still trapped. In this book: save two of Cunos' pack of dogs-who-used-to-be-people but not the rest and no agonising over it. Isn't the least you owe someone you could theoretically rescue agonising over leaving them to their fate? Wouldn't it have been awesome if they travelled with a whole pack of dogs (I'm aware Trent would've been hard pressed to change them all back due to hiding magic and the power it takes) and taking them back to the elves where they could live while the shaman who brought Trent back from a deer changed them back one after the other over time? They could've fought in the war, those that chose to, and been given a shot at a people-life again.
Also, hymens aren't a lid over the vagina and rape is rape as soon as it is against one person's will/without consent whether or not you love the person doing it to you. What loving the person does is complicate the fuck out of the aftermath, but still. Rape.
On the other, so many crises, handily resolved, felt a little glib. Till it got really real and people died. It felt very fairytale, in the sense that so much happens and so many people turn up, and then they disappear from the story never to be heard from again. Not sure I'm a fan.
Another thing - what's with all the leaving other people to hang? In the first book: rescuing Lyra from slavers but no thought given to the others still trapped. In this book: save two of Cunos' pack of dogs-who-used-to-be-people but not the rest and no agonising over it. Isn't the least you owe someone you could theoretically rescue agonising over leaving them to their fate? Wouldn't it have been awesome if they travelled with a whole pack of dogs (I'm aware Trent would've been hard pressed to change them all back due to hiding magic and the power it takes) and taking them back to the elves where they could live while the shaman who brought Trent back from a deer changed them back one after the other over time? They could've fought in the war, those that chose to, and been given a shot at a people-life again.
Also, hymens aren't a lid over the vagina and rape is rape as soon as it is against one person's will/without consent whether or not you love the person doing it to you. What loving the person does is complicate the fuck out of the aftermath, but still. Rape.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 18, 2021
Well.
This is the second volume of a two volume fantasy adventure, and I read both volumes in, I believe, about two days.
Now I am out of the book and back in the normal world - and - what do I think?
Well.
It is very GOOD.
Worldbuilding: very good.
Plot: tense, exciting, complex but not ridiculously tangled...
characters: oh, REALLY good!
It ended - oh dear. It ended where it had to end, not where I wanted it to end. It didn't end the way I expected, the way I thought, the way it seemed to be going...but it ended also in a very true-to-the-story, believable, amazing way - and it was VERY SAD, although all the important people lived, or most of them, anyway.
But it wasn't ENTIRELY sad. I mean, it certainly worked beautifully, given the story itself, and the characters, and the way that world was built.
But oh, my heart did ache! and oh, I wanted something to be different, or some people to be different, but they weren't.
But it was a fine ending, nevertheless. Good triumphed and Evil defeated. More or less.
But.
I highly recommend this tale. It is worth it.
This is the second volume of a two volume fantasy adventure, and I read both volumes in, I believe, about two days.
Now I am out of the book and back in the normal world - and - what do I think?
Well.
It is very GOOD.
Worldbuilding: very good.
Plot: tense, exciting, complex but not ridiculously tangled...
characters: oh, REALLY good!
It ended - oh dear. It ended where it had to end, not where I wanted it to end. It didn't end the way I expected, the way I thought, the way it seemed to be going...but it ended also in a very true-to-the-story, believable, amazing way - and it was VERY SAD, although all the important people lived, or most of them, anyway.
But it wasn't ENTIRELY sad. I mean, it certainly worked beautifully, given the story itself, and the characters, and the way that world was built.
But oh, my heart did ache! and oh, I wanted something to be different, or some people to be different, but they weren't.
But it was a fine ending, nevertheless. Good triumphed and Evil defeated. More or less.
But.
I highly recommend this tale. It is worth it.
July 6, 2018
there are books that bring you to tears. This is one.
This book goes much deeper than the first, much like some of Guy Gavriel Kay’s do, stories that delve into courage, into love, into what it means to be human and broken and somehow, still whole. For me that recognition always happens in the hardest scenes: in Kay’s Fionavar Tapestry with Paul’s time on the Tree and Jennifer’s suffering; in this story, with Lyra’s. Vernon manages to weave together the worst and best of being human, the darkest strands of cruelty and the brightest gifts of love, and then makes the love mean more than darkness. Stories like this one showed me what being human meant when I was growing up a abused child in a family too dark to know what love meant; that shows how much more we are called to be than anything I saw back then. . . This one goes in the reread pile, with grateful thanks to its author.
This book goes much deeper than the first, much like some of Guy Gavriel Kay’s do, stories that delve into courage, into love, into what it means to be human and broken and somehow, still whole. For me that recognition always happens in the hardest scenes: in Kay’s Fionavar Tapestry with Paul’s time on the Tree and Jennifer’s suffering; in this story, with Lyra’s. Vernon manages to weave together the worst and best of being human, the darkest strands of cruelty and the brightest gifts of love, and then makes the love mean more than darkness. Stories like this one showed me what being human meant when I was growing up a abused child in a family too dark to know what love meant; that shows how much more we are called to be than anything I saw back then. . . This one goes in the reread pile, with grateful thanks to its author.
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October 4, 2024This book did not end well for me. It was pretty dismal, but in the sort of way that you can only write at a young age before extremely real dismal things happen to you. It’s coming of age in a way that’s like “the rosy way you viewed the world isn’t true.” There are a lot of good ideas in this book, and probably because it’s one of the author’s first works she threw everything and the kitchen sink into it, probably drawing on a lot of the fantasy epics that she was reading as a young person, but it both leaves a bitter taste and buys into the hero’s journey “hero ends up alone” sort of tale.
I would not hold this against the author, though. She writes much better, more satisfying books now. I would give this duology a miss unless you’re a big completionist or you like seeing where some of her ideas start (animal races different from ours, etc). The best thing about these books were the dog soldiers.
TW: rape, torture
I would not hold this against the author, though. She writes much better, more satisfying books now. I would give this duology a miss unless you’re a big completionist or you like seeing where some of her ideas start (animal races different from ours, etc). The best thing about these books were the dog soldiers.
TW: rape, torture
April 21, 2018
I think the two Black Dogs books are the earliest published prose fiction of Ursula Vernon. The contrast between them and her later work is interesting — this book had none of the whimsy of later books, and none of the familiar fairy-tale references. It's pretty dark, adult fantasy, with sex and violence and death, and quite a bit of emotional anguish and graphic physical torture, plus a heroine who spends a kinda comical percentage of her life naked against her will. I suspect if someone else wrote their own version of this exact same story, I wouldn't enjoy it as much. But my aesthetic just fits so closely into Ursula's. I find the endlessly loyal, ferocious dog-soldier a little corny, and completely delightful. Same with the giant sloth / tiny weasel couple. The villain here is pretty chilling. And of course there are terrifying hyena-people. This is a strange addition to her library, but it's fascinating to see her early work and how she developed away from this particular brand of fantasy — and how with her latest books, she's slowly trending back toward something that feels similar, but more practiced and comfortable.
April 2, 2024
A SIMPLE MAN'S REVIEW:
The formula worked in the first book so why change it? The story continues with additional dangers and a new friend. Onward to Ironspire!
It's a fun read but it has the same problem as the first book - there really isn't anything perilous about the journey. Bad things happen and are quickly resolved, sometimes so fast that the story leaves out details that would have been fun to read. I can't get into specifics without spoilers, but a couple of key conflicts are brushed over, a chasing foe doesn't have any impact or resolution, and enemies are defeating by adding additional powers to our heroine.
I did enjoy the ending and am glad I read the two books. The author has a fun writing style and I'm excited to explore more of her work.
Read it!
The formula worked in the first book so why change it? The story continues with additional dangers and a new friend. Onward to Ironspire!
It's a fun read but it has the same problem as the first book - there really isn't anything perilous about the journey. Bad things happen and are quickly resolved, sometimes so fast that the story leaves out details that would have been fun to read. I can't get into specifics without spoilers, but a couple of key conflicts are brushed over, a chasing foe doesn't have any impact or resolution, and enemies are defeating by adding additional powers to our heroine.
I did enjoy the ending and am glad I read the two books. The author has a fun writing style and I'm excited to explore more of her work.
Read it!
August 22, 2024
Meh. I stuck with it because I wanted to finish Lyra's story and I was curious to see what Vernon would do, but it's obvious this was a juvenile effort- all kinds of ideas, good and bad, get thrown up against the wall to see what sticks, but few are resolved in any real way. Character development is uneven and some are simply plot devices that lack any trace of agency. Happy endings have never been Vernon's thing, but the number of individuals who come to a bad end without advancing the plot feels either gratuitous or lacking focus. There was also a scene of torture that I could get through and had to skip ahead. I'm glad I read it, but I won't be revisiting, and I'm happy to see how Vernon has grown as an author. Only recommended for Kingfisher/Vernon completists.
October 6, 2023
even better than the first book
…though far more brutal. Maybe a little content warning for some pretty gnarly torture scenes at the end, but it’s not gratuitous, it’s an important part of the story and WOW, what a story it is.
No matter the name she uses, Vernon is an exemplary storyteller. I will always, always search her books out. Next up for me are her YA titles. I trust her to be as entertaining and thought-provoking and artful, irrespective of the age of her audience.
…though far more brutal. Maybe a little content warning for some pretty gnarly torture scenes at the end, but it’s not gratuitous, it’s an important part of the story and WOW, what a story it is.
No matter the name she uses, Vernon is an exemplary storyteller. I will always, always search her books out. Next up for me are her YA titles. I trust her to be as entertaining and thought-provoking and artful, irrespective of the age of her audience.
August 16, 2017
Lyra continues to be a fabulous character and her growth feels earned and natural. Still a bit sprawling and exposition heavy, most notably when a new character is introduced (but she's a marvelous character). Trent's story has a twist I did not expect. Some really terrible stuff happens to Lyra, but she's able to control her own story. A high fantasy story that does not have a typical high fantasy ending, but it's a very satisfactory ending.
May 7, 2021
Really solid, well-built duology. Tropes abound, as do subversions, inversions, aversions, and just plain old mocking. The conflict becomes complex; this book includes a lot of character thought on moral binaries. The characters and worldbuilding are wonderful, and Vernon's humor comes through clearly in dialog.
Content warning: This book includes a rape scene and a discussion of a relationship with a very clear power differential. Neither is graphic, but put me through the wringer.
Content warning: This book includes a rape scene and a discussion of a relationship with a very clear power differential. Neither is graphic, but put me through the wringer.
August 25, 2018
Exciting ending to a great story
I enjoyed Book 1 more, but this was still a very good read. Even the plot twists have plot twists. Very satisfying. The writing just didn't flow as well as a lot of her work. Probably an artifact of very young Ursula and older Ursula wrestling over the finished product.
I enjoyed Book 1 more, but this was still a very good read. Even the plot twists have plot twists. Very satisfying. The writing just didn't flow as well as a lot of her work. Probably an artifact of very young Ursula and older Ursula wrestling over the finished product.
December 27, 2018
Even better than part 1
Great read - really enjoyed this first but somehow enjoyed this more.
This book could have been a lot longer (so many threads to pull) but it didn’t leave me feeling cheated. I hope that there are more in this universe - I’m straight to amazon to find out.
Great read - really enjoyed this first but somehow enjoyed this more.
This book could have been a lot longer (so many threads to pull) but it didn’t leave me feeling cheated. I hope that there are more in this universe - I’m straight to amazon to find out.
November 6, 2020
Fantabulous!!
Great story, great characters, just great everywhere. Having occasional pictures was beyond wonderful, and by the author who actually knows what is going on, is a treat adult readers rarely have. I basically put my life on hold while I read both books and look forward to the next reread when I will find details I missed the first time. Thank you very much!
Great story, great characters, just great everywhere. Having occasional pictures was beyond wonderful, and by the author who actually knows what is going on, is a treat adult readers rarely have. I basically put my life on hold while I read both books and look forward to the next reread when I will find details I missed the first time. Thank you very much!
March 7, 2018
A step up from book one, still pretty rough, and I can see things that modern-day Ursula would definitely have changed. But by the end I was pretty involved with the characters and I'm glad I stuck it out.
December 23, 2018
Satisfying
Boy, does Lyra grow! This series started with Sadrao being the more interesting character, and as we met Sinai Jacyl, Gunner, Iyari...each captures us for a while until Lyra comes through.
Boy, does Lyra grow! This series started with Sadrao being the more interesting character, and as we met Sinai Jacyl, Gunner, Iyari...each captures us for a while until Lyra comes through.
January 13, 2019
This may look like a young adult novel but its not.
It is serious adult fantasy. The characters are well drawn and interesting and the world building is first rate. I hope to read about kyra and the rest again.
It is serious adult fantasy. The characters are well drawn and interesting and the world building is first rate. I hope to read about kyra and the rest again.
February 15, 2024
Impressive
Author apologized for sharing her work written in her teens. No need. This was a powerful tale and entirely enjoyable. The ending was satisfying. I loved all the characters in a way rarely felt.
Author apologized for sharing her work written in her teens. No need. This was a powerful tale and entirely enjoyable. The ending was satisfying. I loved all the characters in a way rarely felt.
December 18, 2017
This was a occasionally shockingly dark book, with a great main character, great supporting cast, and perfect if not entirely expected ending.
June 8, 2018
Satisfying.
I know the author wrote all those caveats at the start about this being an early work, but it's *wonderful* and I love it to bits and I'm very glad she shared it.
I know the author wrote all those caveats at the start about this being an early work, but it's *wonderful* and I love it to bits and I'm very glad she shared it.
June 29, 2018
Grotesquely--almost humorously--dark in parts. Very good ending, though. 2.5 stars.
March 14, 2022
CW: Rape, violence
This may not be Ursula Vernon’s best as she wrote it when she was 16/17, but it’s still good—you can really see how her writing developed.
This may not be Ursula Vernon’s best as she wrote it when she was 16/17, but it’s still good—you can really see how her writing developed.
November 4, 2023
It is a good read. Typical fantasy trope of a girl who lost her family and sets on a journey. There is nothing innovative, but if you want to read somewhat of a good story, this book is for you.
April 7, 2024
2.5/5
January 16, 2026
Enjoyment 8/10
Concept 7/10
Execution 7/10
Writing 8/10
Plot & Logic 5/10
Pacing & Structure 5/10
Atmosphere 9/10
Characters 8/10
Intrigue 8/10
World Building 7/10
Rating: 3.69/5
Concept 7/10
Execution 7/10
Writing 8/10
Plot & Logic 5/10
Pacing & Structure 5/10
Atmosphere 9/10
Characters 8/10
Intrigue 8/10
World Building 7/10
Rating: 3.69/5
September 13, 2020
Thankfully Vernon's work matured and became amazing with age. This book is highly problematic and cringey related to sex, sexuality, and gender representation-- but I can totally see why, as she wrote it when she was a teenager.
May 13, 2020
A very good ending to a very good duology.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews