The Godstone

The Godstone #1

by Violette Malan

This new epic fantasy series begins a tale of magic and danger, as a healer finds herself pulled deeper into a web of secrets and hazardous magic that could bring about the end of the world as she knows it.

Fenra Lowens has been a working Practitioner, using the magic of healing ever since she graduated from the White Court and left the City to live in the Outer Modes. When one of her patients, Arlyn Albainil, is summoned to the City to execute the final testament of a distant cousin, she agrees to help him. Arlyn suspects the White Court wants to access his cousin's Practitioner's vault. Arlyn can't ignore the summons: he knows the vault holds an artifact so dangerous he can't allow it to be freed.

Fenra quickly figures out that there is no cousin, that Arlyn himself is the missing Practitioner, the legendary Xandra Albainil, rumored to have made a Godstone with which he once almost destroyed the world. Sealing away the Godstone left Arlyn powerless and ill, and he needs Fenra to help him deal with the possibly sentient artifact before someone else finds and uses it.

Along the way they encounter Elvanyn Karamisk, an old friend whom Arlyn once betrayed. Convinced that Arlyn has not changed, and intends to use Fenra to recover the Godstone and with it all his power, Elvanyn joins them to keep Fenra safe and help her destroy the artifact.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, High Fantasy, Adult, Magic

297 pages, Hardcover

First published August 3, 2021

About the author

Violette Malan lives in a nineteenth-century limestone farmhouse in southeastern Ontario with her husband. Born in Canada, Violette’s cultural background is half Spanish and half Polish, which makes it interesting at meal times. She has worked as a teacher of creative writing, English as a second language, Spanish, beginner’s French, and choreography for strippers. On occasion she’s been an administrative assistant and a carpenter’s helper. Her most unusual job was translating letters between lovers, one of whom spoke only English, the other only Spanish. She can be found at violettemalan.com.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can also check out my review here on my blog: https://devouringbooks2017.wordpress....

Review: 4 Stars
I picked up an ARC of The Godstone on a whim because the blurb sounded interesting, but I didn’t really expect much from this book. When Susy wanted to buddy read it with me I figured it would help motivate me to pick it up as sometimes I procrastinate reading epic fantasies, but I had no idea how much I’d enjoy this book. Once I picked up The Godstone I found it really easy to tear through and was surprised by how much I really enjoyed this book. The Godstone jumps right into the plot and moves pretty quickly. This fantasy debut was a really wild ride and I can’t believe more people aren’t talking about this one.

The characters were all well written and there are multiple points of view. It was really nice to get the story from multiple angles, including the POV of the villain, While Arlyn was at the center of the story, he wasn’t my favorite character. Arlyn was a really interesting character that had many sides to him and watching him grow throughout this book was one of my favorite aspects of this story. Fenra was my favorite character. She was really kind-hearted and saw the good sides of everyone. I admired her caring heart and loved her personality. I really liked Elva as well. He was incredibly loyal and honorable. He kind of reminded me of Grey from A Curse So Dark and Lonely, except he could be incredibly brutal at times. I wound up really invested in all of these characters and their stories. I will definitely be reading the next book because I need more of these characters.

The Godstone is the type of fantasy novel where you’re just thrown into the world and you slowly pick up pieces of the magic system and world building along the way. I was a bit confused in the beginning, but as the story continued things became more and more clear. This book has a really fascinating magic system and world and I wish it was explained in a bit more depth. I found the Modes incredibly fascinating and the magic system was so cool. Everything was vividly described and really brought the story to life.

The plot revolved around the three main characters trying to keep the Godstone from falling into the wrong hands. It isn’t an action packed story, but the plot kept a steady pace and kept me captivated. I had a few issues with the book, like the confusing beginning and use of both third and first person points of view. These issues kept this book from being a 5 star read, but since this is the author’s debut I think a few kinks are to be expected. The Godstone really surprised me because I didn’t really expect much from this book, but I got amazing characters and a really fascinating world. I can’t wait to read the next installment and I am definitely going to be watching Violette Malan.

[Sibil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and to the Editor. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

This was a pleasant surprise. It is an epic fantasy with an amazing world-building, original and complex. In the beginning is a bit confusing, because we are just thrown there, and all is new and different and, yes, confusing. But, at least to me, this is not really a bad thing. This sense of wonder and confusion (and okay, let’s be honest here, more confusion than anything else) usually made for a hell of a ride in an amazing world. It could be that I am a bit biased, because to me this is the feeling I always get when reading Sanderson’s books, and since I love his books with a passion (and wonder, and amazement), usually I am always feeling at least optimistic when I find myself at a loss at the beginning of new books.
Anyway, the world-building is original, and I would have liked to read a bit more about it, especially about the Modes. They were an interesting concept. Also, the magical system was intriguing.

But things get even better. We have a really interesting cast of characters. We have Arlyn, who has some surprises for us, and I don’t really want to say a lot about him, because I don’t want to spoil you anything, even if we have the synopsis that is doing that for us (Argh!!). Anyway, Arlyn was my favorite character. He is quite complex, and I don’t think I would have really enjoyed who he was in the past, because he doesn’t really seem like a nice person, and his ambition was… wow! Just wow! But now he is an interesting and resourceful person, and even if he is not really a completely different person, because he is not a Saint, for crying out loud, he is not bad, and I really enjoyed his company. He is the one that grows or, better, changes more in the book, and speaking about growth here may not be so right, because he is not young. At all. But we see him change, and I couldn’t get enough of him around.
Then we have Fenra, and she was a good character, kind but with strong willpower, and even if she was quite a straightforward character, she was the one who made me wonder the most. I had so many questions about her! Because there were some mysteries in there, and even if they weren’t really of import for the plot, we can say that they were minor mysteries, they were like an itch that I couldn’t scratch. But not in a bad way. It was something that kept my interest piqued. Because I just needed to know the whys and the hows!
And then we have Elva. He is a sort of black and white guy, but he has some depths in him too. He is not plain, he is not predictable, but he is a great guy. He is determined, he is resourceful and he is loyal. He is the last to join our team, but he became important, and I am not talking about the plot here, pretty quickly.
And then we have the villain. And even if I really despised him, I think that he was one of the best things about this book. Mind me, Metenari was despicable, and he annoyed me to no end. When we read about him I was always irked, annoyed, and exasperated. I didn’t want to see him. At all. I despised him with a passion. But my strong reaction to him is pretty strange, because, to be honest, he is not really a villain. Sure, he is the villain of this story, at least until more powerful entities come into play, but he is not really evil. He is a pompous and arrogant practitioner, he is so much arrogant that he became stupid, but really, he is not evil. He cares for the people, in some ways, he is a calculating and self-serving slimy man. He is self-centered, and he is firmly convinced that no one is better than him. No one. But, again, for all his faults (and he has many, and yes, it seems like I may have some problems with this kind of character, sorry about that!) he is not really evil. Or bad at his core. And this dichotomy is well developed by this author.

We spoke about world-building, we spoke about the characters, and now it is the turn for the plot. If you are in search of some action-packed book, with a really fast pace, well, you may be disappointed here. But, and yes, there is a big but here, the story is not boring, at all. I found myself absorbed by it from the beginning. I was hooked, and it was just impossible to just put down the book and stop thinking about it. Because once you begin it, it would keep you hooked. And it is not slow, and there is a lot happening anyway. But the pace is more balanced, and we don’t really have a lot of action. But we have the future of the world at stake, and we have our cast of characters that are trying to prevent it. And we get to travel a lot, both in real and magical places, and we get to see quite a lot happening all the same.

The only thing that, at least to me, wasn’t great was the ending. It is not really bad, and it is quite the logical conclusion, so I cannot say that it was unexpected, but it was a bit rushed, and, on a personal level, I would have preferred another ending. But… oh well! I had a great time with it, and I really enjoyed the ride!

So, if you are in for a new world and some really interesting characters, with the fate of the world on balance, well, this would be the right book for you!

[eyes.2c · Rating 4 out of 5]

Violette Malan has been one of my fav. Fantasy writers ever since I read the Dhulyn and Parno novels.
The Godstone is very different. A world of different modes (counties) reaching out from the court of practitioners (like mages) The White Court, and it’s balancing group, the Red Court (wherein lies the law) The world is out of balance we slowly learn, caused it appears by the creation of the Godstone, an artefact locked away for many years by a gifted practitioner. Only now a dogged, research oriented practitioner, is looking for relics left by a powerful member of the White Court. Fenra Lowens a working Practitioner in an outer mode accompanies her patient Arlyn Albaini to the city at the command of the White Court to execute conditions of a will of a distant cousin. Of course disaster beckons.
This new world is patiently built for us by Malan, and although seemingly slow, all the unknowns come together with more than their fair share of tension. I’m really looking forward to the next in the series.

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 / 5 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com...

Fenra Lowens is a practitioner come to the Outer Modes so that she can heal folk free from the politics of the City. It is a simple, quiet life, but one that she enjoys. But when one of her patients, Arlyn Albainil, is summoned to the White Court to execute the will of a long-missing relative, Fenra is returned to the City and all the matters she wished to avoid. For Arlyn suspects that this summons is not to simply read a will and return. No; rather the White Court is after Xandra Albainil’s vault, and the Godstone within it.

The very Godstone that Arlyn locked behind it centuries before.

But Xandra Albainil did not die: he became Arlyn. See, when Xandra bound the Godstone, it robbed him of his power. He became nothing more than a Mundane himself, and a sickly, Low one at that. Now, to keep the Godstone from falling into the wrong hands (or, any hands really), Arlyn needs Fenra to accompany him to the City and finish what he started—sealing the artifact away once and for all.

Along the way allies and foes both are discovered—from Arlyn’s one-time friend, to Fenra’s girlhood rival. The City remains much the same, but much has changed as well. The duo must navigate the old and new if they hope to make it through the ordeal alive, which means that all secrets must be exposed—including the ones they’re keeping from each other.

The book is written mostly in first-person, switching between the perspectives of Arlyn and Fenra. Though it’s a bit unusual to tell a story this way, it’s not the first time I’ve come across it. What was a first was the 3rd person narrative that was thrown in around a quarter of the way through. This 3rd person narrative is quickly joined by another, and so it continues for the rest of the text. So… two 1st person POVs and two 3rd person ones. Fenra and Arlyn get most of the screen time, but… wow. It took some getting used to. Fortunately, the author pulls it off rather well, so it was only muddy for a little.

Despite having less-than creative names and titles (“the City”—really?) I found the concept and world incredibly inventive. The world is divided into Modes, which apparently are only obvious to practitioners. When crossing between them clothes change. Technology changes. Buildings, walkways, language, money and nature all change. Hell, maybe even life and magic change. While Modes aren’t ever terribly well explained, the hints alone blew my mind. It was a constant struggle to figure out what the hell was going on in this book—but in a good way. Mostly (confusing is still confusing).

The Godstone itself is a great character. A sentient, powerful object with the potential to change or destroy the world? Something that has an agenda all of its own, but is inescapably linked to Xandra/Arlyn’s past, and thus has an unknown motivation and goal? It’s like those supervillains with the evil plans that sound crazy at first, but the more you read into them the more sane they sound. The other characters deliver as well, with Arlyn and Fenra being my favorites—fortunate as you have to put up with them a majority of the time.

Still, much like the Modes, not all of the book is satisfyingly explained. There’s one bit where a character just vanishes—and their disappearance isn’t even noted. They’re just—gone. And never mentioned again. The White Court is center stage for much of the book but was never really explained well enough for me. At the same time, the Red Court—the White’s counter court—isn’t explained at all. I mean, they’re feared and respected, but otherwise… It wasn’t so much that they were mysterious, elusive, or enigmatic. They were just… not explained.

TL;DR

The Godstone does quite a lot right—telling an immersive and highly inventive story through diverse and relatable characters, causing the reader to become deeply invested in the outcome. But it can also be quite confusing. While mostly it’s confusing in a good way, sometimes confusing is just confusing. Too often there were terms or organizations that just weren’t explored or explained, despite playing a fairly vital role in the plot. In a longer book this would’ve just bogged everything down. In this shorter format, it kept me guessing—an elusive mystery that I just couldn’t put my finger on. Hopefully most of these issues will be resolved in Book 2 (a thing I didn’t know was a thing until I read the blurb about a “new epic fantasy series” while writing up this review)—something I’m already cautiously optimistic about!

[Elena Linville-Abdo · Rating 3 out of 5]

 Stars: 3 out of 5.

I loved the worldbuilding in this book. It's different and interesting... and very confusing. The author drops us right into the world and doesn't pause to explain anything, so in the beginning I was a little lost. I usually don't mind that, because I like figuring things out and I assume that some explanation will be forthcoming eventually. I like when authors gradually introduce us to their worlds instead of doing a 10 page long infodump in the beginning. 

Here, however, the explanation never came. I still don't know what the Modes really are. Are they different worlds stitched together? Are they different versions of the same world from alternate realities? Are they the same world from different times? The author never explains. We also don't get any firm explanation on how the magic in this world works. Why did one Practitioner need a relative's blood to open another dead practitioner's vault when our protagonist was able to do that just by replicating that practitioners pattern? How is it that their clothes never change... yet that rules seems to go out of the window for the protagonist in the middle of the book? 

See, when the rules of the world and of the magic are not fully defined and explained, the reader is left floundering, trying to understand what's going on. And a lot of time I felt like things happened or the protagonists were able to do things not because those things were possible, but because the author wanted it to be so. Because it was convenient for the plot. I don't mind suspending my disbelief and getting immersed in a fantastical world, but that world has to make sense. The characters have to live within the established rules or there has to be a valid explanation as to why those rules were broken.

That's most infuriating about Fenra. A lot of times the author says that some things are just not possible or have never been accomplished... only for Fenra to go and do them a few pages later. It's hinted a few times that she is much more powerful than she lets people know, but it is never explained why she chooses to do that. Why the secrecy? Why pretend to be less than you are? Why fake an infirmity? See, if she had some powerful enemies or needed to hide from something, that would make sense. But the author never mentions that. In fact, as far as the White Court is concerned, nobody gives a flying fig about Fenra. So why is she wearing a figurative mask?

We get more explanation about Arlyn, but even then there are still so many unanswered questions about what he can and cannot do. How did he end up in the farthest Mode? If he lost his "magic", how comes he can still see the changes in Modes as they travel to the City? How did he suddenly become this renown furniture maker? Was that a hobby when he was a Practitioner? 

The whole structure of the White Court is nebulous at best. We get no real explanation about its structure, hierarchy or anything else. We meet two apprentices and maybe 2-3 other masters, and lots of guards who are ordinary people. Even less is explained about the Red Court. That one doesn't bring anything to the story at all. We are also told that there is tension in the City and that the common people don't like the Practitioners, but we are not shown this. One little walk through the city and some unfriendly stares don't show that dislike at all, at least to me. Also, no real explanation is given as to why they are suddenly disliked.

All in all, this was interesting enough for me to keep going, but it could have been so much better if the author had taken the time to set up and explain the rules of their world better before breaking them. And explain why they were breaking them. As it stands now, I don't think I want to revisit this world again, even if there is a second book coming.

PS: I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published at Reading Reality

This is a first. I’ve never read a blurb for a book that managed to reveal too much AND say too little at the same time. It doesn’t really do a good job of describing or teasing the book at all, but still manages to reveal the thing that if it were in a review would be labelled a spoiler. ARRGGGHHH!

So, this wasn’t quite what I was expecting, except in that this is an author I really enjoy (start her Dhulyn and Parno series with The Sleeping God or her more recent book, Halls of Law, written under V.M. Escalada but it’s still her.) So I was expecting a good reading time – and I certainly got that – I just didn’t get it quite the way I started out thinking I would.

This is one of those stories where it feels like you’re dropped in the middle. Which can be a good thing, because it makes the world and the characters seem fully formed from the very beginning. On the other hand, because no one is getting introduced to this world or coming of age in this story we don’t get the explanations that help ground readers into a new world.

It’s more like an immersive language course. The language, after all, already exists and is fully formed when the student begins the class. The newbie is then in a sink or swim situation to get up to speed as soon as possible.

So it is in The Godstone. As the story begins, we’re in a small village out in the hinterlands somewhere. Far from the capital, which is just how both Arlyn Albainil and Fenra Lowens like it. Arlyn is a world-renowned furniture maker, and Fenra is the village healer. Arlyn is also Fenra’s long-term patient, as he suffers from what we would call periodic bouts of severe depression.

Both characters are well into adulthood when we meet them, even if Arlyn is a whole lot further into adulthood than anyone – including his healer – could possibly imagine. They are who they are going to be. What makes them interesting is that they are not exactly who they appear to be, and especially not precisely who they have told each other they are.

The Godstone is an adventure story. And a quest. And a story about being forced to dismantle a comfortable persona in order to do what desperately needs to be done.

Which just so happens to turn out to be saving the world.

Escape Rating A-: This turned out to be an absorbing little world, and a surprisingly compelling story, in spite of the fact that I a)knew way too much from the blurb going in and b)went down a rabbit hole of my own making and couldn’t get myself out. Only to eventually realize that the rabbit hole was not quite as much of a wild goose chase as I originally thought.

And that many of my assumptions about the way that things work here, based on what they remind me of, may be considerably more off-base than that rabbit hole that sorta/kinda wasn’t.

The story at first seems straightforward enough, in a sense, because it’s obvious to Arlyn from the very beginning that there are some seriously screwy political shenanigans going on in the capital that someone wants to entangle him in. So even though the political shenanigans themselves are more convoluted and dangerous than first appears – because of course they are – that initial framework itself is easy to understand.

Arlyn knows that his summons to the capital is not exactly on the up and up because he’s being summoned as the nearest relative of a powerful practitioner (read as magic-user). He knows it’s not legit because he himself is the supposedly dead practitioner he’s been pretending to be the relative of for, let’s say, lo these many years.

Fenra, who is the local practitioner in their remote village, assumes its not totally legit because the rise of political shenanigans in the capital was the reason she decided to set up her practice in a remote village in the first place. Paraphrasing Shakespeare a bit, because this story made me borrow bits from pretty much everywhere – It’s Denmark, and the state of the place is rotten and getting rottener by the year. Fenra doesn’t want her patient getting caught up in someone else’s game of political or magical one-upmanship, whoever and whatever it might be.

The exact nature of Arlyn’s illness – or at least how he became ill – is suddenly and perpetually relevant. Arlyn has periodic bouts of what appears to be a deep depression. Fenra is able to level him out so he can be functional – and also not waste away into nothingness – but she can’t cure him.

What makes Arlyn’s illness so fascinating, and what turns out to be the central puzzle of the whole story, is how he got that way. Once upon a time, the practitioner he used to be created an artifact that could literally destroy the world. He couldn’t destroy the artifact or at least not without potentially doing the thing he didn’t want to do in the first place, i.e. destroying the world that he himself was living on, so he locked it away where it could never be found. Except, of course, it has been, hence the original not-exactly-legit summons.

Arlyn thought that when he locked away the artifact, the Godstone, he lost his power in the locking away. Instead, he split himself in two, kind of like the episodes of Star Trek where Captain Kirk splits into good and evil twins. So there are two Arlyns, and both of them are telling their bits of the story in the first person, as are Fenra and Arlyn’s long-lost – seriously lost – friend, Elvanyn.

I found myself following the story by using equivalences. The Modes, the different neighborhoods, or counties or villages, seemed to be like the Shards of Marie Brennan’s Driftwood. Not quite, but close enough. Political skullduggery is it’s own mess, but the forms it takes tend to be similar, and so it seems here. Arlyn’s personality split echoes that Star Trek scenario, as what he’s divided into are a half with knowledge but no power, and one with power but no knowledge. Arlyn is actually a fairly decent person, while his other half, Xandra, has all of his power and all the arrogance that goes with it, but none of Arlyn’s wisdom or empathy to temper it.

Arlyn was a bit of a puzzle because his name echoes a character in, of all things, Final Fantasy XV. I kept mentally equating Arlyn Arbainil with Ardyn Izunia. Then I thought I’d fallen down a rabbit hole, then I decided that there was more carryover than I first thought, and not just because both characters are considerably older than they appear. Also much more of a psychological mess than they first appear. And while Arlyn is not as nasty as Ardyn, his long-buried counterpart, Xandra, certainly is.

So there’s a lot to process in this one. I enjoyed the hell out of it, even the times I was a bit confused. The round-robin of first-person narratives got a bit confusing with both Arlyn and the other Arlyn telling their parts of the story under the same name, but they were so opposite to each other that it didn’t take too long to get back on track.

There are still so many things about this world I don’t know, things that occasionally got a bit in my way but never for long. I loved that the other two voices were so distinct, and that Fenra was keeping just as many secrets as Arlyn – even if hers were not nearly as world-shattering. Although, come to think of it, they could be if this turns out to be the first book in a series after all. The Godstone didn’t end in a way that felt like it led to more adventures in this world, but it could.

I certainly had a more than good enough reading time that I’d sign up for the sequel – right this minute if I knew where to sign!

[Sasan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The final arc I had planned for the month of July and if anything, it was an easy read.

I have received this book in exchange of an honest review, thank you to NetGalley and DAW for the opportunity.

I have my own blog now, so please do give it a visit if you're interested in my other reviews :)

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I feel a bit conflicted whenever I review books like these, where there is a good idea overall, but it feels like there is something about it that doesn't make it as good as it could have been for me. The Godstone is a very good example of that because there is a very interesting world in this book, and having more than one entity trying to take control if you will, makes for an interesting possible political take to it.

However, I wouldn't necessarily say that there is a lot of politicking in this one as it was done in the background and then forgotten altogether, to focus on the things that the plot revolves around. This in itself is more than okay because the author focuses instead on the magic of the world and how that works which is very interesting and easily the best part of the book because of the numerous applications of it. More so, because there are no same types of magicians or practitioners I've seen so far, and being a big lover of magic, makes me excited.

The thing that sort of hurts that enjoyment a bit however, is that the book has main characters who already know everything there is to know about the basics of the world so whatever building the author is doing, is based on a foundation that I, the reader, have to extract from context. Which in truth, is made a bit more difficult because of the different terminologies used to describe certain aspects of it like Mode or Forran which are frequently used, but the actual real life synonyms of what they mean don't come until later in the book. This in itself does not hinder the flow of the story, but it does get old pretty quickly as it feels like I'm missing something to really make sense of the world as a whole which could have been easily fixed with a glossary.

That being said however, the magic is pretty diverse and a practitioner can apply their magic to quite a few things that made the story engaging when it came to it while making me think of the endless possibilities it could be applied to. For some reason, it also reminded me of Fullmetal Alchemist by the mangaka Arakawa Hiromu where alchemy is a huge field, but the applications of alchemy depends on the characters and their skill which technically has the same basic rules as the world in The Godstone. Personally, I believe that if the book was based in the White Court instead and the focus was just on the creation and that scientific side of the world, it would have been a lot more enjoyably for me because it feels like the author's strengths play into that part a lot more than the rest of the book's elements.

To be very honest, the book's major issue in my humble opinion is that there is a huge problem, that could potentially destroy the world, but the way the events move and how the characters interact with it, doesn't have a shred of urgency to really show me this. Everything is still done in that slow pace we started out with, taking their time to figure out how to move forward, every encounter with their opponents is anticlimactic and it felt like the main characters were running circles around everyone which in turn made me question why it's taken them that long to get anything done.

It's made even more apparent in the second half of the book when things should have kicked it up a notch based on what happened in the first half. However, nothing actually changes, everything is still the same and I started flipping the pages just to get to the end more so than anything else because that atmosphere is constant. It's very easy to read this book and I'll go as far to say that it's a page turner, but I wish that there was more to it to make the most of both of these qualities.

The synopsis says it's the start of a brand new series, which might mean that there might be a series of standalone books and that is great because I really do think that this book could have been fantastic on all fronts for me, so maybe the sequels will be if I ever get the chance to read them and if they do in fact exist.

[Hwango · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the idea of the Modes, but was seriously disappointed that they turned out to make no sense and were never explained. It sounded like the Modes were geographic areas with different characteristics, but "mundanes" don't notice the differences. On page 21 the story talks about the road changing from packed dirt to cobbled as if that's a magical transformation. How does that work? Do mundanes believe that the road they left was also cobbled? When their clothes change, they think that the clothes were always like that? How does this work for trade - can you leave your town with a shipment of wool, have it turn into some other commodity by the time you reach your destination, sell it for the price of the new commodity, and then your money changes back when you go home as if you'd actually sold wool so that there are no discrepencies? Is there no communication between Modes, or do letters change their contents? Like, if I write to you about the fancy new gas lamps installed on my street, but your Mode doesn't have gas lamps, you'd think "Wow, gas lamps!" but then if you come visit me you'd think "Oh, we have those at home?"

I don't need this system exhaustively explained down to every detail, but I need more than we got, because with the level of detail we have it doesn't seem like it should function at all.

As far as the story goes, I was also underwhelmed in that department. At the beginning it seemed like we had different characters keeping secrets from each other, and I thought it might be interesting to have the story told from shifting points of view where the different narrators had different information, but that quickly collapsed.

Fenra is the most fleshed out and likable of the characters, but there's still not much character there, and I didn't like her all that much. Everyone else has even less depth and is annoying in some way.

I did not like that sections for Fenra and Arlyn are first person (except the bits in their sections that are actually Metenari, which are third person) but the sections for Elva are third person. Why not also have Elva's sections be told in first person? Or if they aren't, then they shouldn't get a label like Fenra and Arlyn, and should just be subsections like Metenari's?

[Anne Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Malan's characters are multilayered and nuanced, we discover them slowly even though they are the ones telling us the story. The facet they show the world is never more than the first layer to a person full of strengths and flaws, untapped bravery and stubbornness. Fenra in particular wants her quiet life, but by the end is willing to do whatever it takes to deal with the Godstone. Arlyn is a brilliant character-or characters. He is the mild-mannered, quiet, brilliant woodworker the village children like; the stubborn man Fenra helps as a patient and slowly befriends. But there is also Xandra- the brilliant, stubborn Practitioner who believes he can never be wrong and knows better than anyone else, and who Fenra is pretty sure she's glad she never met. How did Xandra become friends with the levelheaded and loyal Elva? Elva is a case of someone who seems a completely open book, what you see is what you get. But watching the other characters develop makes you wonder what more of Elva's layers are. We don't get to see them all here, but maybe in the future? Along with maybe more than the hint of romance we get here? Then there's the Godstone itself- a sentient being on some levels, Xandra on other levels, and something else in between.

The Godstone doesn't end as a cliff hanger, but there are enough hints of future books that we can hope for a nice long series in this new world of Malan's. So many aspects still to explore, the reader will want to dip back into this world(s) again and again to see what they missed the first time.

If you haven't read Violette Malan's books yet (Gift of Griffins, Halls of Law, The Sleeping God series), you are missing a master's class in brilliant world building and nuanced characters. The Godstone is another perfect example of Malan's talents. Fantasy lovers will be thrilled and addicted.

[Kes · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5 stars

I liked the worldbuilding - the world consists of various Modes. People travel through the Road, and by doing that, they transit through something that is a bit like alternative realities. By entering the City, Fenra's clothes are transformed into the black and white of a practitioner. There's also something like alternate dimensions (I have no good way to describe this).

I still don't feel like I have a good grasp of the world as characters treat it as normal. There are two types of people - Practitioners and mundanes. Practitioners are able to use forran (a kind of magic), and travel throughout the Modes. Fenra specialises in healing magic, and spends her time in the Outer Modes.

Arlyn Albainil is a carpenter under Fenra's care. He suffers from lowness (sort of like depression) - and Fenra keeps him level (i.e. able to function like a usual human being). He gets a summons that his cousin's vault, Xandra Albainil, is dead and a living relative is needed for the vault to be opened. Arlyn decides to check out what is happening, even though he knows Xandra isn't dead (because he is Xandra).

Due to some missteps, the vault is opened and the Godstone released. The Godstone has a plan to kill half of humanity so they must now stop it. We also meet the Maker (the god who created the world) and learn that Arlyn tearing the Godstone out centuries resulted in the Maker being injured. Their plan is therefore to reunite the Godstone with the Maker, a process that ends with Arlyn dying (presumably).

There's room for a sequel, but it also works as a standalone.

I kind of like what this book was doing and felt it was ambitious. But reading through it felt like a slog.

2.5/5 stars - this rating is mostly due to the worldbuilding.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Godstone is an immersive and beautifully well written cross-worlds fantasy by Violette Malan. Released 3rd Aug 2021 by Penguin Random House on their DAW imprint, it's 304 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats (paperback due out 4th quarter 2022). It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a wonderfully engaging fantasy with impressive complexity and subtlety. The characters are three dimensional and believable, the dialogue flows well and I never got yanked out of the story once during the read. In fact, this was my commute read over the course of a week and I almost missed my bus stop a couple of times because I was so immersed in the story that I was unaware of my surroundings.

The narrative arc is slow to build and meticulously constructed. I found the denouement and resolution competently written and (mostly) satisfying. It's ostensibly a standalone but there are strong hints foreshadowing more to come.

I enjoyed this volume enough to seek out the author's other works; high praise for me, since I never seem to have enough time to read my towering mountain of TBR books.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[Jeffrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

It just never excites the reader and plot was very plodding.

[Bonnie McDaniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, that's it. I made it to page 136 of this plodding bland generic fantasy and realized I don't care about any of these people. (The fact that I started and finished another book while I was supposed to be reading this one should have been a clue.) The worldbuilding and characterization of this book is severely lacking, and my TBR pile awaits. Onward.

[Lauren loves llamas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Content notes: Depression, suicide attempt (before book begins), suicidal ideation (on page), violence (including gun violence and death)

An epic fantasy with an artifact with world-ending ramifications sounds right up my alley.. except this didn’t quite work out for me.

“I am thinking how much I could have learned from you over the years of our acquaintance if I had known who and what you were.”
He went still as a statue for a long moment before answering. “You might have learned how to be so sure of yourself that you endangered the whole world.”

Practitioner Fenra has been happy living in a village in an outer Mode, far from the City and the political machinations of the White Court. When it becomes clear that Arlyn, one of her patients, intends to travel back to the City to investigate the death of a relative, she agrees to accompany him. But Arlyn hasn’t told her everything, and their arrival in the City sets off a string of events that could end in the destruction of the world.

The character development was excellent. Each character seems quite simple at first: a village woodcarver with a strange illness (Arlyn), a simple village healer (Fenra), and a gunslinger (Elva). But as the book progresses, more layers are revealed through their actions and their internal monologues, as there are first-person POVs from the three main characters as well as the bad guy. To be honest, I wish it hadn’t been spoiled in the synopsis that Arlyn and Xandra are the same person – somewhat. Arlyn swears – and Fenra’s inclined to believe – that he’s a different person now, but Elva has his doubts. And frankly, Xandra isn’t someone I would’ve wanted to meet. In fact, Practitioner Metenari, the guy who forged the documents to summon Arlyn back to the city, shares more than a few traits with Xandra (something Elva isn’t hesitant to point out), including his belief in his own superiority. In contrast, Fenra, the healer who only wanted a quiet life, was my favorite, and honestly the only reason I kept reading the book at some points.

The book is definitely of the “throw you in head-first” school of worldbuilding. Normally this is something I enjoy, but it felt like my confusion lasted for too long with this book over even frequently repeated words like forran. Once I started to understand it, though, the world building grew on me. The idea of Modes – technologically separate areas that Practioners can see the changes to as they travel through but “mundanes” cannot – was absolutely fascinating, and I would’ve liked to have read more about them. Though the magic system remains consistent, each practitioner has a slightly different way of doing things, and I loved that Fenra’s focus on healing infused her whole magical practice.

“Take your time,” I said to Fenra, meaning every word. “Be sure you’re ready. We only have to save the world.”

While I liked the character development and the world-building, where the book fell flat for me was in the pacing and plot. The pacing started out slow and stayed that way. Even with the possible destruction of the world is on the line, the pacing never picked up. And while there was plenty of action, the plot felt like it plodded along as well. It took me a while to get into the book, and then I was never quite hooked. And then all of a sudden, bam, there’s the end of the book. I liked some of the themes – like Fenra’s insistence on what’s important, even when the world is at stake – but it’s a bit lost in the rest of the book.

Overall, despite my love for Fenra and the magical system, the pacing greatly affected my enjoyment of the book. Cautiously recommended for fantasy lovers who don’t mind a slow pace.

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[Andrea Rittschof · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing New World

This new epic fantasy series begins a tale of magic and danger, as a healer finds herself pulled deeper into a web of secrets and hazardous magic that could bring about the end of the world as she knows it.

Fenra Lowens has been a working Practitioner, using the magic of healing ever since she graduated from the White Court and left the City to live in the Outer Modes. When one of her patients, Arlyn Albainil, is summoned to the City to execute the final testament of a distant cousin, she agrees to help him. Arlyn suspects the White Court wants to access his cousin's Practitioner's vault. Arlyn can't ignore the summons: he knows the vault holds an artifact so dangerous he can't allow it to be freed.

Fenra quickly figures out that there is no cousin, that Arlyn himself is the missing Practitioner, the legendary Xandra Albainil, rumored to have made a Godstone with which he once almost destroyed the world. Sealing away the Godstone left Arlyn powerless and ill, and he needs Fenra to help him deal with the possibly sentient artifact before someone else finds and uses it.

Along the way they encounter Elvanyn Karamisk, an old friend whom Arlyn once betrayed. Convinced that Arlyn has not changed, and intends to use Fenra to recover the Godstone and with it all his power, Elvanyn joins them to keep Fenra safe and help her destroy the artifact.

In this intriguing new epic fantasy by Violette Malan, nothing is quite what it seems and the worldbuilding gives a new and different type of fantasy, where magicians can see the Modes of their world but mundanes cannot, yet it is made clear partway through that only this world is built this way and the legendary Xandra attempted to change that, to create a world where magic remained but the world was static. That intriguing world is partly why I kept reading along with the incredibly sympathetic Fenra. 

In the story, while Arlyn’s point of view builds information and helps inform the reader of what is going on, it is Fenra that pulls you deeper into caring, deeper into the story and is the most complex of any of the characters in the novel. She is far more powerful than she seems but far less interested in power. And that is what makes her so interesting and makes you care about her. She genuinely cares and that makes you like her, far more than any of the other characters in the book. 

I found the worldbuilding and pacing slow. While the story is still enjoyable, it does take time to build the world, for the reader to understand just how the world works for both the mundane and also for the magicians, how magic operates. Once you understand, while the pacing does not pick up, you understand more clearly why it is so critical that Arlyn and Fenra track down the Godstone. Even better, while the pacing and character development happens slowly, it is intricate, detailed and worth the wait as is the incredibly unexpected ending. Nothing is quite as it appears and that is a good thing in this interesting and entertaining new novel. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 magicians

Book available for order upon request

[꧁ Brutally Honest ꧂ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I give up. I listened up to 1 hour 32 min, got super confused and ended up restarting the entire book over because I couldn’t figure out what I missed. Only to relisten to another 2 hours to end up just as confused, before this moment where I’m calling it quits.

We really are just thrown into the life of these people without any explanation of ANYTHING. Like the story started with some girl frolicking in a field but I have no idea who they are, why that’s important to the story, or WHAT HAPPENED TO HER. Then it’s just constant switching POVS in the middle of chapters - which you’d think would help clear things up since your getting the thoughts of the other person, but no. It leaves you with MORE CONFUSION AND A HUGE ASS HEADACHE from having to constantly rewind thinking you’re missing SOMETHING when it was just NEVER EXPLAINED!

The general description of the book sounded sooooo interesting and I feel like it could’ve really been great. But I’m left with confusion and a damn headache. There’s another point where the FC talks about her twisted leg randomly that really confused me because it came out of nowhere and didn’t explain why. Just that people notice her twisted leg when she stands still so that’s why she rather walks than ride a horse. Lmao ok? Then it goes to her telling the MC that he’s a practitioner because she figured it out and she says how she figured it out but like that’s after the fact so it really means nothing to me, the reader, because I don’t know what she’s talking about! Why does he need to lie? How does his family not know he’s pretending to be the cousin when he said they went to cousins funeral?? WHAT IS THE PURPOSE FOR THESE CHARACTERS AND WHATS THE END GOAL????? Additionally who the fuck are the bad guys that they need to keep all these secrets from (not to pay attention to how bad at it they are btw), and where do they stand? I just don’t understand what the fuck is happening!

And I really wanted to get immersed in the story sooooooo bad. There are no good titles being released on audible right now, and I have no preorders to look forward to. No joke, every single book being released right now are all about lost princesses with unknown powers manifesting out of nowhere that she’s kept hidden, who’s father sells her to a neighboring immortal dark fae prince (and it’s ALWAYS a dark fae prince - probably of something stupid like prince of nightmares or some shit) that has such a bad reputation of being bad (that never actually happened) who by chance needs to sacrifice his 18th mortal virginal wife for some deep dark purpose that turns out not to be dark but really wholesome like saving his entire fucking kingdom from certain death or some wild shit. I AM SO SICK OF THESE SHIT STORIES. And this book, at least, had something new and different so I was really hoping for it to turn out better than it did. Unfortunately, like every other book in my library as of late, it did not live up to that at all and I just ended up not finishing. 🫠

Now I have no other books to listen to on my commute to work. 😭

[Art Enyedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

saw a postive review for The Godstone in the Bookpage SF & Fantasy column, and it sounded intriguing, so I checked it out. The author, Violette Malan is new to me, but based upon the strength of this novel, it will be worth my time to track down her other books. Alas, none are carried in our library system, so I may have to track down a used copy - I see Malan has previously authored a four book series called Dhulyn and Parno.

The Godstone is told primarily in first person from the perspective of its two major characters: Fenra Lowens and Arlyn Albainil. At the start of each section, the name of who is speaking is listed at the top (despite this, I sometimes got confused about who was relating their portion of the story). Fenra is a practitioner (magic-user), a low level talent that works as a healer in the outer modes, rather than staying close to the central source of political power, the Red Court and the White Court in the City. One of Fenra's patients is Arlyn, a sculptor who frequently drifts "low", meaning he falls into a depressed state. Fenra has to restore Arlyn with her practitioner talents. Arlyn himself is an unremarkable personage, a sculptor, but it turns out that he is related to Xandra Albainil, one of the most powerful practitioners the world has known. Xandra is declared dead, and the White Court wishes to enter his vault and examine his treasures, but only someone with Xandra's blood will be able to open the vault. Thus, Arlyn is summoned to the City, and Fenra travels along with him. It turns out that both Fenra and Arlyn have more secrets than the world knows.

I liked this novel because Malan does a great job of world building. The magic seems well thought, and different than in other fantasy novels. Arlyn and Fenra cross several Modes on their journey to the City, and at the boundaries, Fenra's clothing changes - because that is what happens to practitioners at the Mode edges. Fenra is a healer, and so she is concerned for Arlyn. She also has a horse, Terith, that seems to have an uncanny understanding of human speech. Returning to the city is dangerous, the practitioners there are powerful and unscrupulous.

Inside the vault of Xandra is thought to be an artifact called the Godstone. It is an item of great power, and obviously certain practitioners would like to wield it. Can Arlyn and Fenra find a way to destroy the Godstone to prevent it from being used?

Although it does not say on the cover, I suspect that The Godstone is the first in a new series by Malan. If there are subsequent volumes, I will try to read them.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Godstone by Violette Malan was an exciting, action-packed read that had me fascinated at the first mention of the Modes. Historical age and advancements changing as you traveled through locations, with only the select few that could detect the changes and build patterns into the world? A Magic system that was in no way inexhaustible? Heck yeah, that was amazing!

Fenra, who at first glance seems to be nothing more than a lowly third-class member of the famed Practitioners who bend the strands of reality around them, is working as a healer in the furthermost districts from the revered White Court, when one of her patients, who calls himself Arlyn, is called to the mysterious capital. Needing a reprieve from villagers suspicious of her gifts, she volunteers to escort him to her previous home, and quickly discovers she is not the only one pretending to be less than she is. Untangling a messy web of power plays and intrigue, Fenra and Arlyn race to put to right the mistakes made in his past hubris, before the consequences catch up with them all, and before the powerful practitioners with less scruples can finish the catastrophic work of ending the world.

Boasting of an advanced magic systems that blends the ideas of Sympathy from Kingkiller Chronicles and Reading from Elder Empire, our story is steeped in historical advancements of industry, elite academic institutes of power, and a couple of good, old fashioned cowboys. An intriguing race for power and control, it's a lesson of admitting mistakes and not trying to play god in a world that every living beings is a part of equally, gifted or un-gifted, and it also manages to pull in an innocent romance along the way. Middle fantasy at its best.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ll be honest. I was completely lost for about 80% of the book, and just barely grasped what was happening at about 95% completion. The good stuff: the author has a writing style that I love. Descriptive landscapes and environments that pull a reader in, creating robust scenery that’s easy to envision. I also really enjoyed the devolution of one of characters by the gradual simplification o f language while following their viewpoint (if I say more it might just spoil it, so trust me on this).

Unfortunately, what I loved about the book cannot erase the fact that I was SO confused. The world-building was disjointed, minimally shared throughout the book. I don’t enjoy excessive exposition, but I would’ve appreciated a little more understanding of the world. I spent much of my time trying to parse together what I knew about the world, which meant I’d miss plot points and have to reread paragraphs. I also found it difficult to remember which character knew what, which further added to the confusion. As a result I found plot holes and inconsistencies rather common throughout.

It was clear this story was plot-driven. The characters, despite multiple viewpoints, seemed to lack depth. Usually with shared points of view, a reader can get a better idea of individual motivations, but I didn’t really get that. This isn’t a huge problem, but perhaps a fixed third-person point-of-view would have improved the story flow (it likely would’ve helped with the world-building and reduced confusion).

I had high hopes and believe this world has great potential, but fell short of my expectations. 2.5 stars.

I won this in a Goodreads Giveaway.

[Reyna · Rating 2 out of 5]

read a bit feb 1 then dnf then start again feb 9
-i am so confused, not in the oo the mystery unravels as the story does but like in the oh we skipped the worldbuilding entirely ig?? i dont like how some words r the same and some arent it feels like half assed worldbuilding with no clarity
-theyre on the Road to the City and they traveled through multiple Modes while on the Road where are we! uk how fantasy books have those maps? one might be useful here. also how tf am i supposed to care about the godstone (which apparently was made to combine the modes into one mode) if idfk what a mode is like “I watch his face carefully as I explain what the Modes are” GIRL TELL USSSSS
-the perspective changes are too quick and unnecessary for how little info we get from them like the writing style also stays the same so like the arlyn mystery being solved super early is not that intriguing... the only time the perspective change is cool is when the godstone is the pov
-which court do i care abt? respectfully
-go towards the abstract concept of help HUH literally WHAT
-why is fenra so weak sometimes and supposedly so out of power but does insane tasks like the next chapter like i get shes stronger than she says but even when theres no reason to hide it shes weak af
-this book couldve been like so much shorter... i do like the part where the godstone holds some of xandras memories tho and metenari gets some but again it couldve been SO much shorter
-ok so the godstone isnt a stone but xandra made it but our minds need to make sense of it
-ur telling me the GODSTONE cant sense a giant void behind a door
-the World ... cool but also like ard

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good fantasy is tricky. You need excellent world building, characters your readers can connect with, and a way to not drown your reader in the world you are creating. Malan’s ‘The Godstone’ handles the world building very well, dropping the reader into a world both well imagined and well thought out. Her characters are believable and unique, and we can connect to each of them individually. Where I did run into some troubles was being dropped into the world without much explanation. I’m not a reader who needs or wants to be spoon fed details, and can appreciate a certain amount of ambiguity, but I will say I struggled to find my mental footing initially trying to keep up with the story. Once I did manage to sort out all those early details, I greatly enjoyed the story and the characters. One aspect of ‘The Godstone’ I really enjoy is that the reader is given only a few characters to keep track of. I have read fantasy novels in the past where the number of characters completely detracts from the flow of the story, and never allows individual characters to be fully realized. Malan creates antagonists and protagonists we can enjoy, understand and view with ease. I definitely recommend this novel to anyone looking to become immersed in a new world. I’m looking forward to continuing the series.

[Alison C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was…fine. I struggle to pinpoint exactly what I didn’t like about it. I think it was the lack of drive by the characters. Set in a world with magic practitioners, we follow our two main characters to the City as Arlyn has been called to be the executor of the will of a distant cousin. But plot twist, Arlyn is really the cousin that “died.” (Practitioners live a really long time and Arlyn has been in hiding). His goal is to protect (or does he?) an artifact that he made that could ruin the world. He brings along Fenra to help (aka use) as she is a much stronger practitioner than she seems. So back to my drive comment. The characters are literally trying to save the world, and there is no urgency within the plot or conversations. It’s like, oh I suppose we should try to get the Godstone before the other dude gets it. Oh darn, we didn’t, now we have to figure something else out. Shucks. I found the worldbuilding interesting, but there were some pretty big gaps in it (like for real, what is a Mode?!?) Anyway, I can’t recommend this, but I also can’t say don’t read it either. It’s just meh.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the premise and the magic system....but I wanted a more in depth explanation of the magic and how it worked, as well as the world. What is a practioner and what all can they do? I love that Fenra could essentially speak to animals, but I just wanted some definitions of what all they could do and why not every practioner is the same. There wasn't much "building", I felt as though I was expected to know what a "mode" was...and eventually just figured it was a sort of County, but it would have been nice to understand the world we were in a bit. They writing style was very distracting for me as well....jumping between POV's within chapters, and sometimes even interjecting a 3rd person POV within as well. Perhaps making each POV its own chapter would have helped, I'm not sure. I really truly wanted to enjoy this book so much more....it had such potential.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the writing style fascinating, as well as the characters. As soon as I read the first couple of pages of Arlyn's POV, I was drawn in, because wow I found him incredibly relatable. I rated it 3 stars because something wasn't working for me later in the story, though I can't quite identify what. (Also, while I realize that I'm solidly in the wrong camp on this, I wanted the *relationship* to be between Fenra and Arlyn.) I wasn't sure what to make of the ending, but that's probably because I knew something bad was going to happen with Arlyn and he was probably my favorite character of the three "main" characters. I was trying to brace myself and still wasn't fully prepared when the blow came. My heart.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I asked to read the ARC of this book because I really loved the series that started with The Sleeping God by this author and she hadn’t put anything new out in some time so it was exciting to se this title coming out. I really liked the world building. It was a very interesting setup to have magic warping the world and changing in from one place to the next. I also particularly liked the focus on just the main characters and how they react to the crisis they are in. It was very much a page turner to see what they’d do next.
I’m rounding up to 5 stars because it’s a stand alone and that’s always great to see in this genre.

[Celeste]

DNF @ 94 pages.

There’s almost a clinical, academic, and technical tone that is inherent within the writing style of this book that was a bit off-putting. And as a detriment the world building is almost nonexistent and even when there was a small semblance of world building that is touched upon it was never further explained.

I wasn't getting a solid feel for the characters at all, which is probably due to how plot driven it was. The plot was very clearly the sole focus of the story and it was very evident.

I don't know why I wasn't feeling this, but I wasn't, and I can't be arsed to force myself to read it because that wouldn't be fair to the book, or myself.

[Marcie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, it was okay, but I didn't love it or anything. 3/5 stars even this time. Some of the terminology was confusing and it was never really explained very well. Also, in the last third of the book one of the POVs got a bit confusing, but it was easy to figure out once you read a bit of it. The second half of the book was also slower than the first, and the ending was a somewhat anticlimactic and felt a little rushed.

I did like the characters quite a bit though, and their relationships with each other were also very clear and nicely written. If "The Godstone" turns from a standalone into a series though, I don't think I'll continue beyond this book.

[Jacqueline Manosky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, the worldbuilding was complex and I as a reader needed to use the information that was provided to make my own inferences about how it operates and what people are doing in the scope of existence. However, as some other reviewers have pointed out, there isn't a bit of urgency in the whole novel. I feel like every character is leisurely ambling from plot point to plot point, figuring it out as they go along and just bringing me along for the ride. It's not a bad novel by any means, but it takes a while to finish and muddle through. 3.5/5

[Beth Rosser · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a long time to get to this book, unfortunately, due to studying for my MSc.

I really wanted to love this book. It had some interesting ideas and concepts, but I couldn't get past the constant first person perspective switch. It made it very difficult to know who was talking, especially towards the end.

There were also a lot of concepts that could have been developed further that were a little confusing at times such as the Modes. There was definitely room for more explanation and world building here.

The characters were pretty solid, which was a big plus.

[Fran Martin-Winchester · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great read! I loved the characters, including Fenra’s horse Tierrel. The story is told from the view point of each main character in a way that lets us into their inner most thoughts and observations. I loved how the story unfolds, revealing more of this fantastic world until….ah, can’t reveal the ending! A wondrous world that is so well described I can see it in my imagination like a movie. I couldn’t put this one down! I hope we hear more from Fenra, Elva and Arlyn .