Dopo essere stato assassinato e rinchiuso in una tomba immersa nell'acqua, inconsapevole del passare del tempo e di ogni altra cosa, Kai si risveglia per rendersi conto di essere in balìa di un espositore che vuole fare di lui un famiglio e schiavizzarlo.
Ma perché Kai si è ritrovato in questa situazione? Cosa è cambiato nel mondo dopo che è stato assassinato? E perché la coalizione del Mondo Nascente sembra stare diventando sempre più importante e influente? Kai dovrà stringersi quanto più possibile ai suoi alleati per attingere a tutti i suoi poteri se vuole tentare di rispondere anche a una sola di queste domande.
Fun, engaging story built around magic, empire, friendship, and vengeance. A familiar quest, but with enough twists and turns and different takes to keep returning to. Easy, comfortable writing that immerses you in an expansive world with complex characters and lots of compelling scenes and powerful moments, but with occasional moments that seem out of place as well. Clearly Book One of a series to come, but a good and satisfying story in its own right, and I'll definitely read the next one.
I adored how wide the world felt and how much was hinted at by the various, subtly interacting magic systems at play. I feel like there are so many nooks and crannies to be explored around the main storyline of this book that it feels like a nearly inexhaustible mine. More, please!
The narrative structure jumps from the present to the past, each giving context to the other and its people -- literally showing you why the characters act the way they do, showing how the current situation came to be, giving you a real sense of time and consequence. I loved it.
And, as I've come to expect from Martha Wells, her depictions of trauma responses feel on-point and real. How everyone reacts to their own ghastly experiences and how it drives them are on full display and are very sympathetic.
So: great world-building. Fun characters and relationships. A …
I adored how wide the world felt and how much was hinted at by the various, subtly interacting magic systems at play. I feel like there are so many nooks and crannies to be explored around the main storyline of this book that it feels like a nearly inexhaustible mine. More, please!
The narrative structure jumps from the present to the past, each giving context to the other and its people -- literally showing you why the characters act the way they do, showing how the current situation came to be, giving you a real sense of time and consequence. I loved it.
And, as I've come to expect from Martha Wells, her depictions of trauma responses feel on-point and real. How everyone reacts to their own ghastly experiences and how it drives them are on full display and are very sympathetic.
So: great world-building. Fun characters and relationships. A complex, political story with very "human" characters. It drops you in to a rushing river and expects you to swim, which I love.
That said, I feel like the characters besides Kai, the main POV, are a little flat. There's a chance that they feel that way because of how much Kai is struggling with their own inner demons (heh heh); maybe Kai's inward focus makes them somewhat blind to others' personalities and the narrative reflects that?
