skybridge

babewiththepower.bsky.social · @babewiththepower.bsky.social@bridge.neodb.net

Rated The High Lord 8/10

What a huge difference in writing from beginning to end of this trilogy. I started book 1 a little disappointed at the level of writing while blowing through book 3, not because the writing continued to be so YA easy, but because it had become so rich in characters. Yeah, it was still fairly predictable, but I was happy to read that the nugget dropped in book 1 was used to help save the day in book 3. I would've been pretty mad, actually, if it had been just left there. Each book was progressively longer, but not to their detriment. It gave Canavan more time for world detail and character development which was definitely a bit lacking in book 1. Thankfully, there wasn't another weird aha! twist in the middle like there were in both previous books, so that was a relief. It really had come off as amateur, to be honest. The one question I asked in my book 2 review, did anyone really believe Akkarin was evil?, really fell to the wayside starting with book 3's back cover summary. I guess Canavan decided she wasn't fooling anyone, so she just let it go from the start. The ending though, I didn't expect. It even got a "WHAT?!" out of me, so good job. I felt it was rather sad and not what I would've liked necessarily for several of the characters nor how the New World Order, if you will, turns out, but that doesn't make it a bad ending. Like I always say, not all endings have to be perfect happily ever afters nor neatly tied off in a bow. There's a sequel trilogy of which I already have book 1, but I think I'm going to rest a bit from this universe and pick it up later when I'm ready to read more of the Guild's black magicians.

#book

Published 2026-08-18 17:59 UTC · bridged from Atmosphere