Review: http://hadeer.booklikes.com/post/786926/just-wow ( )

*No spoilers.

4.5 stars

I don’t know if Arenson writes his own synopses (veeery likely), but BRAVO. Things of beauty, I tell you. Read it. Read it again. Frikkin fantastic. The book is not too shabby, either. ;)

You never know what to expect with a sequel. Many a time I have loved a book and waited impatiently for its follow-up, only to be utterly disappointed. That doesn’t happen here. I actually found myself more engrossed with this book than with its predecessor, Moth. One of my issues with fantasy in general, is that it can take a bit to get to the meat of a story. Empires of Moth wastes no time jumping right in.

In trying to put together a good defense, our characters pair up and branch off into various journeys. The majority of the book revolves around these journeys and the hardships they face over the course of many months. We get to know all of the side characters in a much more in-depth way. For the most part, I found them likeable, but I can still do without Linee. Ugh. What an insipid waste of space. There was a moment when I thought a change was coming, but no. Right back to her stupid, simpering ways. Reading her storyline frustrated me to no end, especially in comparison to some of the other stronger ones.

There was some unpleasantness. -__- I know people sometimes have to die, but DAMMIT. One death in particular hit me hard. I literally yelled and pounded my fist down like an angry sasquatch. Y u do this to me? I seriously didn’t see it coming.

That’s where the strength of this novel, nay, this series, really lies - in the emotional entanglement it causes you to have. Before you know it, you care about these characters. Even Linee, at one point, greatly stirred my emotions. I was emotionally invested in every character of this story at one point or another.

Like book #1, Empires of Moth is a dark story and the injustices committed against the Elorians is infuriating and, often, hard to read. It is a war, after all, and Arenson pulls no punches. The parallels between Moth’s world and our real world, specifically the ugly ones, are still very present.

I rated this 4.5 instead of 5, because there are some romantic developments that I'm not really feeling. They kind of came out of left field. I'm willing to, mostly, reserve judgement until I see how it all plays out in the next book. Thankfully, romance isn't the main focus of this series and my emotional connection to the story and characters surpasses any reservations I may have about it.

Lastly, there be dragons. Cheah.


ARC provided by author for review.




My review of book #1, Moth.




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