I enjoyed The Shadow Throne more than I enjoyed The Thousand Names, and I think that that’s mainly because this book has a lot more sense of direction. About 1/3rd of the way in, you get a pretty good idea of what the end game will be, where the story is going. This helps a lot to feel like the plot is actually going somewhere in stead of meandering about from one scene to the next.

There was a lot less fighting and military stuff happening, which I could appreciate. The writing is still strong and interesting and the characters are fascinating and unique. It’s quite refreshing to have female protagonists that are not just extensions of the men in the book. They bring their own views and characteristics to the table to make for a different experience than what I’m used to. This also means that I’ve rolled my eyes quite a bit at all of the emotional stuff that’s going on, which would have been handled quite differently if the characters were men. Let’s stick with calling it interesting 🙂

On to the conclusion of the trilogy, I’m glad to know which direction the end game is going to be in.

Also, as it turns out, I’m a sucker for a good sword fight (or a magic fight). Musket fights like these are not all that appealing to me. Don’t get me wrong, the writing is great, it brings the necessary suspense and makes you feel like you’re actually standing in the middle of the battle. It just doesn’t feel very interesting to me personally. Maybe it just has to grow on me?