This is one I DNF.
I had two attempts to read but just could not engage with the story.
There were too many names and attempting to figure who related to who left me confused.
The story felt disjointed jumping from one person to the next.
Not for me.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book is told through the perspective of several characters. The main perspectives are Korin, the reluctant king, and Calthus, the sorcerer and court advisor past his prime. The two characters who had great destinies prophesized felt like side characters. I was able to gain an idea of the ambitions of each character and what they valued, but I felt like they were very one dimensional. I kept waiting for some confrontation between characters for some character growth except they were very passive and only reacted after something had happened to them.

There is magic, adventure, conspiracy, and intrigue. I felt the story had great potential, but in the end the story remained flat. While I was curious on how the story would unfold I found myself not growing attached to any of the characters nor caring of their fates. The storytelling seemed focused on the journey and all the characters were just decorations to all the events occurring almost reminiscent of classic fantasy storytelling.

While the idea of the story was interesting there were no other aspects that kept the story interesting. In the end this entire book seemed like the foundation, or the prologue, to the .

An interesting book, well within the scope of Fantasy, after the first several chapters it failed to continually hold my attention and had to keep coming back to it. I feel that others who enjoy fantasy will like it more than I did. Thank you for giving me a chance with this book.