So Reign of Pawns hooked me early: five strangers wake up chained in a basement with their memories scrambled. It’s dark, weird, and way more stylish than it has any right to be for a debut. The writing’s clean and sharp, flows beautifully, never feels padded, and the descriptions are just enough to paint a full picture without turning into an adjective graveyard.

Writing – 4.5/5
Honestly, not a wasted paragraph. Edwár writes like someone who knows how to cut the fat and still feed you a full meal.

Idea – 4.5/5
Original concept, good mix of myth and mystery. It’s Lost meets The Magicians, but with tighter writing and fewer people monologuing about destiny.

Character Development – 2.5/5
Here’s where I started flipping back pages. There are so many characters (and more introduced later) and subplots that I needed a corkboard and red string to keep track of them. Actually, I just need Liang to draw it out for me. The “White Ghost” storyline stands out, but everyone else gets tangled in the chaos. To quote a line from the book, "Aroon's head was spinning with so much information." Me too, Aroon, me too.

Plot – 3/5
Half the time, I felt like I was watching Lost again, intrigued, confused, maybe a little betrayed, but still turning pages. I genuinely considered making Cole’s Notes for myself. Still, even when I had no clue what was happening, I wanted to find out.

Overall: slick writing, strong ideas; however, plot confusion. If Edwár tightens the focus in Book 2, this series could be seriously addictive.

Cinco hombres de distintos continentes despiertan encadenados en un lúgubre sótano, incapaces de mover su cuerpo y sin memoria clara de cómo llegaron allí. Ojoré, Aarno, Liang, Diego y Darren no tienen nada en común… o eso creen hasta que comienzan a relatar sus historias. Cada uno fue arrancado de su vida de manera inexplicable, precedido por visiones de luces, burbujas brillantes o sucesos que desafían la lógica.

Mientras intentan entender quién los capturó y con qué propósito, también presenciamos los eventos que los llevaron hasta ese momento: estafas turísticas que salen mal, rivalidades futbolísticas que terminan en tragedia y brillantes científicos envueltos en misterios imposibles. Paralelamente, desde algún rincón remoto del mundo, una misteriosa figura conocida como el Fantasma Blanco despierta después de siglos, marcando el inicio de un plan tan antiguo como peligroso.


Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

What made Reign of Pawns stand out for me was how quickly it threw the reader into the heart of the story. Without any preparation, we are thrown into a basement where five strangers are waking up from a drugged sleep, chained to beds, confused, and memory-scrambled. All 5 of these strangers are completely different from each other, which I'd say adds a lot to the story and allows for more complex dynamics between the characters. It was clear that the author put effort into giving each character a unique background. Unfortunately, while the effort was there, I felt like some of the characters were better fleshed out than others, and my sense of attachment to the characters felt lopsided. Something that contributed to this was the constant shifting of perspectives and the back and forth shifts in the timeline. It often caused me to lose track of what was happening and have to go back, effectively pulling me out of the story and causing me to lose interest and momentum in both the characters and the plot. That being said, the idea and premise of the novel are good, but it could be great; it is an intriguing and imaginative story with lots of potential. I hope the author continues to expand on this world, and I can't wait to see what's next!

The book itself started out strongly, the problem I began to have was that there were a lot of prologues and it was hard to keep track of all the backstory that was being presented. I did however enjoy how the author was able to not only capture the emotional weight of the reveal near the ending of the story, but also keep you engaged until the very end. Overall I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy books.

The story opens with five strangers from very different backgrounds waking up chained in a mysterious basement with no memory of how they got there. Each character, including a billionaire heir, a brawler, a rebel, a prodigy, and a con artist, brings a unique perspective to the situation, and the early mystery of why they are connected gives the book an unusual and compelling start.
The book blends modern intrigue with hints of magic and ancient myth, creating a world that feels layered and unpredictable. I appreciated that the author gave each character a distinct background and tried to balance multiple narrative threads, which adds complexity and potential for character growth.

That said, the execution didn’t fully hold my attention. The constant shifts in perspective and timeline sometimes made it hard to maintain narrative focus, and I struggled to form a strong attachment to the characters. At times the pacing felt uneven, which pulled me out of the story rather than keeping me immersed. While the concept is imaginative and shows promise, these structural elements made it a middling read for me overall.

If you enjoy character driven mysteries with mythological undertones and don’t mind shifting viewpoints, this book may appeal more to you than it did to me.

If you’re a reader who appreciates a story that respects your intelligence and rewards your patience, this cross-genre narrative is a masterclass in atmospheric storytelling. It moves with incredible grace from the grounded, realistic world of modern politics into a narrative shimmering with hidden connections and ancient undertones.