Luthiel's Song: The War of Mists

Read the full Review at Witchmag's Boekenplank

The beginning of the story was a bit difficult to get. It had been a while since I had read the first book. I remembered the outlines of the story, but this is a story with a lot of characters, so I had to struggle the first couple of pages with who the heck Luthiel was talking to, or misplaced the names… (okay again an index, but again I refuse to scroll down my eBook continuously to look it up)

Luthiel was a real drama queen and adolescent at the start of the story. She was on one big emotional rollercoaster. First sad, then angry and then angry again and then not a little sad or angry, but pissed off and devastated. Above all she was making a mountain of a molehill. When the owl gave his show more life for her (voluntarily) she continued to rage about the unfairness off it for a couple of pages. She even planned to start an Utopian world, where nobody would die. Obviously she hadn’t thought this one through, cause that world would be a bit full after a couple of years don’t you think?

After that she had problems with wearing a cape that would hide her from her enemies. Uhm… your enemies are out to kill you… if they recognize you, you’ll be dead and all hope for this world will be gone. So shut your trap and wear the cape, capish?

The worst part was that she was speaking of no more sacrifices and then becomes the reason people/creatures have to sacrifice themselves to save her. It’s okay to be angry at spiders because they are torturing elves and trying to help them, but not okay when the enemy has the majority, because there’s no way to save the elves and by attacking you would endanger your entire party! Okay, this sounds a bit cold, but she is the only hope for her world and if she dies all hope is lost and the lives that she saved would have been useless…

Fortunately she grows up a bit when she finally meets the High Lords. From that moment on it became fascinating to read about Luthiel’s world and its miraculous creatures. The author spends a lot of time with world building and describing how it looks like (sometimes too much….). The plot is also very refreshing, after years of reading(*cough cough,* okay I’m not that old yet, but I do read a lot ;) ) I can usually guess which way the story goes. Not with this one! It kept me on the edge of my seat and certainly with an open ending, I now wait anxiously till the next book comes out in October!

Overall rating: 3 hearts. Although it’s an amazing world with incredible creatures and a great story, Luthiel annoyed me a little too much with her antics. Therefore no 4 or 5 hearts, but I still enjoyed reading the book. show less

I was thoroughly captivated by the prequel and had much hopes that the second book would be just as good or maybe better but sadly, the novel did not live up to my expectation.The armies of the faelands have finally gathered to put a stop to the Vyrl's requests for chosen sacrifices. Now together with her companions, Luthiel races back to the faelands to convince them about the Vyrl's change of heart or is it too late, with shadows of the Widdershae lurking in the darkness of the Vale of Forest.I felt too many characters were needlessly thrown into the story to keep the story going. There were just too many names. At times, I found myself wondering what role does he or she play; only to find out later that we would not be seeing him show more again. While I was glad to see the main characters again, I did not find them as endearing as before. This was probably due to the many interaction between the many characters that the author had introduced. The writing was consistent and I can see that the author has put a lot effort into creating his own world. Sometimes, a little too much from the look of things. Some parts were difficult to read and dull but other than that, I have no complaints. After reading this, I'm a bit hesitant to read the sequel. Even so, I have a feeling that I would, just to see how the story would continue after that big cliffhanger. show less

*Sigh* Bit of a cliffhanger....wonder when the next one will be out?