English language
Published June 22, 2023 by Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom.
I have to admit I forgot a lot about the shades of magic series since I read it like. six years ago. But still, extremely fun, exactly what I cam here for
While the book held a good story, it also held a lot of padding. Calling this "book 1" of a series is wildly misleading, as it is clearly a sequel to a previous series (the Shades of Magic). In an effort to relieve the reader of the need to finish the earlier books, The Fragile Threads of Power is overloaded with exposition in the form of multiple layers of flashbacks. Perhaps this would have worked better as Shades of Magic book 4, instead. At least then the reader would have assumed they'd need some familiarity with the previous work, and the author could have trimmed about half of the verbiage from this tome.
OK, that out of the way - it's an interesting concept, with the four parallel "worlds" with different magical strengths. Many of the characters are interesting, particularly Tes, but most of the named characters have some intriguing …
While the book held a good story, it also held a lot of padding. Calling this "book 1" of a series is wildly misleading, as it is clearly a sequel to a previous series (the Shades of Magic). In an effort to relieve the reader of the need to finish the earlier books, The Fragile Threads of Power is overloaded with exposition in the form of multiple layers of flashbacks. Perhaps this would have worked better as Shades of Magic book 4, instead. At least then the reader would have assumed they'd need some familiarity with the previous work, and the author could have trimmed about half of the verbiage from this tome.
OK, that out of the way - it's an interesting concept, with the four parallel "worlds" with different magical strengths. Many of the characters are interesting, particularly Tes, but most of the named characters have some intriguing depth to them. I kind of saw the big reveal coming long before it was written, but that didn't remove any of the interest. I still want to know why.
I love all of Schwab’s work. This continues the story set up in The Shades of Magic series.
That series got a teeny bit muddled by the end for me, but Schwab’s growth as a writer is evident here. Except for the monarchy, which I’m just more impatient with these days in my entertainment, (enough of the in-born virtue of royals), such a pleasure to re-visit this world and characters.
I KNEW IT! I'm not gonna spoil it, but I knew it and I'm mad because I kept second guessing myself. AHEM.
ANYWAY, I loved this book. It's slow, meandering, and does so much to set up the next couple of books. It's different in a lot of ways from the first trilogy, mainly because it has to tell the story of the present AND the past seven years, for two worlds and like, six people. It's winding and wandering, and left me wondering in all the best ways.
Now I have to settle in to wait for the next heart wrenching visit to Red London.
