Sean Gursky reviewed Echo of Things to Come by James Islington
Review of 'Echo of Things to Come' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
There is only one reason to be passionate about a lack of faith - and that is fear
Two books in to the series and it's apparent that Islington has a rich history in this world and we only get to see a little here and there. The world building is excellent and has centuries of mythology to pull from. The history is learned through Caeden's flashbacks and this is a challenge I had with An Echo of Things to Come.
Learning about the history through a first person perspective and no opportunity to debrief with other characters or explore what it means left me not entirely absorbing the importance of Caeden's flashbacks. What I was able to piece together hinted at a complex story but I feel that I may have missed more than I picked up.
Like Caeden I feel like my understanding of the world has …
There is only one reason to be passionate about a lack of faith - and that is fear
Two books in to the series and it's apparent that Islington has a rich history in this world and we only get to see a little here and there. The world building is excellent and has centuries of mythology to pull from. The history is learned through Caeden's flashbacks and this is a challenge I had with An Echo of Things to Come.
Learning about the history through a first person perspective and no opportunity to debrief with other characters or explore what it means left me not entirely absorbing the importance of Caeden's flashbacks. What I was able to piece together hinted at a complex story but I feel that I may have missed more than I picked up.
Like Caeden I feel like my understanding of the world has gaps and an important conversation or event may not have significant until several hundred pages later. Exploring the history of the world and memories of a character is a challenge but there were highlights with Caeden's chapters too.
You want to do the right thing, but you don't want to do the necessary thing.
An Echo of Things to Come is an excellent continuation of the story but I am not sure I can justify giving it five stars. This may be a series that benefits from rereads or understanding of how the ending supports the beginning and on the first pass it's a bit much to keep together.
I have commented heavily on Caeden in this review but he was where I had my biggest problems.
The rest of supporting cast all have excellent POV chapters that continue to move people and plot appropriately. I am not sure if the characters are developing significantly, my focus may be more on their world and how they react to it as opposed to seeing personal growth.
All faults aside this is a brilliant fantasy series and Islington has placed himself on my radar and anything else he publishes will be an automatic add to my to be read list.
I'm excited to see how the final book ties this all together and what other surprises and twists are in store.
