Kingdom Blades A Pattern of Shadow and Light, Book 4 (Audible Audio Edition) Melissa McPhail, Nick Podehl, Podium Publishing Books
Download As PDF : Kingdom Blades A Pattern of Shadow and Light, Book 4 (Audible Audio Edition) Melissa McPhail, Nick Podehl, Podium Publishing Books
"You cannot sculpt a piece into a Player. A Player must mold himself out of fortitude and conviction." (Bjorn van Gelderan)
After the events the first three books in Melissa McPhail's award-winning epic fantasy series, A Pattern of Shadow and Light, the realm of Alorin remains unbalanced. The Fifth Vestal, Bjorn van Gelderan, has cast his Players on the field. Now they must hold their positions against Malorin'athgul as well as their immortal allies.
In Kandori...Prince Ean val Lorian is bound to Bjorn van Gelderan's game and to his sister Isabel, but Ean would rather be free of both of them. Yet he fears the game won't let him - nor will the man he used to be. Chained by guilt on one side and duty on the other, Ean chases memories through three kingdoms in an attempt to become a Player on his own terms.
In Hallovia...Tanis of Adonnai has discovered his true identity and his nature as an Adept of four strands. He's bound himself to the Malorin'athgul Pelas and in turn bound Pelas to his uncle Bjorn van Gelderan's game. But will Pelas' ability to bend Fate to his will be enough to oppose the intentions of his brothers, Darshan and Shail? And will Pelas be able to keep Tanis safe from the immortal Warlock Sinarr, who vowed to go to any lengths to make Tanis his concubine?
At the First Lord's sa'reyth...Prince Trell val Lorian has been rescued from the island of Darroyhan and the mor'alir Adept Taliah hal'Jaitar and is recovering at the First Lord's sanctuary. But while Trell is enjoying an overdue reunion with his betrothed, Alyneri, he suspects he cannot long remain off the field. If the game doesn't summon him back, his conscience will, for he owes his life to too many others. Primary among these is the Water Goddess Naiadithine. Trell can't help but wonder what the goddess will require of him in return for Her many graces...and if it will be a price he's willing to pay.
As Bjorn's game intensifies and wars escalate, those serving the Fifth Vestal must mold themselves into more than mere Players. They must become his Kingdom Blades.
Kingdom Blades A Pattern of Shadow and Light, Book 4 (Audible Audio Edition) Melissa McPhail, Nick Podehl, Podium Publishing Books
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Kingdom Blades A Pattern of Shadow and Light, Book 4 (Audible Audio Edition) Melissa McPhail, Nick Podehl, Podium Publishing Books Reviews
Kingdom Blades digs deep into the psyche of several central characters. Motivations are questioned. New journeys, choices, discoveries are launched. Twists abound. I gave this book 5-stars because it is written in a tight format that leaves few stones unturned. I strongly suggest you read the earlier books in this series to get a better understanding of the characters and who wields the Kingdom blades. This book (series) is perfect for older teens and adult fantasy-adventure fans. I recommend it as a parting summer read and holiday stocking stuffer. I look forward to book 5.
I admittedly was one of the detractors of Paths of Alir. But, I heard Melissa McPhail's explainations out, and I decided that I'd at least check out Kingdom Blades. I had loved the series up to (and still most of) PoA, and I really couldn't resist.
And as I said, this book made me incredibly happy.
It pulled together the main POV'S, and the relationships that made me previously cringe, were shown to make sense before the plot lead the characters forward. Then McPhail pushed them out into a fantastic interweaving of plot lines and character development. A dense, lush, gorgeous stack of intrigue, battle, love, and forgiveness.
Only two issues - it took me a long time to really fit characters and story lines from past books into this one. It's probably an unintended consequence of having such hugely sprawling works, but if you're not 100% on the past books cause of the time lapse between releases, probably worth a re-read.
Second - in pulling together the POV'S there seemed a pushing away of the strong female voices. That's just my preference though, it doesn't detract from the book, but it did distract me when I realised.
So very glad I took the punt! Bring on the finale, I'm a bit giddy to see how this baby wraps up.
First, I absolutely LOVE Melissa McPhail and this series . . . in general. The characters are fantastic and there's all the traditional "leveling up" of characters from know-nothings into ultimate powerhouses that I am always and will always be a sucker for. But in this case, or rather the case of the last book in this series, McPhail "went dark" (as is the current vogue, thanks GRRM) and kind of exploded a hugely important relationship, in a way which, in my opinion, screams for vengeance. If you're looking for justice, or human reaction to the poisoning of something beautiful, you won't find it in this book.
Rather, the heroes are perfectly heroic, because the villains are politely contrite, it wasn't their fault, you see. The heroes go "big picture" and valiantly forgo justice/revenge/whichever for the Greater Good, and the readers get conflict with no resolution. There's no Balance in the ledger for some.
Edgy. That's so hot right now. Sometimes the Eddards out there just die, and that's all there is, right?
Okay, so, obviously I'm still ticked off about one particular storyline, which is, all things considered, a reasonably small portion of the overall pattern to this story. So what about the rest?
It's fantastic.
Lots of twists and turns and team-ups you'd never expect as the game continues to play pit. Great timing to it all builds a sense of comfortable momentum that makes for a shock when you come to the end the book - it flows so effortlessly and the pages fly by and it feels like it should keep going until the story is all told. A definite "What? No! Nononononono!" moment as you try to find the pages that are obviously missing.
Just a great ride all the way around.
You know. Except for making (charming and admittedly lovable) monsters pay for their crimes.
The depth of the background world through the esoterics, patterning, circle of life, and entire rule-set for the realms are exquisitely wrought. The addition of new unknown abilities/ people/ forces are engrossing to say the least, and in no way appears to be a simple addition to the story. EVERYTHING is incredibly thought out to the N'th degree. The constant human perspective to each character is also incredibly rich with a well thought out interplay. It is even intriguing to see how our increased understanding of the game's outlines, players, and rules help increase our understanding of what has already happened in the story.
I cannot recommend this author or her works highly enough, she is not only able to create a world as if looking at it in person, she is able to juxtapose you there as well. Excellent work and my appreciation to the author.
Honestly, I love Melissa's books. She is a goddess among men. when I bought this book. I went back and re-read first 3 books first just to catch myself up again with the full story again. for some strange reason. comparing this 4th book to the first 1-3, I felt it's lacking in something. I felt after 50% into the book and I still am just reading the esoteric of laws and order and ideas of everyone and in general nothing is really happening. I felt the book 1, 2, 3 made me want to flip the pages as fast as possible while this one was repeating a lot of cacophony repetitive themes. main characters are changing and generally most of them are all confused about what they want and what they did and why they did it (fear of the past. etc) finally. I felt the ending isn't done and you know there is a 5th book since the good vs evil isn't done yet. for some strange reason I felt there isn't enough action compared to the other books in the series. just a lot of ideas and theories and laws of esoteric and repetitive reasoning of patterning. I somehow felt that it's great but after 50% into the book and nothing really much haven't happened yet that get me riled up a bit. Mostly I guess I was expecting a lot more plot twist in every chapter like the other books haha. Still a great mastery book but just not up to Markal's standard . Looking forward to the 5th book.
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