aglara

Witty. Pithy. Hilarious at times.

That describes discworld in a nut shell. Mort was no exception, though she ending stumbled a bit. It felt jarring, but I guess that could also be satirical commentary on authoring as a profession...

Well then... People were gushing about how the main book was alright, but the epilogue was incredible and made the book worth reading. They are both right and wrong at the same time. An Echo of Things to Come was a step up in quality from the first book, which was unsurprising. If you've ever read the Inheritance Cycle, you'll understand when I say this is the Eldest of this series. In the first half there's not a lot of action. Enough to keep you sated and on your toes, but not enough to become stale. There's a lot of revelations in the first half. The second half felt like a boulder slowly starting to roll down a mountain, picking up speed and momentum as it goes, until finally it meets some immovable object, shattering into a million pieces. The epilogue was incredible, tying minor details in the first book to major plot elements, darkly mirroring the very last part of the final chapter, and offering foreshadowing of the ultimate conclusion of the story. It is an incredible work of fantasy.

I want to address the Wheel of Time comparisons. Spoilers for both series to follow.

The comparison between Wheel of Time and Licanius is entirely justified. There is an enormous amount of Wheel to be found within the books. Ancient abandoned city of great evil swathed in mysterious mists? Check. Large cast of characters? Check. Madness? Check. Intricate magic systems? Check. One half of the magic spawning from a Dark God? Check! Immortal servants of the enemy? CHECK! Barren wasteland to the north in direct contact with the dark god? Check. I could go on.

I do not think that the comparisons are unjustified. Tal'Kamar seems to pull inspiration from Rand Al'Thor. Asha from Egwene. I haven't found a stand in for Matrim yet. Orkoth and Mashadar. Deilannis and Shadar Logoth. The comparisons are strong. However, as much as I love Wheel of Time, Licanius is more efficiently written. It is tighter. Major plot elements from the first book are actually major elements of the overall narrative, where I've always felt Eye of the World was almost a standalone story with very few real ties to the Wheel of Time's overarching plot. The Eye of the World is mentioned only a handful of times after the first book, and always in passing. A great example of what I'm saying is Deilannis. Deilannis is this books stand in for Shadar Logoth, and it plays a much more important and prominent role. Sure, Rand and Nynaeve cleanse the taint using Shadar Logoth, but otherwise it is largely forgotten. Most of the events that happened there could easily be placed in other locations. It exists to cleanse the taint as a plot device and that's about it, everything else surrounding it is fluff. Deilannis on the other hand, is the goal of the enemy. It is where he needs to get to in order to achieve victory. Tal'Kamar's plans center on Deilannis. It is where Davian is killed by Tal'Kamar (which hints at Tal's over all plan to end the Augurs is by having them time travel and killing them one by one in the past. Potentially. I haven't finished the third book yet.) Davian lives in Deilannis for months. It is where Tal'Kamar and Nethgalla met and Nethgalla gave him the siphon. It is so interlinked into the plot that it makes Shadar Logoth's impact on the plot of Wheel of Time look like childs play. This is just one example, cherry picked of course. But it really does feel like Wheel of Time with a more structured plot and much tighter writing.

What a wild ride. There's still a ton of unanswered questions, but I can reasonably assume they will be answered in due time. The plot is fantastic, and really drives the narrative forward. The pacing was fairly good, with only a couple of stumbling points. A very rough breakdown:

• Pacing: 4/5
• Plot: 5/5
• Characters 3/5
• World Building: 4.5/5

My major critisism is in throwing too many names at the reader too quickly. There felt like a hundred named characters in this book, and most of them suffer from "Fantastical-name-itis" where there's very little rhyme or reason to the naming convention, and no hints are given. There were also some relatively pointless characters, or so it seems currently.

Overall it was incredibly nice to have a plot driven story with decent characters. On initial read through, this book will benefit from rereads. I look forward to the next book.

Much more thought provoking than Mort, and better paced. Through and through a wonderful read. Death has rapidly become my favorite character in this universe.