Talonsister

Oh man, I loved this book. The most indulgent, wacky, world with all the magic and fantasy races you could ever want. Lots of cool, fun characters running around all sorts of weird places with just enough horror elements to get your heart racing. Griffins, druids, princesses, and surgically enhanced super-soldiers.

Jen Williams should be an A-list fantasy author. She just writes excellent, excellent fantasy books. The creativity of the worldbuilding is unmatched, the plot twists are all there, the scope is epic, and the writing and characters are pretty damn snappy and good.

But why 4 stars out of 5? Well, it's really a 9/10, rounded down. My issue with this book, and with all the Jen Williams books I've read so far, is just that it's so well put together. Everything is worked out, everything makes sense, it's bulletproof. I want something in a Williams novel to not make sense. Even though the twist at the end was still good, I don't want to see it coming and be able to figure it out in chapter 5. I want to be shocked and awed and horrified and for whatever reason I always just feel like everything is under control and is going to be all right.

That said, it's still a 9/10. Read this! And please, US publishers, sign this to a deal now!

TLDR : Worldbuilding is fantastic. Story is ok sor far but characters are very meh. Romance is badly done.

I LOVE the worldbuilding. It is really well-made, you can see a lot of thought was put into it. It is a great scenery for a fantasy story. I loved the griffin society, the druins, the Black City. Everything titan-related is good. The Imperium is a bit of a cliché, but it is not too bad.

And the story ? It could be better, and it could be worse. The Ynis part is the best one IMO. I think the Leven one is the one with the most pages, but it feels kind of lacking. Leven is not interesting as a character, and her quest is too simplistic. I still don't know what Cillian is doing here and neither does he.

The Kaeto part is the worst. This man is the less credible character I have seen in a while. He should be smart, ruthless and efficient, but he is a whining little bitch.

My main problem with Jen William's books is the romance. It feels SO forced. That was already the case in The Winnowing Flame trilogy, and it has not much improved in this series. It feels like Williams needs to tick the boxes "gay couple" and "lesbian couple" even if it brings nothing and doesn't make much sense. The straight couple in Talonsister has zero alchemy, you can see page after page how the author pushes the characters towards being a couple even though it feels painful even for them.

We follow three main characters throughout this book.
Leven is a Herald of the Imperium. She has no memory of who she was before she became a soldier. She was turned into a fighting machine along with the other Heralds to help win the war.

Envoy Kaeto is loyal to the Imperium. He knows what was done to create the Heralds and what will eventually happen to them.

Ynis is a human that was raised by Griffins. She knows nothing of the human world.

They are all connected. They just don't know it yet.

I wasn't sure about this at the beginning, but the more I got to know the characters and the world, the more invested I became. I really enjoyed it.
The narrator was great!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an audio copy.

Jen Williams writes some of the best fantasy going at the moment, and a new series from her is something to be celebrated. This is up to her usual standards, with some intriguing world building, likeable characters, snappy dialogue and disparate plot strands that promise to weave together in interesting and unforeseen ways. I have one tiny complaint though. It's a bugbear of mine when authors fictionalise real places and only change the spelling very slightly, and this book is guilty of it - Kornwullis for Cornwall, Londus for London etc. I HATE IT. Just think of a new name! Nobody complains that Guy Gavriel Kay's books aren't set in Spane or Itallya! That misstep aside, this is a lot of fun, and I'll be looking out for the next one.

I loved the winnowing Flame trilogy and did Talonsister live up to it?
It did!

Talonsister is a slow book. There is a lot of plots at work here but I loved the mystery. Who is Yins and how did she come to be raised by Griffins? And Leven why can't she remember her past?

I loved all of these characters. Yinis was the storyline I struggled with most more because the other storylines were more interesting than Yins was boring. but Williams knows how to tie things together.

Trust in the author. Things were slow but it all has a point and came together in the best way.

The world was fascinating. Williams took a lot of inspiration from Britan and she doesn't hide it, but with queens and Griffins, a wild seniant forest, druins and Titans it made for a world I loved to explore. Also queernormative:

The characters were what drew me to this story. Keato I loved. His relationship with Belise almost broke my heart.
I did find the romance a little rushed however.

The ending. Everything beforehand was written to the ending and it made the slow book worth it. Questions were answered and characters coming together. I almost cried.

a lot of things were set in place for future books and I cannot wait to read them