Eleventh Cycle (1) (Mistland)

Product Information

With the existence of Elder Kings, Elder Guards (the one in the cover art), and the unstoppable rot, it is understandable why readers/gamers might think that. But it becomes increasingly clear that the Akar are no longer the unorganized rabble that everyone has always assumed they were and as events begin to play out it becomes evident that they may not exactly be content to isolate themselves in the dark recesses of the forest any longer. The worldbuilding certainly took centre stage for me and is the one aspect that I loved about this book, particularly when it was paired with the vivid imagery that Ardalan was able to conjure.

If you are looking for a dark story with an impressive world, and characters that will let you marked, this is your book. Despite his teacher’s warnings, Kian decided to lean into that realm and now invites others to also explore these vibrant (and perhaps worrying) reflections of his own psyche.Trauma is a central theme in this book and Kian made sure to devote enough time to it and really show the ups and downs. Ardalan, but seeing the cover art and hearing the main inspirations for Eleventh Cycle back then was more than enough to seal the deal.

And ever since I got the ARC two months ago, I have been inching to read this novel but decided to hold it off until January because my instinct says I would love this one, and I wanted to start my year with terrific books. War was there on the periphery, an influence but not the hand that wielded the hurt that pushed him over the edge – it was family, and loss, and heritage and the pain of having everything you know crumble beneath him. Eleventh Cycle is a story about many things, and tackles subjects which many may feel uncomfortable with.

She could have still had that need for revenge, that desire to reclaim her old ability to move and fight – there was plenty for her to rage against. While I have passing familiarity with both of those, I have never played/read either of them, and so I don’t have those to color or inform my opinion of the book.

So I guess you could say that during the day I like to escape into the past and in the evening I like to escape into other worlds!It has powerful themes and narrative, masterful characterizations, beautifully vivid yet accessible prose, meticulous world-building with a plethora of mysteries, and tension-packed explosive action sequences as if they were penned by an artist with scarlet ink. While there was certainly power to these characters, and I appreciated the fact that not all our POV characters were human as it gave us a wider array of views and attitudes towards the world and each other, there was something missing. Note: I have read/listened to an ARC copy of the book but I am leaving this review on my own accord. It is almost like some kind of emotional power-leveling as every character gets knocked down and yet finds another way to pull themselves up, all the stronger for it.

This offspring of the Elder King may, perhaps, serve as savior to the mortal beings of this war-torn land. As much as this novel mucks around in thematic and atmospheric mud, the core of the novel is hope, persistence, and perseverance.However, fantasy authors need to justify that page length, and I’m not sure that Ardalan really did here. D. in archaeology in the US, but in my freetime I absolutely love reading any kind of fantasy book (and watching way too much TV). No one who has read this will pick it up a few years later and think, oh, I can’t quite remember what happened. I probably over-hyped the book in my own mind a bit too much, which definitely colored my perception of it.