The Shadow of What Was Lost (Licanius Trilogy Series #1) by James Islington
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Web ID: 15843443Too many characters
I bought the first book many months ago and really got into it. I was anxious to read the second book but wasn’t able to do find it till now. I bought the first and second books to start again. I was not as impressed with the first book as I had been the first time. I realized there were too many characters and degrees of status for a clear understanding. By the second book and the addition of more characters, with two or three names and backgrounds, and confusing powers I quickly lost track of who were the central characters. I will order the final book only to see how it is concluded and, I hope, is all drawn together.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Decent Start
I picked up this book because of the back cover blurbs comparing it to Sanderson and Jordan. During my first read-through I was unimpressed in the beginning, but the book gets better as you get farther in. What impressed me most were the plot twists. Some of them approach Sanderson-level of skill (or as close as can reasonably be expected from a debut novel). I suspect it will take a few re-reads to appreciate them fully. However, the characterization and world-building are no where near as in-depth and immersive as Sanderson and Jordan. In short: I do not regret buying it and it has some very good plot twists, but I do not think it deserves the Wheel of Time and Brandon Sanderson comparisons because the world-vlbuilding and characterisation are not on the same level.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
New Favorite Book
This book is great for fans of Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, etc. James Islington has become one of my favorite storytellers. This book brings forth the question, "In a world where prophecy exists, does free will also exist?" and it tackles that question incredibly well. I loved the characters, the plot, the thought provoking questions... basically everything about this book.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A Good Classical Fantasy
“Everyone has a darker nature, Caeden. Everyone. Good men fear it, and evil men embrace it. Good men are still tempted to do the wrong thing, but they resist those urges.” I originally read this in 2017 and in true me fashion, I never continued. I decided to reread this first book again so that I could continue with the series and I’m glad I did because I had forgotten so many details. The Shadow of What Was Lost is the first book in an adult fantasy trilogy that feels very classic fantasy. It is set in a world where there are individuals called Gifted who can use magic, but because of things that happened in the past where that privilege was abused, they are now subjected to certain rules called tenets that were set to protect the non-Gifted. Davian, our main character, is one of those young Gifted who are now affected by these Tenets. Due to these regulations in place, it makes it difficult for them to protect themselves against the non-Gifted who hate them. He also has to deal with the fact that he can’t access his powers like his classmates and he’s not sure why and with his test coming up, he is running out of time to fix the problem. While at school, he receives this very important task that will take him on new adventures and puts him in even greater danger. I would honestly say that this is one of those solid first books in a fantasy series. It does a nice job of setting up the world and a problem while also having some interesting conversations and showcasing a good magic system. Davian is the main character like I mentioned earlier and he is a good one. I think it’s very easy to like him and root for him. He feels so young because he actually doesn’t know a lot and it definitely feels like he is learning a lot about this world with the reader, which I found myself quite enjoying. He is also that classic fantasy hero who wants to do good and help save the world. I know some people get sick of those types of characters, but I honestly haven’t read a lot of them, so I still enjoy them. He has this friendship group that consists of two other people, Wirr and Asha. Wirr acts as his partner in crime and they are very different. Wirr is a lot more sure of himself, which makes sense as the story progresses and you learn more about him. I enjoyed his relationship with Davian and felt that they balanced out each other well. Asha is a bit of a different story because she’s not with them for the majority of the book, so you really get a chance to get to know her on her own. I adored her. She is such a strong character with a strong presence. A lot has been done to her in this book, but the way she is able to overcome that and actually become a strong asset to the people that need her was so admirable. Asha was also used to show us a very important part of the world that I can’t mention because it’s a spoiler, but I love when authors do this. There are other important characters who pop up as the story progresses, but I can’t talk too much about them due to spoilers, but I especially enjoyed meeting Caeden. He is a very important character to the plot and he has so much complexity and a lot of that has to do with the fact that we don’t know much about him and his past. I can’t wait until this is further explored in future books. The magic system is interesting as well. It is a little difficult for me to explain, but I’ll try. The magic source is called Essence and the Gifted are able to use it to do a variety of things. When Gifted are at the end of their schooling, they take a test and if they don’t pass, they become Shadows, Gifted who have been stripped of their magic. Now there are also these people called Augurs, who have the ability to use another magic source called kan to control minds, manipulate time, and see into the future. There is a lot of information, but I felt that the author did a decent job of explaining it all without it being too confusing. I did take notes to keep me on track, but I do that for most books. One thing I appreciated was the conversation that was had between Davian and Wirr about keeping the Gifted in check. Basically, Davian is kind of against the tenets because he feels it makes it impossible for the Gifted to protect themselves against people who want to hurt them and while Wirr agrees, he feels that there has to be some form of check & balances in place otherwise the powerful will just use their power on the powerless. I don’t see many books that lay this concept out so openly, so I loved seeing it. I really enjoyed where the story went and I’m pretty excited to see where the author takes the story next. I think the end set up some pretty interesting possibilities. An overall solid that I think appeals to a lot of people. “You can put your trust in something that’s obvious, that’s measurable or predictable - but that's not faith. Nor is believing in something that gives you no pause for doubt, no reason or desire to question. Faith is something more than that. By definition, it cannot have proof as its foundation.”
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com