I read a lot, but I rarely write reviews of novels that I read, but there was just so much I wanted to say about this one that I had to. If you like fast-paced adventure, sci-fantasy worldbuilding, and black knights, this is the book for you. One character even lets the enemy ram his floating mountain with a kamikaze airship because, and I quote "I wanted his sword." He provides just enough underlying worldbuilding for you to understand why the world works the way it does before freeing his characters to unleash hell on each other, blowing things up and getting into ridiculously epic sword fights because epic sword fights are cool. That's one inevitable showdown I very much look forward to seeing in a future book.įinally, what Brassey does well is follow the "rule of cool" which makes stories like this so interesting. I hope we'll see the other characters fleshed out in future books, particularly Harkon Bright and Lord Roland. That's not to say Brassey hasn't thought out the backstories of the other characters (it's obvious he has) but, in this book at least, the other characters serve as mentors, foils, and sidekicks to Aimee or Azrael. My only other issue (and it's not really even a critique) is that Aimee and Azrael, as the two POV characters, are the only characters who get any real development. Even if you figure out where the book is going, the journey is fun and fast-paced enough that you'll enjoy the journey to get there. Moreover, anticipating the twists didn't spoil my enjoyment, and in fact increased my anticipation for the eventual reveal. I saw most of the twists coming from the first few chapters, but to be fair, I'm intimately familiar with some of the inspiration. The book tells a complete story while leaving threads open for sequels, which is the perfect way to start a new series.
As chapter breaks shift between Aimee and Azrael, we get a compelling story of both predator and prey, ending in an inevitable showdown I was anticipating for chapters. The book's primary antagonist, Azrael, the tormented Dark Knight hunting the Elysium and her crew, is the only other POV character, but he has his own journey and shares equal weight with Aimee as the book unfolds. As the newcomer to the Elysium (a sleek airship crewed by, you guessed it, skyfarers) Aimee is both our lens into the world and the Elysium's crew, a group of warriors and engineers who would fit right into flying the Highwind in Final Fantasy X (or a Firefly-class transport). While she is certainly presented as a gifted mage, nothing she does feels inevitable or unearned, but instead a result of her training and quick thinking. Our protagonist, Aimee, is competent and interesting without being overpowered. Everything you'd get in a great book OR game is here: epic sword and magic duels, fleets of airships slugging it out with magic cannons, interesting characters, and snarky one-liners. All authors are influenced by stories they've loved, and Brassey doesn't so much recycle these ideas as use them as a jumping off point for an original action-packed adventure. While this may sound like a critique of the book, it is in fact a full-throated recommendation. There is even, as you'd expect, a crystal everyone wants.
Anyone who has played either of those will feel immediately at home in Brassey's world of floating islands, sleek airships, powerful mages, and armored sword wielders.
While author Joseph Brassey's book may advertise itself as inspired by Star Wars, a much better comparison would be the JRPGs many of us played in our youth, and two incredible games in particular - Final Fantasy IV (for character arcs) and Final Fantasy XII (for airships and awesome).
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