Review: Siege of Rage and Ruin

Title: Siege of Rage and Ruin

Series: Wells of Sorcery #3

Author: Django Wexler

Genre: Fantasy

Trigger Warnings: Death (severe), blood, violence (severe), injury (severe), gore (mentions), war, mind control, body horror (mild), kidnapping, confinement, suicidal thoughts

Spoiler Warning: This is the third and final book in a trilogy, and reading beyond this point will expose you to spoilers of the first two books.

Back Cover:

Siege of Rage and Ruin is the explosive final adventure in Django Wexler’s The Wells of Sorcery trilogy, an action-packed epic fantasy saga.

Isoka has done the impossible–she’s captured the ghost ship Soliton.

With her crew of mages, including the love of her life Princess Meroe, Isoka returns to the empire that sent her on her deadly mission. She’s ready to hand over the ghost ship as ransom for her sister Tori’s life, but arrives to find her home city under siege. And Tori at the helm of a rebellion.

Neither Isoka’s mastery of combat magic, nor Tori’s proficiency with mind control, could have prepared them for the feelings their reunion surfaces. But they’re soon drawn back into the rebels’ fight to free the city that almost killed them.

Review:

If I had a nickel for every trilogy I’ve read about a violent teenage girl who took power from her deep rage and could sprout magical blades from her hands, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice. What’s even weirder is that even though both trilogies are very different in idea, I loved both stories and adored both angry violent hand-blade girls.

I had fairly low expectations for this final book. I adored Ship of Smoke and Steel, but had some major struggles with City of Stone and Silence that made me severely tone down my expectations for this book. On top of that, this book brings Isoka back to Kahnzoka, leaving behind the weird and wonderful settings I loved about the last two books for an unfortunately ordinary city. So I really was not expecting to enjoy it very much.

But, surprising nobody more than myself, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

To start with, I didn’t dislike Tori nearly as much as I did last book. I can’t entirely put my finger on why, either. It’s probably a lot of factors. I have the context of her from the previous book, so she doesn’t feel like a strange new character anymore. There’s less contrast between her parts and Isoka’s, since they’re both in the same setting. There’s significantly more action, which leaves less time for romance and Tori beating herself up (there still is some, but it’s no longer her main focus). And generally, her stress over the pressure of responsibility is much more relatable than anything she did last book. I definitely liked Isoka more, but I didn’t dread Tori’s parts this time around.

Isoka is still Isoka. She’s still angry, violent, incredibly powerful, and utterly awesome. I love her so much. And being back in the city she left at the beginning of book one really emphasized her character growth. I didn’t realize how much she’d changed over the course of this trilogy, and discovering it through being back in the same context was interesting.

Now that the sisters are actually together – really for the first time in the whole series – they had an interesting sibling dynamic going on. And I related to both sides of it. I understood Tori’s frustration with growing and changing and coming into her own but Isoka expecting her not to have grown or changed at all. And I also related to Isoka’s struggles to accept that Tori has grown up and is no longer the child who needs her big sister for constant guidance and protection. (My youngest sister is in college now and I am feeling that one hard.)

Kahnzoka as a setting is significantly less interesting than Soliton or the Harbor or all the other weird and cool magical stuff Isoka has encountered throughout this series. But the story was more about the rebellion than the setting itself, so it was acceptable. There is still plenty of action and plenty of fights where Isoka gets to shine. There are less absurdly powerful protagonist moments (or the “protagonist does the impossible” variation that Isoka tends to favor), but there were still a few. There are interesting and well-developed secondary and minor characters (including Jack, who is my absolute favorite secondary character of the whole series), plenty of magic awesomeness, and some surprisingly interesting parts about the material challenges of running a rebellion.

It’s definitely not perfect. There are very few real surprises or anything new to uncover (although I didn’t mind this too much, as there was enough action to keep me interested). I got frustrated with Tori and Isoka at the beginning, because they were having some issues that could be completely solved if they actually communicated, but that was pretty much over after the beginning. Overall, despite a less-than-thrilling setting, Siege of Rage and Ruin is a solid and enjoyable conclusion to this series.

The Wells of Sorcery series:

1. Ship of Smoke and Steel
2. City of Stone and Silence
3. Siege of Rage and Ruin

Review: City of Stone and Silence

Title: City of Stone and Silence

Series: Wells of Sorcery #2

Author: Django Wexler

Genre: Fantasy

Trigger Warnings: Violence, blood, death, gore, body horror, fire injury, police brutality, pedophilia (mentions), suicide, emotional abuse, torture, sexual content (mentions)

Spoiler Warning: This book is second in a series, and reading beyond this point will expose you to spoilers of book one.

Back Cover:

After surviving the Vile Rot, Isoka, Meroe, and the rest of Soliton’s crew finally arrive at Soliton’s mysterious destination, the Harbor–a city of great stone ziggurats, enshrouded in a ghostly veil of Eddica magic. And they’re not alone.

Royalty, monks, and madmen live in a precarious balance, and by night take shelter from monstrous living corpses. None know how to leave the Harbor, but if Isoka can’t find a way to capture Soliton and return it to the Emperor’s spymaster before a year is up, her sister’s Tori’s life will be forfeit.

But there’s more to Tori’s life back in Kahnzoka than the comfortable luxury Isoka intended for her. By night, she visits the lower wards, risking danger to help run a sanctuary for mage-bloods fleeing the Emperor’s iron fist. When she discovers that Isoka is missing, her search takes her deep in the mires of intrigue and revolution. And she has her own secret–the power of Kindre, the Well of Mind, which can bend others to its will. Though she’s spent her life denying this brutal magic, Tori will use whatever means she has to with Isoka’s fate on the line…

Review:

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, but I procrastinated starting this one. I had high hopes, but one of the reasons I loved book one so much was the setting of the Soliton, and I knew in this one they’d get off the ship. But eventually my desire for more of the adventure overcame my apprehension of a new setting.

I enjoyed precisely half of this book. That’s because this one splits perspective between Isoka and Tori. Isoka is still continuing her journey trying to get Soliton back home to save her sister. Tori is working underground against a corrupt government, having a moral crisis about being able to use her powers to hurt people, and liking a boy. Her story isn’t bad, particularly. It’s just the kind of thing I can find in at least a third of YA books I’d care to pick up. I’m reading this series for the weird, cool, and unique stuff that I got out of Isoka’s parts.

Isoka and the crew are off Soliton, but that’s okay because the Harbor is also a fascinating setting. It’s a massive abandoned city full of weird architecture, run by the angels and Eddica magic, and harboring a terrifying antagonist and hoards of undead. Plus there’s plenty of history to explore. There’s less of Isoka being absurdly powerful in this book, which was disappointing, and a lot more diplomacy and “why do these people trust me to lead them” crises. There was still plenty of fantastic action, though, plus the setting was interesting and Isoka learns about the history of the Harbor and about Eddica magic. I didn’t adore it like I did with the first book, but it was sill enjoyable.

I struggled with Tori’s parts of the story. I think part of that is because she wasn’t a protagonist in book one, so I didn’t have that connection going in. Her story also has much less action than I expected (and wanted) from this book. Tori avoids action – which, admittedly, is fair since her magic isn’t combat-oriented – and mostly has moral crises about using her power. I might not have disliked the moral crises so much if I’d liked her more. The romance wasn’t great, either. The love interest himself was fine, but I was annoyed by Tori’s … it’s not really pining, but she was fighting the fact that she liked him for no other reason than “I shouldn’t be romantically interested in anyone.”

Compared with Isoka’s story, everything in Tori’s story was boring – plot, setting, action, side characters, everything. In any other book, it might have been okay, but here it felt like an annoying delay of the things I actually wanted to read about, i.e. the weird and unique mysteries happening with Isoka. I think it made me like Isoka’s parts even more in contrast.

I am going to read the third book. I’m really invested in Isoka and her story (and, of course, all the action, interesting settings, and new information that happens around her). I want to see how the story ends. However, I’m afraid book three is also going to have Tori’s perspective and I won’t like those parts nearly as much. I will be reading it, but my expectations have been significantly lowered.

The Wells of Sorcery series:

1. Ship of Smoke and Steel
2. City of Stone and Silence
3. Siege of Rage and Ruin

Review: Ship of Smoke and Steel

Title: Ship of Smoke and Steel

Series: Wells of Sorcery #1

Author: Django Wexler

Genre: Definitely Fantasy, but with strong Post-Apocalyptic vibes from the ship setting

Trigger Warnings: Blood (severe), death (severe), death of children (severe), gore (severe), body horror, sex trafficking (mentions), sexual assault (mentions), pedophilia (mentions), kidnapping, violence, injury

Back Cover:

In the lower wards of Kahnzoka, the great port city of the Blessed Empire, eighteen-year-old ward boss Isoka enforces the will of her criminal masters with the power of Melos, the Well of Combat. The money she collects goes to keep her little sister living in comfort, far from the bloody streets they grew up on.

When Isoka’s magic is discovered by the government, she’s arrested and brought to the Emperor’s spymaster, who sends her on an impossible mission: steal Soliton, a legendary ghost ship–a ship from which no one has ever returned. If she fails, her sister’s life is forfeit.

On board Soliton, nothing is as simple as it seems. Isoka tries to get close to the ship’s mysterious captain, but to do it she must become part of the brutal crew and join their endless battles against twisted creatures. She doesn’t expect to have to contend with feelings for a charismatic fighter who shares her combat magic, or for a fearless princess who wields an even darker power.

Review:

I’ve been in a string of okay and terrible books the past few weeks, with very few that I fully enjoyed. One particular morning, I had DNF’d four audiobooks before noon. I picked Ship of Smoke and Steel basically at random, not even remembering what it was about and fully expecting it to be book number five on the DNF pile.

And then I watched a teenage mob boss slaughter six people with magic she isn’t supposed to have, and I was hooked.

Isoka is heartless because she has to be. Her job is violent and brutal, but her combat magic makes her good at it, and she does it so her little sister can have a better life than what the streets could offer. She is not a good person, but she is taking on the risk and suffering so her sister doesn’t have to, and she’s complicated and I love her.

There is another version of the Absurdly Powerful Protagonist trope where the protagonist isn’t necessarily the most powerful, but either doesn’t know the thing is impossible or has to do the thing to survive, so they do the thing and everyone is astonished. That’s Isoka. There’s no indication that’s she’s any more powerful than the other high-level magic users she encounters (judging by the amount of time she spends unconscious, I’d say she definitely isn’t), but she is clever and determined and keeps doing things everyone else says it’s impossible. I love the Absurdly Powerful Protagonist trope, but apparently I like Casually Does the Impossible just as much.

(Someday I’m going to write a post on all the different variations of the Absurdly Powerful Protagonist trope and why they’re just so much fun.)

I was surprised and delighted by the setting of most of this book. Everything on the back cover is just setup. The majority of the story takes place on the ship, which is a unique and fantastic place. The ship is massive, so big that it takes about three days to walk from one end to the other. The only people on it are the magic users it collects as sacrifices every year, none of which ever return. They’ve carved out their own society in the ship, eating crabs and the weird mushrooms that grow below deck and fighting a variety of clawed and tentacled monsters for every bit of space. It’s hard, violent, and ruled by the Council – the only ones to have access to the mysterious captain. Isoka is already determined to rise to the top – and she already did it once, clawing her way from orphan street kid to ward boss in her home city – but this ship is exactly the kind of place where determined people with a talent for violence and a propensity for doing impossible things can get a reputation within days.

The ship is also full of other details I very much enjoyed. There’s the angels – terrifying massive beings that seem like statues until you try to do something they don’t like – the strange magic powering the ship, the mystery of what exactly its purpose is in collecting all the magical people, and some really awesome spaces to explore. I love the awe-inspiring terror of big, dark, ancient, empty spaces (think the Mines of Moria right before the balrog shows up in the Fellowship of the Ring movie), and this ship has those in spades. Plot aside, I just want to explore the place – or I would if it wasn’t crawling with horrific and fantastical flesh-eating creatures.

I knew starting this book that it was first in a series, and after finishing it I’m so glad that there’s more. I want to unravel all the mysteries of the ship, explore all its ancient and unnerving corners, and watch Isoka do more impossible things. I am absolutely reading book two, preferably soon.

The Wells of Sorcery series:

1. Ship of Smoke and Steel
2. City of Stone and Silence
3. Siege of Rage and Ruin