5/5 stars
Synopsis
Warning! This section contains spoilers, if you would like to avoid these spoilers, jump to the review below.
The book started off with Cleeve being stabbed through the eye and dying. Nikolai killed the man who killed Cleeve, and told Montana to go to the holding and build something out of it. Nikolai was arrested.
Montana went back to the inn he was staying at and was cornered by the emperor’s brother’s men. They tried to pressure him into giving his support to the brother so the brother could be emperor. The emperor’s life and Cleeve’s life had been linked with magic, so when Cleeve died, the emperor died too.
He talked to the leader of the city, and the leader assigned someone to Montana to be his bodyguard.
Montana then went to see someone who could get him into the prison where Nikolai was. He was able to get into the prison, but he then had to escape his cell. Montana found Nikolai and another girl who he was asked to rescue.
They escaped the prison through an undiscovered dungeon. They got out of the dungeon, but only because of Montana nearly breaking the dungeon.
After getting out of the dungeon, a random guy that Montana rescued from the prison said he wanted to thank Montana, and took him to a bathhouse. At the bathhouse, he was attacked by the people running it. He escaped, then the group left the city.
Review
I have really enjoyed seeing how Montana has grown as a character throughout these books. He has past trauma that he had to overcome, but he struggled with it. He frequently had to drag himself out of pits of despair because he didn’t want to go back to the person he had been before going to Vuldranni. It’s been really fun watching Montana develop throughout these books.
The character who Montana was asked to rescue, Emeline, was annoying. I feel like she was being completely impractical as they were trying to escape the dungeon. She kept insisting that she needed to wear a dress. Montana, in his magical Unfillable Knapsack, had a ton of different items of clothing because he took everything that wasn’t nailed down, and so he had a dress for her every time the dress she was wearing was destroyed. However, the dresses that he had were all elaborate ballgowns. Ballgowns are not the best clothing item to wear in a dungeon, but Emeline kept insisting that she needed to wear a dress. Yes, it was amusing, but I also I found it to be incredibly annoying.
The dungeon that the characters had to escape from had a level that was filled with mimics. The characters realized after being attacked that the entire dungeon level was a mimic. I thought the concept of mimics within a giant mimic was interesting. How would that work? Did the elder mimic eat the little mimics? Did they spawn within the elder mimic as a form of mimic reproduction? To escape the giant mimic, Montana had to literally cut his way out of it. How were they supposed to get through that dungeon level if Montana hadn’t cut his way out? I enjoyed reading about their struggles to escape the dungeon. The enemies they had to fight and the puzzles they had to complete were fun.
There’s a mystery surrounding one of the characters (Donner) and I don’t know if it’s ever answered in the other books. I wish that mystery would be resolved. I have read these books before, and I don’t think the mystery has ever been resolved. There’s a mystery surrounding Mr. Paul too. How was he able to give Montana such powerful gifts, yet is mostly unknown? Who is he? Hopefully that question will be answered later on.
I enjoyed how this book/series gives me enough information to grasp the world and the characters, but also inspires enough questions that it keeps me interested in the book/future books. Some authors can do it well, others can’t. Eric Ugland is an author that can do it well.
Fireheart Books 