Ryan  Cahill

Of Darkness and Light

Less compelling than the beginning because this is where the "true" installment begins. A lot of side stories and introduction to new characters which dragged the pacing a little bit but still the way the author has built is story make the whole very intriguing and the payoff was there at the end and I am curious to where all is going. I am very interested in some characters' plot line ... 🫶🏼

Amira BEN

C. J. Daley 

This is the sequel to Of Blood and Fire, and it is book two of The Bound and the Broken series. Another cool, simple cover too. 

This sequel does a fantastic job of amping up everything that started in the first. It opens directly following the events of the first and continues straight through. There is next to no dull moments, with amplified action, dialogue, adventure, emotion, suffering, and danger. The writing gets a nice boost of improvement to the first as well, which is always a nice thing to see following a debut. 

For me, the thing this sequel does the best, is further and further distance itself from others of its kind. Not only Eragon and Paolini, but dragon riders and fantasy as a whole. Cahill is not necessarily doing anything outside of the mold, but he is further making it his own, and damn is this one fun. And blood pumping. 

I love where the characters went in this sequel and I thoroughly enjoyed the new ones too. Personally a 5/5* for me. Absolutely read this series.

Alice Hyman

“Stories were beautiful. They were words that painted a canvas in your mind. But death could not be beautiful.”
🐉
It was a challenge to limit myself with only one quote to start this review. I used up nearly all of my tabs reading it and I have so many I want to share.
🐉
Of Darkness and Light really ups the game from the first book - going so much further than the normal farm boy trope. I think this is a great example of how the use of well known tropes is all down to the skill of the writer. Just because it has been done before doesn’t mean you cannot make it original, special and thrilling.
🐉
Again I am going to ramble about emotions but the thing I keep coming back to in this book is that Calen (and Dann and Rist) keep their country bumpkin innocence. Both in the face of violence and opulence. They very much stay true to their own characters and don’t turn into a cookiecutter mould of hero plus sidekicks - each death and injury has an impact, even enemies. Also I love how Valerys has his own fallibility - I feel like Dragons in stories tend to act with this higher wisdom that sort of takes you out of some situations. In this book you really get the feeling of how young Valerys is and how he is learning, growing and fighting alongside Calen.
🐉
Dann’s sass alone needs a special mention. Though he is the comic relief character of the group, we also get to see his deeper side - though he doesn’t often share it with other characters. The scene where he fobs off Aeson’s questions with “As quiet as a mouse at a parade” - I just love seeing all the sides to these characters.
🐉
I am trying my best to not write any spoilers so I won’t say anything specific but Ella and Faenir continue to kickass epically and I cannot wait to see what happens in their storyline. I was so tense for them throughout this book and I probably will be throughout the next.
🐉
Five of the fullest stars possible for this amazing book and I need more of this world rn please

Of Darkness and Light

Reviews

Highlights