Fresh off the climax of The Archmage Unbound, I eagerly grabbed my digital copy of The God-Stone War. But around the halfway mark, the story veered into an uncomfortable situation. Looking back after finishing the book, I was reminded of a warning a friend once gave me regarding Wizard’s First Rule. It was crucial heads up to help push me through a similarly uncomfortable scene in that book. Without that warning, there’s a chance I wouldn’t have finished Wizard’s First Rule, let alone The Sword of Truth series. Had someone provided a similar warning for The God-Stone War, I may not have paused my reading.
That said, there’s nothing wrong with the writing or pacing of The God-Stone War that forced me to step away. It was simply a particular scene that hit me a little too hard. Despite putting the book down, something drew me back into the story. I’m not sure why, but I’m glad that it did. For now, I’ll assume something piqued my interest, which helped me power through the difficult passage. The moment I finished it, I devoured the rest of the book, regaining the excitement I’d felt from the previous installments.
Now, with the framework out of the way, I’ll explore the story’s identity. Unlike the previous sequels, The God-Stone War picks up seven years after the events of the last installment. The author does an excellent job providing key details from the time gap, but I still found myself craving more details during those intervening years. Still, given how much ground the book covers, including too many of those details, would have derailed the narrative.
Despite having already faced a Shining God, Mordecai now must square off with the remaining ones. The pacing of the story is excellent, allowing the tension to perfectly ebb and flow as needed to allow for a more impactful climax. There’s a classic fantasy adage that if you give a wizard enough time to prepare, you’ve already lost. I’m not sure who coined it. But the author tests it beautifully with this narrative. I constantly found myself on the edge of my seat, wondering if Mordecai’s plans would be enough or if the odds arrayed before him were too vast to overcome.
Each climax for the previous installments of the Mageborn series was strong and satisfying, yet this one hit differently. It wasn’t bad or unsatisfying… just unexpected. It reshaped my assumptions around the final book and how it might play out. Upon finishing another excellent installment of the Mageborn series, I collected every stray thought or theory I possessed and flushed them when I reached for the concluding installment of the series.
Click here to read my review of The Blacksmith’s Son.
Click here to read my review of The Line of Illeniel.
Click here to read my review of The Archmage Unbound.