The story of Alexander the Great, or, as he is in the novel-- just Alexander of Macedon. How did Alexander become so great? Eleanor Herman's Blood of Gods and Royals answers this question. It's the story of Alexander of Macedon's journey to becoming the Great with a little (a lot) bit of a fantastical twist. Herman's series takes you on a thrilling journey following compelling protagonists and a plot full of twists and intrigue. Dawn of Legends wraps up the series, finally answering the question on how Alexander became just so Great.
I was sent an early copy of this book to read and review honestly, so this is going to be an honest review for y’all. Also! Exciting, I’m again involved with a book tour to bring publicity to Dawn of Legends. I’ll attach the plan with dates at the bottom of this post so y’all can see all the different posts on different blogs :). Don’t forget to check back on Thursday the 28th to see a guest post on this blog! Back to the review.
For those of you who don’t know, The Blood of Gods and Royals is a fantasy series about Alexander of Macedon in his a teenage years. The first book in the series is absolutely fantastic, and I highly recommend it, if you have yet to check it out. I have a review from a couple of years back— it’s called Legacy of Kings. If you have yet to even start the series, stop reading now! You’re about to enter spoiler territory for the last three books in my review of the fourth and final book.
I have quite a few criticisms for Dawn of Legends, but let’s start out with the good, shall we? Or should I say great? The absolute best part of this book was its detail in the world. It would go in depth describing things that you wouldn’t even think of, painting a very realistic picture in the reader’s head. The world building touches all the senses. You really feel like you’re there, experiencing everything that the characters are.
That was most definitely my favorite part— its intricate world. Now... On to my criticisms of the story. If I’m being completely honest, I had a lot of issues with the book. It’s always difficult to write a compelling finale, and unfortunately, Dawn of Legends fell short.
Somehow Dawn of Legends managed to have a pacing of simultaneously feeling entirely too fast and too slow. Parts of the novel I just felt like were either unneeded, or moving much too snail-like for my taste, while vital, big moments seemed to just pass by in the blink of an eye. Problems were too easy to solve, sometimes feeling as if they were fixed in the next paragraph. All the answers were just too convenient— like two people just happening to run into each other in a vast world, when it became necessary for the plot. I couldn’t truly feel the height of the peril because most of the problems were resolved too quickly for me to even think of worrying about them.
The writing also felt too obvious, as if the foreshadowing was laid down just a little too heavily. Maybe it’s because I read too much, but I knew everything that was going to happen due to the lack of subtlety in the writing. Another issue with the writing was that it summarized things that had already occurred in way too much detail. This came in handy when I forgot things that occurred in past books, but in the later part of the story there were paragraphs summarizing things that had literally occurred earlier in the book.
I also felt detached from the story, which is never great when reading a novel. I don’t know if this was due to the writing style, the characters, the plot or a mixture of all three, but I just couldn’t dive into the story in the way in which I would’ve liked to.
The choice of point of views for vital moments was a little off, too. For instance, a reunion that I’ve been waiting many, many books to see was told from the point of view of not one of the two characters and also didn’t even show the reunion moment. Needless to say I was a bit disappointed about that.
And my last big issue was more on me than on the book itself, but there were just too many point of views in this book that I just could not bring myself to care about in the slightest. Going in the only characters I was super invested in were Kat, Alex, Heph, and Jacob. I knew I’d have to deal with points of view from Cyn and Zofia, but what I was not anticipating was the plethora of other POVS shown throughout the book. But like I said before, that wasn’t exactly a writing issue, it was more on me.
A more minor issue is that I was disappointed in the amount of scenes some characters got together— for example, Kat and Alex have quite possibly my favorite relationship in the book, and I would’ve loved to see more of that now that Alex is Alex but sadly, they’re hardly in any scenes together.
All in all, I hate to say it but Dawn of Legends was not the finale I hoped for. It fell short of my expectations. I would have to give it 4-5/10 stars, it was not a very fun read for me. Again, I’d like to state that I was totally in love with the first book and (most of) the characters it introduced. It’s plot was intriguing and it felt well written. Perhaps the reason Dawn of Legends doesn’t contain the same magic as Legacy of Kings (for me, at least) is because the writing style on a bigger scale just didn’t give enough sense of peril, which lead to my disinterest or lack of connection with the characters and plot.
Synopsis:
Prince Alexander of Macedon has battled both men and monsters, but his final war will determine his fate…and the future of all mankind. While Macedon’s enemies close in from all corners of the earth, Alexander must fulfill one last prophecy that dictates only he—and he alone—can ensure humanity’s survival against the age of the deadly Spirit Eaters.
As the threads of fate draw Alexander closer to his destiny, an exiled queen will meet a runaway princess, a young sorceress will set the final path of her heart and generals will choose their final battles. Before the light of victory can shine, enemies must become allies, Death must be tamed and hearts must break.
Who will rise and who will die? All is revealed in the epic finale to New York Times bestselling author Eleanor Herman’s rich and fantastical Blood of Gods and Royals series.
QUICK SPOILERS. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE NOVEL.
I was extremely disappointed and annoyed with Kat during this novel. Usually she’s one of my favorite characters, but her whole “choice” thing with Heph and Jacob was just getting on my nerves. Seriously, both boys proposed to her and she’s still unsure and just going with it on both. Then when she actually chose, I didn’t feel it. It didn’t feel real or intense to me. Honestly, a lot about Jacob and Kat was disappointing for me during this novel. I didn’t get to see their reunion at all, or even feel some of it because it was during Heph’s POV, and then their slowly falling back in love and connecting was just explained, instead of shown to me. I didn’t actually get to feel their relationship, it was just basically summarized.
The ending of the novel was still bittersweet for me. It had a total Eragon vibe. Kat leaves, and will probably never to see Alex again ( :( ). The rest of the ending was all happy endings, which was fine, and Alex is set on his journey to become the Great.
Anyway, thanks for reading and don’t forget to follow the book tour!
-Anj
I was sent an early copy of this book to read and review honestly, so this is going to be an honest review for y’all. Also! Exciting, I’m again involved with a book tour to bring publicity to Dawn of Legends. I’ll attach the plan with dates at the bottom of this post so y’all can see all the different posts on different blogs :). Don’t forget to check back on Thursday the 28th to see a guest post on this blog! Back to the review.
For those of you who don’t know, The Blood of Gods and Royals is a fantasy series about Alexander of Macedon in his a teenage years. The first book in the series is absolutely fantastic, and I highly recommend it, if you have yet to check it out. I have a review from a couple of years back— it’s called Legacy of Kings. If you have yet to even start the series, stop reading now! You’re about to enter spoiler territory for the last three books in my review of the fourth and final book.
I have quite a few criticisms for Dawn of Legends, but let’s start out with the good, shall we? Or should I say great? The absolute best part of this book was its detail in the world. It would go in depth describing things that you wouldn’t even think of, painting a very realistic picture in the reader’s head. The world building touches all the senses. You really feel like you’re there, experiencing everything that the characters are.
That was most definitely my favorite part— its intricate world. Now... On to my criticisms of the story. If I’m being completely honest, I had a lot of issues with the book. It’s always difficult to write a compelling finale, and unfortunately, Dawn of Legends fell short.
Somehow Dawn of Legends managed to have a pacing of simultaneously feeling entirely too fast and too slow. Parts of the novel I just felt like were either unneeded, or moving much too snail-like for my taste, while vital, big moments seemed to just pass by in the blink of an eye. Problems were too easy to solve, sometimes feeling as if they were fixed in the next paragraph. All the answers were just too convenient— like two people just happening to run into each other in a vast world, when it became necessary for the plot. I couldn’t truly feel the height of the peril because most of the problems were resolved too quickly for me to even think of worrying about them.
The writing also felt too obvious, as if the foreshadowing was laid down just a little too heavily. Maybe it’s because I read too much, but I knew everything that was going to happen due to the lack of subtlety in the writing. Another issue with the writing was that it summarized things that had already occurred in way too much detail. This came in handy when I forgot things that occurred in past books, but in the later part of the story there were paragraphs summarizing things that had literally occurred earlier in the book.
I also felt detached from the story, which is never great when reading a novel. I don’t know if this was due to the writing style, the characters, the plot or a mixture of all three, but I just couldn’t dive into the story in the way in which I would’ve liked to.
The choice of point of views for vital moments was a little off, too. For instance, a reunion that I’ve been waiting many, many books to see was told from the point of view of not one of the two characters and also didn’t even show the reunion moment. Needless to say I was a bit disappointed about that.
And my last big issue was more on me than on the book itself, but there were just too many point of views in this book that I just could not bring myself to care about in the slightest. Going in the only characters I was super invested in were Kat, Alex, Heph, and Jacob. I knew I’d have to deal with points of view from Cyn and Zofia, but what I was not anticipating was the plethora of other POVS shown throughout the book. But like I said before, that wasn’t exactly a writing issue, it was more on me.
A more minor issue is that I was disappointed in the amount of scenes some characters got together— for example, Kat and Alex have quite possibly my favorite relationship in the book, and I would’ve loved to see more of that now that Alex is Alex but sadly, they’re hardly in any scenes together.
All in all, I hate to say it but Dawn of Legends was not the finale I hoped for. It fell short of my expectations. I would have to give it 4-5/10 stars, it was not a very fun read for me. Again, I’d like to state that I was totally in love with the first book and (most of) the characters it introduced. It’s plot was intriguing and it felt well written. Perhaps the reason Dawn of Legends doesn’t contain the same magic as Legacy of Kings (for me, at least) is because the writing style on a bigger scale just didn’t give enough sense of peril, which lead to my disinterest or lack of connection with the characters and plot.
Synopsis:
Prince Alexander of Macedon has battled both men and monsters, but his final war will determine his fate…and the future of all mankind. While Macedon’s enemies close in from all corners of the earth, Alexander must fulfill one last prophecy that dictates only he—and he alone—can ensure humanity’s survival against the age of the deadly Spirit Eaters.
As the threads of fate draw Alexander closer to his destiny, an exiled queen will meet a runaway princess, a young sorceress will set the final path of her heart and generals will choose their final battles. Before the light of victory can shine, enemies must become allies, Death must be tamed and hearts must break.
Who will rise and who will die? All is revealed in the epic finale to New York Times bestselling author Eleanor Herman’s rich and fantastical Blood of Gods and Royals series.
QUICK SPOILERS. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE NOVEL.
I was extremely disappointed and annoyed with Kat during this novel. Usually she’s one of my favorite characters, but her whole “choice” thing with Heph and Jacob was just getting on my nerves. Seriously, both boys proposed to her and she’s still unsure and just going with it on both. Then when she actually chose, I didn’t feel it. It didn’t feel real or intense to me. Honestly, a lot about Jacob and Kat was disappointing for me during this novel. I didn’t get to see their reunion at all, or even feel some of it because it was during Heph’s POV, and then their slowly falling back in love and connecting was just explained, instead of shown to me. I didn’t actually get to feel their relationship, it was just basically summarized.
The ending of the novel was still bittersweet for me. It had a total Eragon vibe. Kat leaves, and will probably never to see Alex again ( :( ). The rest of the ending was all happy endings, which was fine, and Alex is set on his journey to become the Great.
Anyway, thanks for reading and don’t forget to follow the book tour!
-Anj
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