Valley of Embers by Steven Kelliher

The first thing that stands out to me about this book is the author’s writing style. Kelliher has a slightly more poetic style than I’m used to seeing in fantasy, using a great deal of figurative language. Apart from that, the prose is also very readable. The book was also paced very well, keeping me turning pages because something interesting was almost always happening.

The battle sequences in the last twenty percent of the book were also a joy to read. They gave me that frantic feeling I love getting during the climax of a book. The revelations at the very end also have my excited to read the rest of the series.

But I do have a few criticisms. While the pacing was great for keeping the story going, I felt at times that the characters didn’t get as much time to develop as I would have liked. I liked most of them well enough, but I didn’t feel as much of an emotional connection as I would have liked. That connection grew as the story went on, so I’m hoping it continues in the following books.

On the editing front, I did notice a few typos, but nothing that’s a dealbreaker as far as I’m concerned.

Rating: 8.5/10

I'm trying to review books more often on my blog/website, and I'm open to submissions for reviews, as long as I don't get completely inundated with them. I do have my own books to write after all.

You can see more of my reviews here: https://ryanwmueller.com/

Per sub-reddit policy, the entire review for this novel is available here in this post. The link to my website is just for those who are interested in seeing what else I've reviewed.