“Hopelessness crushed the soul, but it was also where defiance, an integral seed of courage, rose on feeble legs.”
It’s been a few weeks since I read Shadow of Honor by Ronie Kendig, but this phenomenal work of art still has me awestruck. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to capture in a review how amazing this story truly is (especially without spoilers!), but I will try…
I cannot even imagine how much work went into creating this immense world of planets and spaceships and galaxy systems, complete with complex histories and politics that should have made my head spin, but were so skilfully woven in with the story that they didn’t. From the palace in Kalonica, to a galaxy-hopping spaceship, to an underground world hidden for centuries—not to mention other planets that are explored on the way—this fictional universe has it all. And it was so expertly crafted that I never once felt that it was overdone or unnecessarily complicated.
I think out of all three books in the series, this one had the most going on in terms of storylines as well as characters—and that’s a good thing! There were so many characters on seemingly unrelated missions of their own, but then they slowly started to intersect, revealing a bigger picture that had me gasping in surprise and delight on multiple occasions. What I absolutely loved was that every scene was important and intriguing. Everything and everyone had a place and that served to give the story an amazing level of depth.
One of my favourite things about this series is that it has so many great characters! In this book, a few new characters were introduced, adding more dimensions and layers to this already-complex story, but also answering many questions from the previous books (and, of course, bringing with them a whole lot of new questions). As for the familiar characters, they were really pushed to their limits (and then even further!) in this one, but they really shone. Although painfully heart-breaking at times, the character arcs in this series are incredible!
I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good sci-fi, space opera, or even fantasy. And if you don’t fit into any of those categories, I’d still recommend it to you if you enjoy action, drama (authentic drama, not soapy melodrama), a little romance, strong, multi-dimensional characters, and a complex, exquisitely-crafted plot.
I do not, however, recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read Brand of Light or Dawn of Vengeance, as they follow on directly—perfect for binge-reading!
Note: I received an advanced copy of this book from the publishers. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.
Thank you for the review.