Review by jardenjarden -- We are Voulhire: Someone Else'...

[jardenjarden]

[Following is a volunteer review of "We are Voulhire: Someone Else's End" by Matthew Tysz.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The Emperor of Lullabies is always watching. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike. To destroy everyone. Everything. The Kingdom of Voulhire is no longer a safe refuge for those haunted by the dark Emperor, instead, it too is plagued with his evil creatures. How will the people of Voulhire survive an enemy so great and incomprehensible, and will they ever be able to rebuild what has been lost? Find out in Matthew Tysz’s We are Voulhire: Someone Else’s End as dark histories are reflected upon, evil plots are exposed, and Voulhire’s capital is consumed by violence.

This book is the third in the We are Voulhire series, picking up where the second book left off. The story continues to follow our three main characters: Galen, the refuge, Rowan, the Soulhirian, and Demetrius, the mage. They regroup after the dramatic events of their previous journey and decide that the only way to right their wrongs is to take it up with the King of Voulhire himself. The trio begins their journey to the nation’s capital, Soulhire. There, they hope to speak with the King and seek aid for a tragedy that was caused by their previous actions. What they don’t know is that the ominous Emperor of Lullabies has been plotting an attack and the seemingly trustworthy political members of Voulhire might prove to be not so trustworthy after all. Will they survive the attack, or fall victim to his dark creatures? Is it even feasible to believe the Voulhirians will ever be able to defeat such a powerful overlord?

Much like the first two in the series, I really enjoyed this book. However, the first half of this particular novel was significantly slower than the other two. This made it a little more difficult for me to be drawn into the story as the plot took some time to fully be revealed. Instead, we were greeted with a series of different flashbacks about previous events and backgrounds of each of the characters. While I enjoyed these flashbacks, they didn’t really add to the plot of the story. Rather they helped with character development which I believe was a very important aspect of the story. I feel that if the plot was revealed earlier on in the book, I would have been more intrigued by the flashbacks and it would have helped me get through the slower bits more easily.

While the pace was not completely to my liking, one thing I loved about Someone Else’s End was that Tyze finally shared Demetrius and Rowan’s point of view throughout the story. Previously, the narration shifted between our main character Galen and some other characters depending on where we were in the plot. But this time, we as readers were fully able to understand these two main character’s backgrounds as well as their motivations for their actions. I found myself sympathizing with them more and feeling like I understood their personalities better than I had previously. This overall made the story feel much more immersive and had me rooting for the characters even more than I already was. It also raised the stakes significantly during tense scenes where they were in harm’s way, which kept me engaged and on the edge of my seat.

All in all, this book was a great read and I would gladly continue with the rest of the series. Tyze seems to hint at the importance of recognizing that with so many uncontrollable factors, things are bound to be different than one might expect. Rather than dwell on these unfortunate circumstances that may arise, the best thing to do is move on and focus on what one can control. I would give We are Voulhire: Someone Else’s End 3 out of 4 stars. This book contained a significant amount of violence and used some profane language, so I would not recommend it to a particularly young audience. If you enjoy the fantasy genre or are just interested in an intense and suspenseful story, I would most definitely recommend this book.

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We are Voulhire: Someone Else's End
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[markodim721]

It's great that the author has developed and designed a whole world.