Charlie's Reviews > A Man Rides Through

First off, read both books of this duology, if you're going to read it at all. There is NO POINT to reading just one.

Minor spoiler: Book 1 ends with a MAJOR CLIFF HANGER so you HAVE to read book 2

"The Mirror of Her Dreams" (book 1)
"A Man Rides Through" (book 2)

So with that out of the way, I will review both as a single work.

There are so many cool ideas and concepts in this duology. The story in itself has a pretty good pace that chugs along evenly and with good momentum.

The writing style is a bit raw and can be a bit clunky here and there, but it doesn't detract or distract from the flow of the story. I didn't feel like I was ever pulled out of the story by the wordsmithing. But then again I don't ever recall being really impressed or find any parts remarkable either.

The characters in this series will make reading this book feel like you are wielding a double edged blade without a hilt that you have to hold in your bare hands.

It's nice to read a fantasy story where the characters are not flawless, archetypes. Even some of the lead characters are indeed dumb, annoying, and incompetent. So while it's refreshing, original, and probably a bit more realistic, it's also maddeningly frustrating at times.

The supporting characters tend to be 2 dimensional, but are serviceable.

The world building and the magic in this world featuring mirrors is pretty well drawn, and has several layers of depth. Although there are going to be times where these rules seem to be bent and broken for the convenience of the plot in the second book.

The books build and build and build to try and deliver a huge pay-off and while it is definitely action-packed, it's telegraphed so far in advance, and the author did such a good job of writing himself into some inescapable corners, that many of resolutions and closures near the end stink of deus ex machinas, breaking of rules previously established, characters acting out of character, and it just feels really forced.

Very contrived and forced is how I would describe the entire second book.

There's a lot of fun to be had, but there's also a lot of cringe inducing hackery at the end.

Also the story is just steeped in SO MUCH RAPE, it's really not easy to stomach. There are several digressions that go deep into the rape fantasies of some of the older characters that will creep you the fuck out. I guess if the point was to make you loathe these characters then: Mission accomplished. But if it makes you feel kinda skeevy about the author, that is also a side-effect as well. Also the women in this book are portrayed very shabbily.

So to conclude. I liked the imaginative world-building, good pacing, and hated the endings and rape imagery.

I can't say I can recommend this one.