A Spoiler Free Review
Okay so, I have come to realize that although Karen Chance does write some pretty good battle scenes, her writing really shines in the quieter moments. It’s a shame, really, that the quieter moments between epic battles are subsumed by those battles. I was really enjoying the “Dory plays detective” aspects of this novella and then most of that went out of my head because of the high-stakes epic battle that always happens toward the end of Karen Chance’s books.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Pritkin show up. I found it a little weird that we only know it’s Pritkin is because the nameless Irin name-drops him. Which is like, Easter Egg for those reading both Cassie and Dory books. I don’t know that I would have taken that one name drop and followed him from the Dory books to the Cassie books, but I might have been more interested if it was more than a single name drop and not “the mage” or “maybe a mutant” thing that was going on.
As for the ultimate “villain reveal” I’m feeling incredibly underwhelmed. The info-dump of the reveal is… not great. It definitely doesn’t make me wanna go back and re-look at all the clues and it didn’t make me go “oh that works really well.” Just blah. And the “villain” remains nameless, so the ending has even less of an impact.
I might be expecting a lot from a novella, but this really doesn’t feel like it had much bearing on the overall story. It feels like Dragon’s Claw largely serves as a vehicle to showcase Dorina’s power set and solidify Cheung and Zheng’s places on the Senate. I could be wrong, but I guess I’ll see once I start Queen’s Gambit.
Favorite Line
"To be remembered is the only real eternity." - Irin
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