Hello Fellow Journeyers,
After the explosive and climactic ending of Voice of War, I had to pick up the sequel, Stones of Light, as soon as I could. This is said to be an amazing sequel and I had high expectations after such a fun and exhilarating debut!
What's the story about: Stones of Light follows immediately after Voice of War in that Chrys is lost, Laurel is captured, and Alverax is recovering after the devastation found in the Fairenwild forest. Something cataclysmic is about to happen, and these three individuals are at the center of it. (Without saying much more, all the threads from Voice of War are continued.)
This sequel takes the fast-paced ending from Voice of War and continues it immediately into the story of Stones of Light. The plot is quite different from the first book in that this one is much more "epic" in scale and had me much more invested from the beginning. Chrys, Laurel, and Alverax are all given equal parts this time around and the story is all the better for it because they each find themselves in quite unexpected situations following the ending of Voice of War. But they're all given time to grow and develop in typical and atypical ways that were fun and pleasant to read. It didn't read unexpectedly per say, but the events that surrounded them changed them in unexpected ways that was interesting and intriguing as it developed; which is always what you want from a sequel and characters.
Another aspect that was simply spot on was the third act. While the first two acts were great storytelling, the final act is phenomenal. It actually surpasses Voice of War's climactic ending and intensifies it by a lot. I finally got what people were saying comparing Zack Argyle's writing to Brandon Sanderson and the third act showcased it here because everything comes together in the most satisfying and exciting conclusion for a second book. All I have to say is, wow! You should definitely start this series, because Argyle is showcasing all his best storytelling abilities in this series and deserves to be recognized and rewarded for the efforts showcased here.
The main criticism I have for Stones of Light that I didn't have with Voice of War, is that things move so fast that they barely have time to settle in any particular way. I think Stones of Light could've been maybe 50 pages longer to have more time to breathe or balance out some of the exciting moments. Event after event happens with little time to take any of it in without another twist or situation taking place. While this isn't really a problem, it does take away from some of the character work that could've been there in the small moments. These moments still occur, but they're short and often feel a little undeserved because we haven't sat with the characters long, only go through many events with them.
With this, the pacing causes another issue to show itself: characters learned and evolved faster than they should have. Both Alverax and Laurel go through significant character developments and figure out things that were not known to them way faster than was natural and seemed just to further the plot. But on the flip side, this also led to no part of the book lagging or seemingly slowing down in any way. It's an interesting dilemma: move too fast and affect character progression or move slower and risk the story becoming boring or too drawn out. Ultimately, like the criticism above, this wasn't a big deal, but I was sad to not get to experience more nuanced progression with the main characters. I think I mainly state this because I actually enjoyed each of the main characters quite a lot. So I wanted to spend more time with them empathizing with them, and that really points to Argyle's skill with characterization above anything else. All this to say, these things weren't huge issues, but affected the impact of the book as a whole. But like the first book, this is pretty nitpicky I'll admit.
★★★★✫ 4.5 Stars - Stones of Light is an amazing and truly worthy sequel to Voice of War in every category. Like sequels should do, characters are given more depth and development, the world expands and grows in its complexity, and the plot really thickens, all the way to the end. This one is a hard book to discuss because giving any of the plot away would be a shame to any potential reader, but suffice it to say, the story is superb and full of unexpected twists and turns. Each character finds themselves in dire situation after situation that they must carefully and specifically get out of in order to continue and Argyle had my full attention from the beginning to end. A bigger and better story that surpasses Voice of War and takes everything you know to new heights. Definitely recommend this series and am thoroughly anticipating the final part!
Let me hear from you! If you like what you read, want to hear more thoughts on this book, other reviews, or talk book recommendations and Essential Reading, leave a comment below.
Rating system:
★★★★★ 5 Stars: It was amazing; I loved it. Read this book; it is definitely Essential Reading!
★★★★✫ 4.5 Stars: It was nearly perfect. I really loved almost every aspect of it, but a few things kept it from being amazing.
★★★★ 4 Stars: It was very worth reading and satisfying; highly recommend.
★★★✫ 3.5 Stars: I thoroughly enjoyed this story, but it was lacking in certain crucial areas.
★★★ 3 Stars: It was good, but could've been better or improved upon significantly.
★★✫ 2.5 Stars: I wanted to enjoy it. Certain aspects were good, it was worth finishing, but many issues.
★★ 2 Stars: It was okay, I didn't feel strongly about it.
★✫ 1.5 Stars: I finished it, but it was a chore to get through.
★ 1 Star: I did not like it. It was not worth finishing or I did not finish it.