My excitement from the end of Godkiller was somewhat dampened when I opened the sequel and all the characters they’d worked so hard to defeat in book one were still around! And then the three humans who bonded so beautifully in book one spent most of book two in totally different places working towards different ends. I guess this is what you call “middle book syndrome.” 

Also Inara’s big reveal was pretty obvious by the time it was finally spelled out.

Honestly I liked this one even better than the first because skediceth wasnt insufferable (but i guess that is called character development). It was also better because there was no continuation of the romance between the main characters THANK GOD. The writing was great and I loved the strength with which character motivations are fleshed out.

I love this book! Inara's growth and Kissen's changing perspectives are all refreshing. I especially love the Arren/Elogast POV's. They understand each other so well that fighting against each other feels like a chess game that neither really want to play. Elogast was my favorite character in this book, while Kissen was my favorite in the last. 

While this book is definitely a bridge to book three, it’s so well written and expands the world that Godkiller started. The magic system and gods are explored so much more and the characters go through some intense shit and grow a lot. We also get some characters that had pretty small roles in Godkiller get a much bigger role in Sunbringer. 

There were times I felt the pacing was a little off, particularly in the middle, it felt a little flagging and I found myself a bit antsy. Towards the end it became clear that there’s no way we’re wrapping this story up in this book and I’m glad it’s a trilogy because if it was wrapped up quickly with a specific person being killed it would have been so unsatisfying. 

One super random thing but I noticed kind of a lot of typos and missed words that took me out of the story. For a traditionally published book that’s lowkey yikes. 

This comes across better and more complex and nuanced than book 1. I like how the plot has setbacks for several protagonists because of their own choices and because of cruel circumstances (it reminds me of ASOIAF). The narrator does a good job with using northern English accents for kissing and other Taliscian characters. I winced with the Welsh accent for the hermit at the river Aan source.  I will read book three but not sure I’ll re read this soon 

I found this book to be much slower paced than Godkiller, with too little of Kissen. I did read quickly through the last two thirds of the book as I wanted to get to the reunion which was climactic.
Much of the book is building for the third and final series, so there’s a lot of tension and pause.