Happy Tuesday book friends! I recently finished the sequel to Legacy of Ash: Legacy of Steel. I overall really enjoyed it, but I do think that the first book was slightly better. The third book, Legacy of Light, came out not too long ago, so hopefully I’ll be able to pick that one up soon!
I’ve been reading gigantic epic fantasy tomes almost exclusively lately, and my brain is now close to mush. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t write a review. You can find my review for Legacy of Ash here, if you want to take a peek. Click on the content warning to see those if you want, and I’ll tell you about my thoughts!legacy of steel
Be warned though: while this review won’t contain spoilers for Legacy of Steel, there might be spoilers for Legacy of Ash.
Legacy of Steel
By Matthew Ward
My Rating: ★★★★☆Published 3 November 2020 by Orbit
Epic fantasy | War | Magic
A year has passed since an unlikely alliance saved the Tressian Republic from fire and darkness, at great cost. Thousands perished, and Viktor Akadra – the Republic’s champion – has disappeared.
While the ruling council struggles to mend old wounds, other factions sense opportunity. The insidious Parliament of Crows schemes in the shadows, while to the east the Hadari Emperor gathers his armies. As turmoil spreads across the Republic, its ripples are felt in the realms of the divine.
War is coming . . . and this time the gods themselves will take sides.
What I Liked
One of the big things I enjoyed about this book is what’s mentioned in the last sentence of the blurb. The gods that only made occasional appearances in book one now play a way more prominent role. I remember that I felt a little confused about who/what the gods were, but in this book their roles are pretty solid.
Most of the characters that appeared in book one have POV chapters in this book, too, which I enjoyed. As in book one, many of the characters go through quite some changes within the story, and that did have an effect on how I perceived them. Overall I liked all the POVs, even though I felt like some were a little more boring than others. I did not care about every character equally, but most of them did have really well-done character arcs. Especially Josiri, who I near couldn’t stand in the first book, and who now had the most interesting chapters.
In my review of Legacy of Ash I mentioned that the end felt a little off to me, as they suddenly had to fight an ancient evil in the last couple of chapters. For now this evil has been banished, and I’m not sure if it will come back or not. Either way, the plot of Legacy of Steel was enjoyable. It’s not as schemy as Legacy of Ash, and has a greater focus on war battles. I liked that the scope of the world got expanded in this story: the involvement of the gods made clear that whatever they do has an effect on the humans below.
I definitely felt the stakes rising toward the end of the book, where it all comes together. Just prepare yourself for quite some pain if you’re planning to pick this series up.
What I Liked Less
There were some points in the story that I enjoyed a little less. First, I felt like it had a tiny bit of a second book syndrome going on. It’s by no means a filler novel, but I felt like it slowed down just a bit too much, and some chapters just did not interest me at all.
Second, without spoiling anything, I felt like some of the characters made such 180s that I almost got whiplash. Don’t get me wrong, the end results of their decisions were great, but these particular characters were so sat in their ways, that it felt odd to me that they miraculously changed their minds/opinions/views within a few pages. I felt like maybe there could’ve been some more on-page internal struggle.
And that’s it! In all I found Legacy of Steel very enjoyable, even though it lagged at some points. I would recommend this series if you like multiple POVs, political scheming, and epic battles! I’m definitely looking forward to reading Legacy of Light, though, because I have a theory and I want to see if I’m right.
Find more reviews in my archive!
