you are looking for worldbuilding, look no further! Kolarich has crafted a world diverse in backgrounds and languages, There is a companion guide to help you along your journey as you dive into this incredible creation, While I did find this to be well done, it did distract me initially in my read, The first few chapters does feel a little like an information dump and while it was a little overwhelming I'm glad I kept pushing through, What I ultimately found was a book full of political maneuverings, court machinations and deep seeded prejudices, Will these characters be able to look beyond their differences and solve the problems facing their country I really don't know and now I'm nervous and want book two immediately!!
Thank you so much KL Kolarich and BOMM tours for the free eARC.
I want to start this review by letting everyone know that we are facing something very big, K. L. Kolarich is going to give a lot to talk about, I would not be surprised if next year her name resonated with the force of a cannon, House of Bastiion is a simply incredible book, the worldbuilding left me with the mouth open, genuinely stunned, All the work behind these pages is so notorious that I doubt anyone could have any negative criticism for Kait's debut, Her universe is rich, deep and simply splendid, Although the development of the story felt a bit slow for me at times, this did not matter to me because it was able to lay the foundations of the universe and it was really worth it.
Something absolutely great was the extra content of the web, I think this is a great companion to the book and that it is a lot of fun for the reader, Few novels have as much material to read as House of Bastiion, I could only think of Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings, By the way, don't forget to take the test to find out what house you are from, I am part of the House of Boreal!
Love every single part: The worldbuilding, the politics, the personalities of the different characters, There is nothing I like more than a good development of a plot from enemies to lovers, My only question, will Kolarich be able to maintain this quality for the next books I am sooooo looking forward to the next novel and I encourage all of you to read House of Bastiion as soon as possible.
I can't wait to get a physical copy, This book is a gem,
Update Aug: I just did a reread on audio and it was exceptional! The soundtrack, the reader, it was an experience that I would highly recommend,
This book captured my heart from the first couple pages, Even before then with the stunning cover,
This book has an expansive amount of world building, Think Game of Thrones with the families and houses and settings K, L. Kolarich has made this beautifully written world with an epic story line, For her debut book it blows my mind the amount of intricate details put into it,
The main characters Luscia and Zaethan are at each others throats from the beginning, Zaethan is head strong, stubborn and loyal and Luscia is strong willed, compassionate and brave, They both want the best for their own houses and must work together for a common goal, They are both amazing characters, and the author did an awesome job making them complex enough to perfectly blend with the complex world they live in,
Overall the book was exceptional and I am stoked for book, I would highly recommend to fantasy lovers who love extensive world building, action, court life amp rulers, some epic characters amp very little romance,
Side Note I read the whole book before I realized there was a glossary at the end, Id recommend glancing at the different words and meanings before starting the book, House of Bastiion: The Haidren Legacy is a unique, exciting and interesting book, For the most part the book is a lot of story building with a great plot that keeps getting better as the story moves along,
The story follows Luscia, as she moves to court in Bastiion to take her seat as the alhaidren to Boreal, She doesnt exactly receive a warm welcome from the other three alHaidrens of the quadren, There are some that dont like her because she is a witch or that she is from Boreal, One of those being Zaethan, the alHairdren to Darakai, Luscia and Zaethan do not get along at all despite Dmitri wishing otherwise, Dmitri is the prince of Bastiion who will someday become king, I really liked all the characters but these three the story focused on more and I was good with that, Dimitri is a really nice, calm and caring prince who will make a wonderful king, Zaethan is a more of a tough guy in some ways, although he has a bit of a caring side that he doesnt show much, This comes from growing up with his father who I did not like, Luscia is stubborn and at times wont take no for an answer, She does things her own way even if its not always the right decision, We dont really get to know too much about any of the characters or about their background, The author provided just enough to keep me interested though,
Besides the alHaidrens getting to know each other or at least trying to be civil with each other there are much bigger issues, There is a murder in Bastiion who is killing young crosscastes, While the court is dealing with this, its Luscia and Zaethan who are the ones pursing the murder, They both have their own reasons and are not willing to work together to find the guilty person, There is so much more to the plot, the characters and the story but Im not going to give anything away,
I really enjoyed reading House of Bastiion: The Haidren Legacy, While I enjoyed the entire book the last part with the cliffhanger ending or endings was really good, I am left with a lot of unanswered questions though, I cannot wait to read the sequel and find out what happens next, Overall a wonderful new adult fantasy read! This book is free on Amazon Canada today ,
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley thank you Victory Editing NetGalley Coop, All thoughts and opinions are my own,
Worldbuilding
Characters
Realistic relationships
Politics and scheming
Plot
Pace
It is hard to get into the story at first because of the complexity of the worldbuilding
I usually start my reviews with a summary of the book, but this time I will start with a little information about the worldbuilding, as this is a high fantasy that is very complex at first because of all the titles and words coming from invented dialects.
There are four Houses living in Orynthia: Pilar, Boreal, Bastiion, and Darakai, Many centuries ago, the four houses created a political accord with the royal line of Thoarne, ensuring that each house would have one representative in the Quadren that advises the King.
Some chapters are from Luscias point of view, and others are from Zaethans, Luscia is appointed to become the next representative of Boreal in the Quadren, and Zaethan is Darakais future representative, Even though Darakai and Boreal have been enemies in the past, and there are still tensions between both Houses, Luscia and Zaethan will have to find a way to work together to stop the person who is killing children and crosscaste all across Orynthia.
While Im not the biggest fan of high fantasy, I have to admit that the author did a splendid job with the worldbuilding in this book, There are distinct cultures and languages in each Houses, and complex politics and relations between the Houses, It was honestly a little too complex for me at first, I love a book with a welldone and detailed worldbuilding, but I had to check the glossary so many times while reading the first chapters, it was hard to really get into the book because of that.
Once you get more familiar with the four Houses and their politics though, it's a really entertaining book,
The pace was a little slow at first, and that combined with the complexity of the worldbuilding and the use of madeup language made it really hard for me to enjoy this book for the first few chapters, and I wondered if this would end up being a DNF.
It is worth it though once you push through the first few chapters, Things start to make more sense, and you get used to some of the fictive words the characters are using,
I liked both main characters, and I especially loved that while being young adults Luscia just turned, their dialogues and thoughts do not feel juvenile, We can see that they are biased, and still have room for maturing, but we can also see that some of them seem to be a little less biased than their elders, and it gives us hope for a better Quadren in the future.
Luscia is strongwilled, in control of herself, and very driven, Contrary to what I first thought when I read her chapters though, she is a confidant, but not an arrogant character, even though she clearly has strong magic, and is an exceptional fighter.
She makes mistakes and she is mature enough to realize when she makes one and openminded enough to listen to the advice she receives, even when she disagrees, I admire how she remained strong when faced with so much hate and prejudice,
Zaethian is a character that I didn't like as much as Luscia at first because of all his prejudices, but we can easily understand that it's just the way people have been thinking for generations, and I have to say that I am impressed by the way he realized that he was acting like his father, and tried to change because he didn't want to become his father.
He also really tried to be more tolerant with Luscia once he saw that she might be more than a savage and dangerous witch hellbent on causing chaos and destruction.
The hatetoreluctant allies relationship is very well developed, and it's a real slow burn, and we're not even close to being able to call it "love" yet.
Definitely no instalust or instalove, Both characters go from hating each other, to being forced to work together, to slowly trusting each other, Its a slow and realistic relationship development, and I really like that the author took the time to slowly develop this relationship, and did not rush it just for the sake of having romance in the book.
I would definitely recommend this
book to any high fantasy lover, or for anyone looking for a book with complex politics, good character development, and very elaborate worldbuilding.
If you are like me and are not exactly big fans of high fantasy, I would still recommend it, but just make sure that you are "in the mood" for a more complex book, with parts that have a slower pace, and dialogues that force us to go back and forth between the story and the glossary at the end.
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Thank you to YA Bound Book Tours for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
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/stars!
If you've tracked my reviews before, you'll know that I am a massive fan of political fantasy and court intrigue! Let me tell you, House of Bastiion did not disappoint in any way! Frankly, the only reason it didn't garner a perfect rating from me is that I rarely give the first book in a series five because I just haven't had enough time to soak in the world and meet the characters.
The Houses of Pilar, Darakai, Boreal, and Bastiion forged an accord with the royal line of Thoarne, founding a Quadren of advisory to the throne of Orynthia.
Every generation, a single Haidren from each of the four Houses is appointed to this coveted chair, House of Bastiion follows Luscia, the heir to the seat of the Boreal, and Zaethan, heir to the seat of Darakai, Boreal's ancient enemy, Luscia and Zaethan have to put off ageold rivalries and hatred to achieve their common goal: to stop the strange string of murders of have taken place across Orynthia.
But in a land of war and deceit, the path to peace should never be trusted,
The first and most noticeable trait about this novel is the worldbuilding, No one would be able to protest against the fact that the author has breathed life into this world she's created! The world or Orynthia is beautiful and detailed, with distinct cultures and even fullyformed languages!
K.
L. Kolarich also exhibits a beautiful writing style, I can't stand books with juvenile language, so I was thrilled to see her lyrical prose flow across the page! Her world choice and figurative language paint a picture of a city that takes no measures to avoid the spread of debauchery or the criminal underworld that comes with such an important location.
Finally, we come to the makeorbreak part of a novel for methe characters, I adored the characters in House of Bastiion! In fantasy books, we often see characters' flaws glamorized for the audience to try to sell the whole "bad boy" or "sassy heroine" thing.
In this book, we see characters make mistakes, acknowledge them as wrong, and deal with that guilt, All the characters in this novel felt painfully real, especially how Zaethan acted around Luscia, He was horrible to her, and at one point he paused and recognized that, The author didn't try to explain that he had his reasons, he didn't know better, any of that, He just saw what he'd been doing and how he was starting to sound like his father, and that made him rethink everything,
Excuse me as I devote a section of my review to my excitement over this slowburn enemies to lovers romance!! Part of why I normally dislike the enemies to lovers trope is because the characters go from hating each other to loving each other out of nowhere when that's not how it works.
It goes from hate to dislike to tolerance to grudging acceptance, It's a gradient of greys, not a jump from black to white!
I absolutely loved this book and I can't wait until the next one comes out! I would highly recommend it to my fans of court intrigue and political fantasy.
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Grasp House Of Bastiion (The Haidren Legacy, #1) Presented By K.L. Kolarich Depicted In Electronic Format
K.L. Kolarich