Fantasy | 784 pages | First published: June 12th, 2018

Another reread and another rating unchanged!

This one came back to me a bit faster than the first one, but I would definitely say it suffers from second-book syndrome. It felt like one large info-dump that also tried to tackle the intricacies of morality. Thankfully since a large part of the general world-building took place in The Shadow of What Was Lost, its sequel didn’t remind me quite so much of Robert Jordan’s writing and Randland. But a large portion of An Echo of Things to Come occurs via flashbacks/excerpts/memories, which made it drag a bit for me. I found the disruptions to the timeline jarring with very little occurring in the present timeline, although I understand why it is necessary. Most of the book was spent trying to place our unreliable narrator and determine where each character fits into the cogs of the final battle. I did, however, enjoy how Islington picks up some of the flashbacks from the first novel and slotting the pieces together to create the bigger picture.

In my opinion, the info-dump and morality-quandary came at the expense of character growth. Islington doesn’t delve into the nuance of what drives them and what holds them back, instead having them all be heroic and self-sacrificial. The exception to this might be Caeden with his backstory, but while I believe he has a realistic development arc, I would still argue that he’s now become the heroic and self-sacrificial character. Whilst I still found the relationships and the friendships of the characters to be realistic, this lack of individual depth left me wanting more. There is very little frustration or questioning from the characters at the journey they’ve been thrust into and they all accept their roles with startling grace.

As well, again, in parts the dialogue felt clunky and heavy-handed in its didactic purpose. Especially with the flashback or transcription sections, it felt very expository. Morality is a huge theme here and Islington doesn’t even attempt to be subtle with his handling of it – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing! Whilst I love the idea of tackling morality within literature, if the characters had felt more grey, I think the theme would have made me react more emotionally.

This feels like a very negative review overall, but I promise that I generally enjoyed An Echo of Things to Come! It didn’t blow me away, but I also genuinely enjoyed reading it. It made me gasp and cringe and I do care for our characters, even while wishing they had just a touch more depth. I’ll definitely be picking up the trilogy’s final installment.