Book: Brimstone by Callie Hart
Reviewed by plotdrunk
Rating: 3.5/5
I’m struggling to pin down my thoughts because this book was all over the place. There were parts I genuinely enjoyed: the Kingfisher and Carrion detour to Zilvaren was fun even if it didn’t add much beyond getting Hayden to Yvelia and giving us a little lore from Elroy. I loved the stargazers in the Blood Court and the reveal that they were Edina’s creations the whole time. Edina’s book to Saeris was one of my favorite details, especially the way she had to read it in order. The side characters continue to shine, and the half-god twist for Kingfisher was great.
But the execution needed more tightening. The book has typos, wrong names popping up in the wrong places, and whole stretches that felt like they needed another editing pass. There were so many new plot threads added and basically nothing resolved. I kept wanting answers or more clarity on major things from the first book and didn’t feel like we got them. The pacing made it hard to stay fully invested because the story kept splintering into different directions without payoff.
Overall, the world and overarching story are still interesting enough that I want to keep going, but this installment didn’t land the way I hoped. Feels like a 3.5-star read for me based on execution.