It was fine. It took me a while to actually get into the book. The world segregates people into upper and lower realms by something called Toranic Law. The upper realms hold people with light souls and peaceful lives. The lower realms hold people with dark souls and tormented lives.
One of the main characters, Aina, ascends from the lower level, but desperately tries to go back to be with her mother. She ends up joining a rebel group that includes Meizan, a ruthless fighter trying to save his clan from extinction, and Aranel, a spoiled noble spying for the powers that be.
While this is going on, there is a massive war brewing a violent king of a lower realm is bent on destroying Toranic Law; on the other, the authorities of the upper realms will do anything to stay on top.
The premise was exciting, but for some reason I struggled to connect with the main characters. Aina's mother is cruel to her and in their last moments before Aina ascends, her mother tells her to leave and not come back. I couldn't understand why she would want to go back there when she constantly spoke about how her mother mistreated her. The other main characters, Meizan and Aranel were also difficult to root for. I just did not feel like their intentions and actions were well described.
The book overall was fine, but not something I'd run to read again.
One of the main characters, Aina, ascends from the lower level, but desperately tries to go back to be with her mother. She ends up joining a rebel group that includes Meizan, a ruthless fighter trying to save his clan from extinction, and Aranel, a spoiled noble spying for the powers that be.
While this is going on, there is a massive war brewing a violent king of a lower realm is bent on destroying Toranic Law; on the other, the authorities of the upper realms will do anything to stay on top.
The premise was exciting, but for some reason I struggled to connect with the main characters. Aina's mother is cruel to her and in their last moments before Aina ascends, her mother tells her to leave and not come back. I couldn't understand why she would want to go back there when she constantly spoke about how her mother mistreated her. The other main characters, Meizan and Aranel were also difficult to root for. I just did not feel like their intentions and actions were well described.
The book overall was fine, but not something I'd run to read again.