Wednesday, August 4, 2021

World Serpent Arcanist

World Serpent Arcanist (Frith Chronicles, #5)World Serpent Arcanist by Shami Stovall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As Volke is reunited with his friends with the Frith Guild, the Second Ascension are seeking to bond with god creatures. The Frith Guild is determined to locate the person meant to bond with the World Serpent and beat the Second Ascension to it. Meanwhile Volke is training himself, an apprentice arcanist, and preparing for the possibility that the next battle may be his last.

The World Serpent Arcanist was a good book. I was hoping for another book like Plague Arcanist that was truly intense and dropped many of the young adult elements the series has gripped tightly to. Unfortunately that's not the case as young adult romance drama takes up a good bit of time...that and traveling.

Regarding romance; the romance in the book is definitely one of its major drawbacks. The first few books were normal enough for young adult where Volke liked Atty, Illia liked Volke, Zaxis liked Illia, and no one knew who Atty liked. This was all perfectly normal. Now Zaxis and Illia are a couple and things keep getting stranger outside of them. Volke is basically catnip and practically every young woman is a cat. I'd call it a James Bond situation, but Volke is basically helpless and doesn't know what to do. These young women skip past appreciation for Volke's help and nature and go straight to love. From my vantage only one character's affection seems real enough to make it past the honeymoon phase. All the unreal romance makes me cringe and roll my eyes at times.

This book was far more introspective as Volke is concerned with what's most important to him. He's always willing to lay his life on the line for what's right. He sacrifices what could be the easy and happy path in order to protect others.

I felt this book was a bit more crowded and no one character got enough page time. With Volke being reunited with the Frith Guild and the crew of the Sun Chaser being around nearly everyone fell to the wayside. Evianna may have been the next most prominently featured character. Master Zelfree came up often, but Volke's initial team and the Sun Chaser crew felt largely like after thoughts.

The World Serpent Arcanist was interesting and I'm hoping the series gets even better moving forward.

3.5 out of 5 stars

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