Eleventh Cycle (Mistland Book 1)

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Dalila, Nora, Chroma, and Erefiel Numaya are the POV characters. They all feel distinct and are incredibly well written. Naturally, the book is a fantastical commentary on the subject of colonialism and the destruction of indigenous way of life, as well as culture. James did not shy away from highlighting the ruthlessness of colonialist rhetoric which made the book quite adept at stoking my anger. Don’t go. I love you. It’s not your fault. The words refused to come as I watched *redacted* storm away. It has been a thousand years since the last Seed abandoned their duty. The mists are closing in. Finally, the Morning Bell tolls. A new Seed is born, but is it too late? The rot eats away at mortals. The Witnesses pray so that they may not turn into one of the forgotten. And the constricting mists infect the lands with fear.

Eleventh Cycle by Kian N. Ardalan BOOK REVIEW: Eleventh Cycle by Kian N. Ardalan

In addition to the four first-person protagonists, we also read the third-person story of the Eleventh Seed. Despite the glorious prophecies, the Eleventh Seed is just an innocent child trying to understand human emotions and make sense out of this complex, violent world. Eleventh Cycle is a gritty, grimdark fantasy novel with a huge list of trigger warnings (provided by the author), so not for the faint of heart! This is definitely a character-driven narrative, despite having such a detailed world to learn about. Overall Thoughts A lot have questioned how exactly a Dark Souls inspired book would work. Well in this case, its through the delivery of the worldbuilding. Of course you still have your typical fantasy bard that delivers tales of yonder, as well as some good old fashioned exposition. But that is far and few between, the vast majority of the worldbuilding takes place within epigraphs before each chapter, a little snippet of an in-world tome. On the other hand, The Fantastically Underwhelming Epic wonders why the hero of the story always has to be some all-powerful child of prophecy? Why can’t it just be about a clueless, young bard who is simply tryin Kian N. Ardalan was born in Germany, Dusseldorf to Persian parents and has since travelled between so many places that he sees himself as a person of the world; well, with one exception.This book is often described as being inspired by Dark Souls or Berserk. While I have passing familiarity with both of those, I have never played/read either of them, and so I don’t have those to color or inform my opinion of the book. If you don’t have any experience with these either, don’t worry. I still enjoyed the book immensely without them. Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. The novel’s readability is paired with a keen attention to detail in worldbuilding and character development. Kian N. Ardalan has created an expansive world with a rich history and culture. Eleventh Cycle is an immediately enjoyable novel but also rewards multiple rereads, as additional details and connections become clear. I also love its soft magic system, which is the perfect accompaniment to the novel’s mysterious aesthetic. One line for one character in particular stood out to me, and is a testament to the level of Kian's writing.

Kian N. Ardalan (Author of Eleventh Cycle) - Goodreads Kian N. Ardalan (Author of Eleventh Cycle) - Goodreads

I’m coming to this book a bit late, and I have been following the hype for this book for a couple of weeks now. This means that I started this book with very high expectations. I probably over-hyped the book in my own mind a bit too much, which definitely colored my perception of it. But this is not some kind of 'trauma porn', there is still light and hope in these books. These characters are inherently flawed but good people. They are fiercely loyal, compassionate, trying to do the right thing to survive their way in this miserable world. So yeah. I don't want to call this a bad book because I'm not sure it is. It's not so awful I've stopped but I have this nagging regret all the way through that audiobook just isn't the better version.The fun comes from trying to connect all the disparate pieces together because in their totality they will make a cohesive whole, but at first read through they do appear randomly chosen. I am still yet to work out how it all connects! Through these little pieces we learn more about the world, its creatures, the past, lots of different bits and bobs and its all utterly fascinating. Its clearly got a richness to it that in my opinion so far matches an wheel of time sort of scale, but it's never overwhelming or put forward at the sake of story or character. If you want to invest in all the different aspects you can, but first and foremost this is a character driven tale.