Book Review: The Lessons Never Learned, by Rob J. Hayes
The second book of a dark fantasy series with a bitchy protagonist redeemed by her enemies being even worse.
Self-published, 2020, 512 pages
I am the weapon.
Eskara is free of the Pit, but far from safe. She is beset by the ghosts of those she has killed, and plagued by the ancient horror that possesses her. Enemies dog her heels, determined to see the last Orran Sourcerer dead. Worse still, there is new player in the game, one far more dangerous than anything she has faced before.
But there is one place that might offer her both the safety she needs to survive, and the power she needs to strike back; Ro’shan, the flying home of a God. Eska will soon learn that all power comes with a cost, and some prices are too high.
Warning: Spoilers for book one.
The Lessons Never Learned is the second book in The War Eternal series. The first book, Along the Razor's Edge, had the rare quality of grabbing my interest hard enough for me to go straight into the next book.
Book two picks up right where book one left off. Eskara Helsene and her surviving friends have just escaped the Pit, but agents of the Terrelan Empire are still after them. Also, Eskara is pregnant and the dead baby-daddy is following her around as a ghost. And the ancient shadowy demon-thing whom she made a bargain with in book one is now a permanent resident in her head and consistently whispering poison and paranoia in her ear.
This isn't a heroic fantasy. Eskara is almost an anti-hero, and we haven't even gotten to her promised title of "Corpse Queen" yet. Eskara began as a martial sorcerer serving the Orran Empire, and went to the Pit because the Orrans lost. Now she has sworn vengeance against those who have wronged her, and that list keeps growing.
As with the first book, this story is narrated in the first person by an older Eskara, telling us all the mistakes she made and hinting at things yet to come. There is a secondary POV who comes as a bit of a surprise, and frankly I found those sections less interesting though I know we're supposed to feel the dramatic tension introduced by the parallel story of this other character.
Eskara ages a few years in this book - both chronologically, and magically. She also matures, a little, though she is still a hot-tempered mess. She has to make a lot of hard choices, starting with her daughter, a baby she is no way equipped to take care of, and I liked how the author managed to conveniently get the kid offstage as quickly as possible and yet make Eskara's attachment and sense of loss very much a thread that keeps running through the book.
The worldbuilding in the first book was pretty good, but it kicks up a notch in this one. Eskara travels to the floating city of the Rand, one of two races of gods, the other ones being the Djinn. Yes, you can be sure we'll meet Djinn later. The Rand and the Djinn fought a war centuries ago that devastated both their civilizations. Now almost all of them are supposedly dead. Guess what the title of the series refers to? So Eskara meets gods (and we learn why she said in the first book that "all gods are assholes"), and goes off on new and more dangerous adventures seeking vengeance and also, though never stated directly, for a sense of atonement. We are introduced to more magic, more races, more fantastic places, and her tormenting demonic companion Sserakis actually becomes an almost likeable character despite the fact that it's basically a shadowy figment of pure evil.
This series is not exactly a progression fantasy, though the protagonist does keep noticeably leveling up. It's also not really Young Adult, even though Eskara started as a 15-year-old in the first book and is now a few years older but still often acts like an angsty teenager. But it's drawn me in, despite all the potential strikes against it, not least of which being that it's by an indie author. This is an epic fantasy series about a vengeful little hellion full of blood and dark magic, and if Eskara makes herself hard to like sometimes, she's at least come by her anger honestly, and her wrath is usually pointed in the right direction.
Well, except for when she slaughters a whole bunch of innocent people she thought were a threat but her friends were trying to negotiate with. Oops.
If you're a fan of Brandon Sanderson, you'll find much to appreciate here (and frankly, I think this series is kind of like Brandon Sanderson for grown-ups). It also reminds me a bit of Michael Moorcock's Elric series. Eskara isn't quite as brooding and amoral as Elric, but there is a similar darkness around her, and a tendency to wreak havoc on everything and everyone she cares about.
The Lessons Never Learned ends with some big reveals, a big betrayal, and a bit of a cliffhanger, and I'm still on board for the next book.
Also by Rob J. Hayes: My review of Along the Razor's Edge.
My complete list of book reviews.
Self-published, 2020, 512 pages
I am the weapon.
Eskara is free of the Pit, but far from safe. She is beset by the ghosts of those she has killed, and plagued by the ancient horror that possesses her. Enemies dog her heels, determined to see the last Orran Sourcerer dead. Worse still, there is new player in the game, one far more dangerous than anything she has faced before.
But there is one place that might offer her both the safety she needs to survive, and the power she needs to strike back; Ro’shan, the flying home of a God. Eska will soon learn that all power comes with a cost, and some prices are too high.
Warning: Spoilers for book one.
The Lessons Never Learned is the second book in The War Eternal series. The first book, Along the Razor's Edge, had the rare quality of grabbing my interest hard enough for me to go straight into the next book.
Book two picks up right where book one left off. Eskara Helsene and her surviving friends have just escaped the Pit, but agents of the Terrelan Empire are still after them. Also, Eskara is pregnant and the dead baby-daddy is following her around as a ghost. And the ancient shadowy demon-thing whom she made a bargain with in book one is now a permanent resident in her head and consistently whispering poison and paranoia in her ear.
This isn't a heroic fantasy. Eskara is almost an anti-hero, and we haven't even gotten to her promised title of "Corpse Queen" yet. Eskara began as a martial sorcerer serving the Orran Empire, and went to the Pit because the Orrans lost. Now she has sworn vengeance against those who have wronged her, and that list keeps growing.
As with the first book, this story is narrated in the first person by an older Eskara, telling us all the mistakes she made and hinting at things yet to come. There is a secondary POV who comes as a bit of a surprise, and frankly I found those sections less interesting though I know we're supposed to feel the dramatic tension introduced by the parallel story of this other character.
Eskara ages a few years in this book - both chronologically, and magically. She also matures, a little, though she is still a hot-tempered mess. She has to make a lot of hard choices, starting with her daughter, a baby she is no way equipped to take care of, and I liked how the author managed to conveniently get the kid offstage as quickly as possible and yet make Eskara's attachment and sense of loss very much a thread that keeps running through the book.
The worldbuilding in the first book was pretty good, but it kicks up a notch in this one. Eskara travels to the floating city of the Rand, one of two races of gods, the other ones being the Djinn. Yes, you can be sure we'll meet Djinn later. The Rand and the Djinn fought a war centuries ago that devastated both their civilizations. Now almost all of them are supposedly dead. Guess what the title of the series refers to? So Eskara meets gods (and we learn why she said in the first book that "all gods are assholes"), and goes off on new and more dangerous adventures seeking vengeance and also, though never stated directly, for a sense of atonement. We are introduced to more magic, more races, more fantastic places, and her tormenting demonic companion Sserakis actually becomes an almost likeable character despite the fact that it's basically a shadowy figment of pure evil.
This series is not exactly a progression fantasy, though the protagonist does keep noticeably leveling up. It's also not really Young Adult, even though Eskara started as a 15-year-old in the first book and is now a few years older but still often acts like an angsty teenager. But it's drawn me in, despite all the potential strikes against it, not least of which being that it's by an indie author. This is an epic fantasy series about a vengeful little hellion full of blood and dark magic, and if Eskara makes herself hard to like sometimes, she's at least come by her anger honestly, and her wrath is usually pointed in the right direction.
Well, except for when she slaughters a whole bunch of innocent people she thought were a threat but her friends were trying to negotiate with. Oops.
If you're a fan of Brandon Sanderson, you'll find much to appreciate here (and frankly, I think this series is kind of like Brandon Sanderson for grown-ups). It also reminds me a bit of Michael Moorcock's Elric series. Eskara isn't quite as brooding and amoral as Elric, but there is a similar darkness around her, and a tendency to wreak havoc on everything and everyone she cares about.
The Lessons Never Learned ends with some big reveals, a big betrayal, and a bit of a cliffhanger, and I'm still on board for the next book.
Also by Rob J. Hayes: My review of Along the Razor's Edge.
My complete list of book reviews.