Plot: 5/5
The story follows Eska, a Sourcerer imprisoned for being on the losing side of a war, and how she survives within the depths of a deep underground pit.
I’m not always the biggest fan of prison stories (just personal preference, no real reason to it) but Rob sprinkles in a lot of other plot points, and handles the intrigue and politics so well that I was never bored with the plot. Overall, I greatly enjoyed the story and what it set up and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes in the future.

Characters: 4/5
Eska as a main character is fantastic. She’s well thought out, and fleshed out, and plays an incredibly strong protagonist for this story. Her dynamics with other characters are done so incredibly well too. I felt things slid a bit for the side characters, some were great (Josef and the relationship between him and Eska) but others felt a little more plain. They certainly weren’t bad, which is why I still gave this section a four, but there was more I was hoping to learn about them, especially the core group, that never seemed to come about or what did was rather sprinkled lightly on top of everything else.

Worldbuilding: 5/5
The worldbuilding at the beginning had some interesting parts to it but never really grabbed me. And then it did. Understandably so, set up was required for the story and it didn’t explore the world too much given Eska being trapped in a prison, but when it starts delving into the wider world, I loved every moment and became obsessed around the ideas Rob has created. There are only a few tidbits of the world explored outside of the Pit, mostly through flashbacks and conversation, but the parts that do get explored generate a lot of interest for stories beyond. The magic system is primarily explored through flashbacks, and there is a dynamic that is introduced that expands on Impomancy (which was my favorite of the many types of magic explored within the story) that completely gripped me. There is so much more to delve into with the magic and the world that I am excited to see how it is in the following books.

Writing: 4/5
Rob’s writing is excellent, the pacing of the story and the prose were well done. The only issue I had comes from the voice of the book, and how it’s first person looking back on events, so Eska would often jump from the tale to talk about what incredible feats she accomplishes later in life. There are several moments where this works fantastic, and adds to the world as a whole in a very subtle but exceptional way. But there were other parts where it went a little overboard, and the events talked about would be more interesting to see rather than hear a snippet of. This jumping forward happened a bit too much for my taste, but I feel this is very much a personal preference and will likely differ among readers.

Enjoyability: 5/5
This book started slow for me, but I blame that entirely on how I listen to audiobooks (it’s not very consistent at times…). It ramped up pretty quickly and was an absolute blast all the way through. Rob crafted an incredible world to play around in, with a compelling protagonist to explore it. He set up an immense magic system and side cast that I look forward to seeing explored as the series goes on. I am so excited to jump back into this story with its sequel (which I’ve already started).

OVERALL: 5/5 Regurgitated Sources

Narration: 5/5 – Moira Quirk
This was an audiobook listen for me, so I like to comment on the narration quality as well, but let’s be honest for a moment here. It was Moira Quirk who narrated this and she, of course, did a fantastic job. She brought incredible life to Eska’s character and enhanced the book so much with her abilities. A flawless performance from Moira for this story, and she’s the reason I have no doubts about continuing on with the audio format for this series.