Sanctuary Duo by Carol Berg
Jul. 26th, 2020 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaI really enjoyed these books.
+ I loved the expansion of the world from the Lighthouse duo. I really wish I'd read these books closer to when I finished them because I've forgotten so much. I'll definitely need to read all four together one day. That this duo happens simultaneous to the events in the first duo was great. I rather love how there were two major plots happening concurrently involving very similar problems, occasionally touching right up to each other but never actually affecting the other. Even though I knew it wouldn't happen I really wanted to see those two plots intersect.
It makes me really want the next duo in the series. (Which at this point is very much a series.) This book leaves things open with Aros/One-Who-Waits and his self chosen edict to watch over the world, and to serve Navronne and justice. Even more importantly him saying "the time for a Sorcerer King is not yet" and keeping the mask and medallion is a very obvious Chekov's gun that I want to see pulled! Osriel ended the Lighthouse duo confirmed as king and in a mental place where he'd be a good king. But I still want to see the situation where the Sorcerer King is needed. Or seeing Aros and Bastien dispensing small justice in Palinur as Osriel settles in as the new King, or having Aros and Valen interact. There is so much I'd love to see in the next books.
+ CB creates such vivid characters, and as with Valen, I loved Lucian. He was a great character and it was interesting to follow him through such great changes. I loved his strength of character and that at his base he's a genuinely compassionate man who wants to help people. I also loved his powers and how they worked and were used over the course of the book. I liked where his story ended up going though I'm sad that he lost Lucian completely at the end. I would have preferred he'd retained some of who he used to be because I liked Lucian in the first book.
+ I loved the loyalty Lucian inspired in the people around him. Bastien, Inek, Fix, Fallon. The Cicerons led by Hercule who stayed behind to help him (and then didn't actually do anything.) I loved the Xancheiran's (not just Signe/Siever/Benedik but all of them and the Danae hidden watching) coming to rescue him.
+ I loved what Damon was really plotting. It makes me really want to read the AU where he succeeded, where Geraint didn't return and overhear the plotting and instead was quietly disappeared and Lucian accepted Damon's plot to put him on the throne. How that would butt up against the Osriel/Valen plot would be fascinating.
+ I also liked that Damon was both not wrong (the Registry had to go and their corruption had to be routed out, and imo that Lucian would be a good ruler) and not right (as Lucian said 'a just kingdom can't be built on murder', continuing to hide the truth about two bents). I liked how complicated he was as a character. Plus I do have some sympathy in the way he went about it because he was up against a massively powerful enemy and I can see how twenty years of fighting, mostly alone and against overwhelming odds, could corrupt his vision.
+ The Order was a very neat addition to the world.
+ While her books are full of wonderful female characters I wish there were more prominent ones. It would have been easy to make the Order full of both men and women, for instance.
+ The romance between Lucian and Morgan was very meh. I think the fact that we don't get to see the build of their relationship didn't help but also it was just - meh. I'm glad they ended as friends.
+ The Registry in the first duo were terrible and yet weren't really dealt with so I loved how things played out with it in this duo. Lucian figuring out the truth about purebloods and duel talents was great.
+ I loved the whole story of Xancheira - from how it fell and was saved to Lucian saving everyone and bringing it back to the 'real' world.
+ Tuari continued to be the worst and yet also remains Archon - though since this duo ends before the previous one that was a surety. Still annoyed! He doesn't deserve to be Archon. I'm daring to hope the next duo will take this arrogant bastard and replace him with a better alternative.
+ I loved the expansion of the world from the Lighthouse duo. I really wish I'd read these books closer to when I finished them because I've forgotten so much. I'll definitely need to read all four together one day. That this duo happens simultaneous to the events in the first duo was great. I rather love how there were two major plots happening concurrently involving very similar problems, occasionally touching right up to each other but never actually affecting the other. Even though I knew it wouldn't happen I really wanted to see those two plots intersect.
It makes me really want the next duo in the series. (Which at this point is very much a series.) This book leaves things open with Aros/One-Who-Waits and his self chosen edict to watch over the world, and to serve Navronne and justice. Even more importantly him saying "the time for a Sorcerer King is not yet" and keeping the mask and medallion is a very obvious Chekov's gun that I want to see pulled! Osriel ended the Lighthouse duo confirmed as king and in a mental place where he'd be a good king. But I still want to see the situation where the Sorcerer King is needed. Or seeing Aros and Bastien dispensing small justice in Palinur as Osriel settles in as the new King, or having Aros and Valen interact. There is so much I'd love to see in the next books.
+ CB creates such vivid characters, and as with Valen, I loved Lucian. He was a great character and it was interesting to follow him through such great changes. I loved his strength of character and that at his base he's a genuinely compassionate man who wants to help people. I also loved his powers and how they worked and were used over the course of the book. I liked where his story ended up going though I'm sad that he lost Lucian completely at the end. I would have preferred he'd retained some of who he used to be because I liked Lucian in the first book.
+ I loved the loyalty Lucian inspired in the people around him. Bastien, Inek, Fix, Fallon. The Cicerons led by Hercule who stayed behind to help him (and then didn't actually do anything.) I loved the Xancheiran's (not just Signe/Siever/Benedik but all of them and the Danae hidden watching) coming to rescue him.
+ I loved what Damon was really plotting. It makes me really want to read the AU where he succeeded, where Geraint didn't return and overhear the plotting and instead was quietly disappeared and Lucian accepted Damon's plot to put him on the throne. How that would butt up against the Osriel/Valen plot would be fascinating.
+ I also liked that Damon was both not wrong (the Registry had to go and their corruption had to be routed out, and imo that Lucian would be a good ruler) and not right (as Lucian said 'a just kingdom can't be built on murder', continuing to hide the truth about two bents). I liked how complicated he was as a character. Plus I do have some sympathy in the way he went about it because he was up against a massively powerful enemy and I can see how twenty years of fighting, mostly alone and against overwhelming odds, could corrupt his vision.
+ The Order was a very neat addition to the world.
+ While her books are full of wonderful female characters I wish there were more prominent ones. It would have been easy to make the Order full of both men and women, for instance.
+ The romance between Lucian and Morgan was very meh. I think the fact that we don't get to see the build of their relationship didn't help but also it was just - meh. I'm glad they ended as friends.
+ The Registry in the first duo were terrible and yet weren't really dealt with so I loved how things played out with it in this duo. Lucian figuring out the truth about purebloods and duel talents was great.
+ I loved the whole story of Xancheira - from how it fell and was saved to Lucian saving everyone and bringing it back to the 'real' world.
+ Tuari continued to be the worst and yet also remains Archon - though since this duo ends before the previous one that was a surety. Still annoyed! He doesn't deserve to be Archon. I'm daring to hope the next duo will take this arrogant bastard and replace him with a better alternative.
