Eleventh Cycle (1) (Mistland)

Product Information

Ardalan, but seeing the cover art and hearing the main inspirations for Eleventh Cycle back then was more than enough to seal the deal. In a similar way to Dark Souls games, Ardalan made sure the main plot progression in Eleventh Cycle is never difficult to understand. With these elements, the five stories start as independent ones, which will reunite together and cross paths with the advance in the novel, being really satisfactory in how everything starts to make sense at the end. The Blacksmith was suspended in air, their lower half replaced by a spherical solid boulder, hooked chains spread from its corners and were mounted into the stone dome.

What could have been simply a plot device, Ardalan turned into a fully fleshed out and surprisingly likable character. At least for the most part, there were some threads like the Forgotten that seemed to have a lot of potential at the beginning of the book, but then seemed to be lost in the rest of what was happening – now maybe it will have more focus in later books, but it felt as though it was being shown as something that was going to have more of an impact and it was a little disappointing to see that thread vanish. The worldbuilding certainly took centre stage for me and is the one aspect that I loved about this book, particularly when it was paired with the vivid imagery that Ardalan was able to conjure.

The Seed sets out looking to learn about emotions, and seeking people to be the embodiment of different feelings, champions of a select handful of emotions. In fact, it felt to me that we saw her interact more with the others in that group, so that connection with the loss wasn’t there. I took my leave from my official duties, passing them to my lieutenant as I wandered most of my day in deep thought.

A dark cosmic horror novel that also explores the good in humanity, this book is perfect for fans of grimdark and epic fantasy.

We knew why they were feared – and again there is that weight of the past playing out in the future, and how they were dealt with and viewed, and what it cost them to live a life that was deemed acceptable by those holding their chains. The four main POV characters, Dalila, Nora, Chroma (an akar), and Erefiel Numaya (a Nephilim), have their chapters told in a first-person perspective. With Chroma we got to see a lot of his anger and confusion, with Erefiel it felt like we got to see his heart – the one that wanted to be himself, to hold out that hand to help because he could and because it was right. She gave me a wide and ugly grimace where her gums peeled back to reveal still growing and crooked teeth.

The story itself begins as fragments told from these multiple perspectives, allowing us to build emotional connections to each of the individual characters before their plot lines eventually intersect. Each and every one of them is flawed but they are trying their best to navigate their often cruel surroundings.If there's another aspect that is at the same level with worldbuilding, is how in contraposition with the darkness of the world, we are given characters we get to connect with them. But, where it grated on me most was actually in the moments of release – particularly a couple of the moments where Nora and Dalila were trying to reclaim some part of themselves, going from a complicated set of emotions and a situation of tangled threads to self-pleasure with a speed that was almost enough to give me whiplash. I probably over-hyped the book in my own mind a bit too much, which definitely colored my perception of it.