The Fallen Star

(Audiobook note: Listening to this book directly after The Rising Storm was jarring, as Disney/TPTB/the narrator mysteriously decided to change the pronunciation of both Marchion AND Nihil. Does pronouncing it like part of “annihilation” make sense? Yes, of course. Do I think they should have just chosen one pronunciation and stuck to it? YES. This might just be my brain being difficult, but every single time I heard either one, it was like hearing someone play the wrong chord in a song. I actually switched to the ebook for the majority of the time.)

And LMFAO at Gray's heavy-handed attempts to get me shipping Elzar/Avar. Maybe it's because it's been so long since I read Light of the Fallen, but I felt absolutely Nothing for them??

As for the book as a whole, though: while I think it needed another editing pass (there were at least two chapters that contained nearly identical lines at different points, which is the kind of thing that should happen in first and second drafts, not published works), it was very good. It really sucked me in, and I wasn't bored for a second. I felt a myriad of emotions throughout the story, and I thought Gray juggled the various POVs very well.