Master Artificer (The Silent Gods 2)

[A quick note: This is the second book in The Silent Gods 2 series. I read and reviewed Master of Sorrows HERE if you’re interested. This book is out today. Make sure you head over and grab a copy for yourself! There are rumors that this might be a twelve book series. So if you like long series (think Wheel of Time) then you’ll probably be even more into this one.]

“𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚, 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚, 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨. 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙘𝙧𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙤𝙧 𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.” —Justin T Call

After surviving the attack on Chaenbalu, Annev and his companions embark on a new journey to seek answers. In time, they go their separate ways. But Annev stays the course, hoping to find someone powerful enough to remove his magical artifact arm. In the mean time, his enemies are building their strength, honing their powers, and preparing to come after him.

Tons of magic, detailed world building, a host of characters, and plenty of adventure. The second installment of The Silent Gods definitely packs a punch. Our story follows multiple POVs this time around, as each character grapples with his or her own journey. My favorites were Annev, Fyn, and Myjun. But especially Myjun. Which surprised me because I couldn’t stand her in the first book.

I’ve got to say, this is the most magic heavy book I’ve ever read. The attention to detail is impressive. There’s so much behind each of the types of magic, artifacts, and world building. It’s in a league of its own. There is a downfall to this, in that it adds many layers of complication making the story extremely long. At 900+ pages, it takes the cake as the longest book I’ve ever read.

I enjoyed this one a bit more than the first, especially Fyn and Myjun’s journeys. I found myself especially engaged. Even though Myjun was sort of an evil character, I like morally gray or even black characters. The contents felt more mature. While the characters are YA aged, I think it’s more fitting for adults simply because of the story complexity. There’s a lot of detail. You’ve really got to pay attention. That’s the brilliance behind the writing.

My only gripe is that the story moves slow in places, and is just too long for me. It got to the point where it felt like it was dragging on forever, even though the content was good. While the first 600-ish pages were much slower, the last 300 really raced. Thank the gods! I think the saying goes: too much of a good thing is not necessarily a good thing. Or something along those lines. I know Justin T Call is very aware of this. I think he even called this book a “doorstop.” LOL.

But it’s good, and there is certainly an audience of people who love super long books. Like Wheel of Time fans. Speaking of Wheel of Time, there were some places that I got that sort of vibe. I do enjoy the WoT series, so that’s definitely a compliment.

In terms of rating, I teetered between 3.5 and 4. And if the book length would have been shorter, I would have rounded up. But the length really frustrated me at times. It just took me too dang long to read this one. Nearly a month. I generally read two books a week. So my TBR is pretty pissed. If the third book is this long...I am not sure I’m going to have the courage to tackle it. So we’re going with 3.5⭐️

A huge thank you to Blackstone Publishing for sending me a physical ARC of both this and the first book. I now have something to hold my doors open! All joking aside, I really did enjoy this one, and if you’re a magic/fantasy loving reader, you will too.