Voice of War (Threadlight #1) by Zack Argyle

 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong language, A mild mostly non-descriptive scene of torture

While preparing for the birth of his first child, Chrys Valerian is tasked with uncovering the group responsible for a series of missing threadweavers—those able to see and manipulate threadlight. With each failure, the dark voice in his head grows louder, begging to be released.

A young girl from a secret city in the center of the Fairenwild veers off course to explore the streets of Alchea, never expecting that her journey would end in chains.

Far in the deserts to the south, a young man's life changes after he dies.

When Chrys learns who is responsible for the missing threadweavers, they come for him and his family. He must do everything in his power to protect those he loves, even if it means trusting strangers or, worse, the growing voice in his mind.

Together, these three will change the world—whether they intend to or not.

 

I've heard a lot about this series on booktube, so much that I decided to buy it when it went on sale on Chirp. Even though I could have read it with my KU subscription, I decided I wanted to listen to it instead. I had no expectations going into this. I just knew I wanted to try some of the independently published fantasies that I had been hearing so much about, and this one had a lot of praise. 

Right from the beginning I noticed that the magic system reminded me of Sanderson's magic systems, and later I found out that this is considered something like a Sanderson-lite type of read. I agree that it does feel that way, and that was fine by me. 

I enjoyed the character Chrys a lot. The parts from his perspective were my favorite thing about the book. Laurel was less likable for me and I found myself wanting to get back to Chrys whenever I was reading her parts. I'm not sure what I think about Alverax yet. I found his parts to be a little confusing at first and the initial transition to his perspective a bit clunky. I found him at times to be likable and at times not so likable, but he's a very interesting character.

There were some unexpected happenings at the end of the book that left me wanting to read the next one for sure.

“It doesn’t matter how beautiful the wall is if the garden inside is dying. No one can live like that forever.”