I really wanted to like this book. When I first heard of the series, I figured it would be a very good look at the Eldar, an intriguing race in the WH 40K universe. In the end, even though the book has some interesting moments, and some action, a lot of it was a drag to read. I will disclose I have not read the first book in the series, but I will note that you can read this one on its own quite well. You get enough references to the previous one that you can probably do just fine. Some of the issues for me included: * A very slow pace at times. What could have been a strength, namely descriptions and a look at an Eldar craftworld as well as a look at the seer path, at times became extremely long passages where nothing really happened and did little to move the story along. Basically, you could skim big parts of the book and still get the gist of it. That is usually a sign of padding; this book could have used a few pages left. *I just found some of the characters somewhat unlikeable. Thiriana's teacher is a bit of a bullying asshole at times. For me at least, I hate bullies, so that right away alienated me. Your mileage may vary. Her father, to whom she does not really speak to, is not that much better neither. To be honest, in spite of the explanation in the book, forcing Thiriana to get him to make her first rune felt forced. It felt more like her teacher just making her do it out of some spite. *And of course, it is a middle book in a trilogy, so naturally you get the cliffhanger just as it is getting interesting. And the book really does pick up the pace at the end, but by then, you had to plod through a lot of stuff to get there. I may pick up the next book just to find out how the story ends. However, I am in no rush to do so. I felt the book had great potential, but it just felt flat for me. I will go read other WH 40K books for a while to cleanse the palate before I move on with this particular series. I think hardcore fans of WH 40K will probably enjoy the book. Casual fans like me may or not have mixed results. By the way, the cover art work is just gorgeous and excellent.
