Eleventh Cycle (Mistland Book 1)

Product Information

I won't go into more detail on this matter since I believe people should experience the story for themselves. We have a really complex book, with several layers that give it an incredible amount of depth, from the worldbuilding of Minethria to the characters and how those characters evolve through the story, being a tour de force of grimdark fantasy, proof that we should keep an eye on the talent Kian N.

Eleventh Cycle by Kian Ardalan First Impressions : r/Fantasy Eleventh Cycle by Kian Ardalan First Impressions : r/Fantasy

It’s only January and I have now read 2 of my favourite books of all time (see reviews of Illborn and Aiduel’s Sin). Our story brings us to Minethria, a land encircled by the mists, where the prophecy predicts the Eleventh Seed will be born. So far it's been a few tears, which is very hard to get from me in a book, and I have been assured by my friends whom have read it, that it only gets more emotional from here on out!There is a steep learning curve in Eleventh Cycle but it’s well worth the time and effort you put in. As much as this novel mucks around in thematic and atmospheric mud, the core of the novel is hope, persistence, and perseverance.

Eleventh Cycle by Kian N. Ardalan: Book Review Eleventh Cycle by Kian N. Ardalan: Book Review

Lots of elements of weird fiction, dark (lots of trigger warnings warranted), and decent action and characters. Eleventh Cycle achieves Brandon Sanderson-level worldbuilding, but with a murkier tone and a more nuanced execution.I mean oh my goodness me, it pops right off the screen doesn't it, but in real life, I can confirm it is even better! Minethria is a rich, well developed world with a huge amount of lore that I loved learning more about. The length of the book betrays it just a little bit, as the middle of the book starts to drag while Ardalan moves all of the characters into position. JetPack installs this cookie to collect internal metrics for user activity and in turn improve user experience.

Kian N. Ardalan | Eleventh Cycle

What could have been simply a plot device, Ardalan turned into a fully fleshed out and surprisingly likable character. Of course you still have your typical fantasy bard that delivers tales of yonder, as well as some good old fashioned exposition. It is almost like some kind of emotional power-leveling as every character gets knocked down and yet finds another way to pull themselves up, all the stronger for it. A soft and gentle breeze rustled the long field of grass as if grooming it with an invisible tongue.There are other issues (so much passive voice worsening the word economy, and Nora's entire narrative is too bad YA high school drama for the setting and story it's trying to be) but they all pale in comparison to this one and I suspect it will make or break this book for the audience. Eleventh Cycle is a gritty, grimdark fantasy novel with a huge list of trigger warnings (provided by the author), so not for the faint of heart!

REVIEW: Eleventh Cycle by Kian N. Ardalan - Grimdark Magazine

If you are looking for a dark story with an impressive world, and characters that will let you marked, this is your book.

While it does take a while for all of the POV characters to meet up, they do constantly bounce off each other in various ways throughout the book. The layers sitting beneath the surface of what is actually on the page are evident as the world has history, depth, and character. And that's where I get annoyed, because I'm not sure this would stand out as so awfully bad to me if I were just reading instead of listening. I’m coming to this book a bit late, and I have been following the hype for this book for a couple of weeks now.