Is it this unasked-for destiny, a destiny so heavy and full of death she finds herself too small in its face and seeks to escape? They may have closed one Spindle, but her uncle is still opening Spindles to other realms and releasing the evil they contain into Allward. Taristan and Erida, who seek to turn Allward into an empire under their and He Who Waits supreme and malevolent control, actually have some rare layers and complexity to their feelings. All other commentary about being at artifact level 5 and reading the tablet remains extant (do these things).

Now jump to Dalaran from Skyhold, next to your beacon of light is the glorious "Cleaving Legend" himself High Overlord Saurfang. This book is very large, which is exactly the type of fantasy I needed at the time, and it did allow for the plot to move a little slower so that there was an emphasis on the characters. I do think that some of the characters get less attention, but that sometimes happen with really large casts, I just wish it was more evenly spread. So delightful, that I immediately started re-reading it, then abandoned that re-read 75% in for no reason only to re-read the entire thing again, it’s just that entertaining.

The book does a good job of expanding the world to make sure the reader gets a greater sense of who the players are on the board, but not everyone is making moves yet. Queen Erida's army marches across Allward with her consort, Taristan, right beside them, opening more portals into nightmarish worlds, razing kingdoms to the ground. Fighting beside her band of unlikely companions, Corayne is learning to embrace her ancient lineage and wield her father’s powerful sword.

One thing that I did notice was while there was a lot of attention on the characters (there were often many povs for the same or similar events) there wasn't a ton of character growth. Comment by KurtcaineJust received the quest, disappointingly exactly the same as the beta, with talking to Saurfang in Dalaran and then fighting him in the arena.Comment by tynergyAccording to a post this weapon is based on High Overlord Saurfang's battleaxe and he is part of the questline where he helps Master Smith Helgar to forge this new appearance.