The Chalice War: Stone by David B. Coe

I accidentally got book two of this series first. I noticed quickly, and switched to the first one. As I already bought the second, I shall read on, otherwise I'd probably have dropped the series right after book one.

It's not horrible, or I wouldn't have finished it, but the characters just felt a bit flat.
Especially Kel, who I was really looking forward too, didn't really deliver.

We get to know her as a person with anxiety, but instead of anxiety representation, it seems more like a tech box ticked off. How convenient to just get "over" something you've had your whole life, why did no one ever tell me I could do that?

It seems that whatever happens, people just shrug and go on as if nothing ever happened. Life shattering, horrible things happened two weeks ago? Yeah, but today is today, so let's banter and be like on every other day of the year. And by that I don't mean not dwelling on it, I'm all for moving on, but it just doesn't seem to affect anyone at all.

I also didn't like the "he's so hot" moments. I especially avoid paranormal romance because that's not something I'm interested in, but this book has quite a bit of this. It doesn't have actual romance, just the ultra pretty magic humanoids and seduction.

What I did like was the world full of magic and myths. While this too could have been a bit deeper, I was intrigued and enjoyed learning more.