Welp, it’s been a while my people. Here’s another review!

General Review:

Pathlighter is a high-fantasy adventure following a cast of elementally empowered individuals written by Rob Leigh, another member of the Break-Ins (See my review of The Rest to the Gods by Joshua Walker for another Break-Ins author).

It is a pretty solid book, reminiscent of Percy Jackson with the relationship between the main characters and the gods and their powers. James in particular has kinda the same attitude as Percy of “take care of your dang kids” in terms of his hatred for the gods and the temple.

A couple of things I would have rewritten (angry/furious red is used a little too much) and I would zone out on occasion, but when I reread things it would make sense. I get having his own swearing system with a different swear based on each of the gods, but it feels kind of off at times. But not bad enough to really take points off, just a warning.

Chapters feel a little long at times, they have the content to fill them, but some of them could have been broken up into multiple chapters. I get it though. As a newer author myself, one of the scariest things is breaking up chapters because there’s a voice inside that screams longer chapters make you a better writer. I don’t think Leigh has that fear, because there was a good amount of variation in length of chapters (as a whole), but a few of the longer chapters had sections in them that could have been made chapters.

Characters:

James kind of annoys me because he is so anti-religion but it makes sense in world. The things he says just sound like a shallow hatred of religion (for good reason in the universe, but the hatred feels cringey at times). Also his perspective of withholding truth as counting as a lie annoyed me. Should the truth be told? Yes. Have they had a chance to divulge that information while it is relevant? Perhaps. Did they necessarily lead him to think something completely otherwise by their omission? No. James just felt whiny in that regard.

Roy and Ariel are my favorite heroes and despite the attempt to make me hate Leonard, I thought he was fine. His motivations made sense. Samira is a solid failed leader.

I like Vayne and Charodon as villains, too. I like their infiltration of the Chosen (Main characters). Some other review mentioned Rhaiga as their favorite villain, I disagree (that reviewer was also critical of the writing style, but I’ll get to that). I think all the villains are pretty solid.

One of the strongest things Leigh did with the characters was make them memorable. There was a time I had to step away from the book kinda early on (of no fault of his, I just got way too busy), and I was able to come back and have no problems diving right back in without needing a refresher or a summary.

Characters are pretty interesting, but can be annoying at times (which is kinda real). 8.5/10

Plot:

The plot is pretty long and detailed but also simple, which is a good thing. The Chosen must gather together and find a way to defeat the Alderaye while navigating challenges both natural and unnatural. It is action packed, which is good, but I think I would have liked for the characters to have an actual breather so they can bond properly. I think their bond is realistic (spending that much time together, you’re going to start bonding whether you like it or not. Many small things between the characters).

I like that the plan is unclear and then the character who may have had a plan kinda vanishes in an all-hope is lost moment.

It is a decent, straightforward plot with a strong ending setting up for a sequel. 9/10

Writing:

I admit, this is one of the weaker points. I felt like it was hard to track some things some times. And as I mentioned above, tropey (angry red) adjective usage; however, the other reviewer made it sound worse than it is. Some of what the other reviewer noted as redundant I disagree with because sometimes… I am dense and stupid. It clarified intentions or source. Could it be done better? Probably. Could I have done much better? Eh, sometimes.

Leigh is talented in world-building. There are tons of different cultures, but he talks about them kind of on the nose at times which just felt a little awkward.

Other than those things it is hard to articulate more about it. Leigh is a solid writer (better than my book, I can promise you that), but was just a little repetitive/dry sometimes and that stands out by the nature of what we as people notice. Even as an optimist, I know I notice bad more often than good, but in reflection, I think about how far apart those “bad” things were.

I’d also like to note that Leigh, whether intentionally or not, does something that I adore from Tolkien’s writing style. He uses alliterative verse (not as often as Tolkien) but it is clear Leigh chose his adjectives carefully to match either a character (a water character crashing like a tidal wave) or a word (skillfully smithed).

All in all, I’d give the writing a 8/10.

Final rating: 8.5/10

Good job, Mr. Leigh. I know you have more in the works, I look forward to the sequel. Roy and Charodon are cute together. Or maybe that’s Ariel… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Either way is fine with me.