An enjoyable enough read, although not one that sticks with you per se. I hadn't realised I'd read it already until I went to start again and realised I'd never written up a review. Flicking through meant I only had faint memories of the book, so not one that stuck with me. Still, it's an enjoyable way to pass the time.

I tried really hard to get into the book but I just don’t think it was for me. I couldn’t get into the character or the world building. I just found it all very confusing and I didn’t finish it.

Overall I felt very meh about this one. I think partly down to my slower reading pace so it may have dragged on for me but I overall wasn’t wowed. I liked the world building but other than that it fell flat.

this was a great start to the Necromancer's Key series, I had a lot of fun reading this book as it had great characters and an interesting world. It left me wanting more in this universe.

i never ended up downloading this but i picked it up recently, so i figured I'd also review it here!

his was a great read that kept me turning the pages. The main character Anskar struggles with looking up to his superiors and realizing that they are not as wise or infallible as he had always thought them to be. This brings him to question more of what he has been taught and in this he struggles with his faith and direction. Great character development and world building.
Looking forward to reading more from this author!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing me with an advanced copy of Incursion in exchange for my honest review.

FIRST IMPRESSION:

I chose to pick up Incursion because I need something that was hard high fantasy with some heavy world-building and creative magic systems. I had no idea what I was walking into, of course. I had never read anything by Mitchell Hogan or read any reviews of the book, but I thought I’ll give it a try since the blurb was interesting. Fortunately, I wasn’t disappointed!

THE STORY:

The story starts with a brief look at the end of the war raged by the Knights of the Order of Eternal Vigilance against the Necromancer Queen of Niyas, Talia. The Knights triumph and take over the island kingdom, but there is an ominous prophecy of the Queen rising again that hangs over the lands.

Seventeen years later, the Knights are settling into Niyas and have established much of mainland trade on the island. Anskar DeVantte has grown up at a stronghold known as Branil’s Burg among Knights of the Order for most of his life and is now ready to embark on his own journey into knighthood. However, Anskar has begun to question the way of life he’s been led to believe in, in the ways of the god Menselas who the Knights follow as well as in the lessons his teachers impart.

As Anskar and his fellow recruits go through the trials of Knighthood, he begins to search for the identities of his absent parents, the truth behind the Knights’ disturbing actions, as well as stumble through his own trials of friendship and romance.

THE GOOD BITS:

I loved the world that the author has created in Incursion! The first book takes place exclusively in Niyas, so I am excited to see more of the mainland in the following books of the series! I think the way the author managed to weave religion and race into this world in a way that mirrors real-life issues we see today. This somehow made this strange world not so strange after all.

The plot is really well done! I think the better way to describe it is that it’s deceivingly well-done. At first, I thought I had a good handle on where the story was heading, but the author threw in some really shocking plot twists that turned the story in a whole different direction a few times.

Anskar was a surprisingly innocent protagonist for a high fantasy like Incursion! I felt almost bad for the dude because he is felt like he could be me if someone dumped me in that world out of nowhere. But this guy has been living literally within the stronghold for seventeen years, so I’m not completely surprised by his character.

I really liked the action and adventure once the story shifted beyond Branil’s Burg. I cannot believe Anskar survived sticking in there for seventeen years because I got a little bored by the time a few chapters were done. The quests Anskar and his friends embarked on were really exciting! I feel like it’s a taste of what will probably come in the future books.

I really like the attention the author paid to the religion, racial tensions and language barriers in this story. I haven’t read enough high fantasy but the details really stood out in this story, so I would say that’s something worthy of credit.

THE NOT-SO-GOOD BITS:

The pace of the first third of the book is really slow. There is a lot of world-building happening with Anskar going through his daily life at the Burg as well as seeing some of the culture and history of Niyas. It is pretty interesting stuff but it can really put off someone from reading the rest of the book, which would be such a shame because the story really picks up once the trials really start.

Like I said before, Anskar is pretty innocent due to his sheltered upbringing, but oh god, this boy is really stupid sometimes! LOL! I think this is probably a pretty subjective thing but sometimes I just did not get why he couldn’t think things through sometimes. But I will give the boy credit for the slow growth his character achieved by the end of the story though.

The romance was a little confusing. Personally, I am not a fan of the ‘will they won’t they’ type of romance, so the back and forth between Anskar and his love interest really annoyed me at points. I am actually a little confused about their chemistry too. They’re messy and a little all over the place, but I’m still strangely invested in them? LOL!

I cannot stand details that are unnecessary and over-descriptive, so when I ended up reading almost two chapters about the smithing trials that Anskar had to face for his Knighthood, I did not enjoy that! Almost none of it made sense and I was frankly frustrated by all the unnecessary detail that the author went to.

FINAL VERDICT:

I went in expecting an action-packed high fantasy with some heavy world-building, and Incursion by Mitchell Hogan did not disappoint! Though I was a bit put off by the beginning’s slow pace, the confusing romance and the pesky details at times, I was still thoroughly entertained by the story overall. I am excited to see more of the intricate world-building, the daring adventures and action as well as get some answers to all the questions Incursion left me with, in its sequel, so I can’t wait to pick it up!

i really expected to love this book but it took me so long to slog through it and then write this review. i stopped at about the 60% mark.

this book was well written but i feel like it relied too heavily on tropes that are in my opinion very overused. i was interested first and foremost in the necromancy aspect of this book but felt like it could've used more development. furthermore i found the descriptions long and winding at times and didn't feel like it contributed to the worldbuilding or character development at all.

i think this will be well loved by many others but i was just not one of them.

This is a brilliantly written book. The story and plot line are well organized and flows neatly. The characters are morally grey (which I love) and there are several different themes throughout the book, but none of it is confusing. However, it's a slower paced book with not a ton of action. It is info-deep and that is hard for me to swallow some times.

I wanted to like this more than I did, but I found this book difficult to get into, I felt there was a lot of character building which is important, but it still felt a bit too much at times. If you enjoy a slow traditional fantasy I think you will enjoy this book more than I did, but if you want something with a bit more of a pace and some action, I think like me this isn’t for you.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

It has been seventeen years since Talia, the Necromancer Queen was killed. There are many that believe she will rise again. Many of those people also believe she had a daughter. The Resistance wants to find her to help the rebellion, others want to kill her in case she is like her mother.

I really enjoyed this one. I thought I had it all figured out, but I was wrong. I loved the writing style, and the characters are fantastic. I have already bought the next one.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

As this book is part of The Necromancer's Key series, I was expecting a little more Necromancy. Instead, this is about the journey of the main character Anskar on his way to becoming a knight, with another POV of another character every 5 or so chapters.

This book took me a while to finish, it wasn't that the writing was bad I just struggled through it as it wasn't necessarily exciting for me. I think it's because I was anticipating more action with Anskar being a Knight but I believe the issue lies in the pacing.

ARC from NetGalley

This book was way too long. The twist at the end was easy to see coming. It wasn't badly written, it just started to lose me time and again because it dragged on. I also found Anskar's behaviour to be a bit all over the place. If he was meant to be battling inner demons or coming around to a new way of thinking, I'm not sure, but it made him seem wishy washy and not fully developed. If this book was condensed, it would have been a much better read.

Actual rating: 3.5/5 ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley for a free eArc in exchange for an honest review.

All in all, I enjoyed this book.
The world building as many of Hogan’s work was commendable and immersive.
I absolutely loved the magic system and found it to be rather unique.

Having only read a few novels involving necromancy I found this interesting and the story contained some mystery that kept me engaged.

Unfortunately for me there were some parts and aspects of this epic fantasy I found lacking and too generic for this genre.
This isn’t my favourite of Hogan’s but I do have hope for the rest of the series and will be looking forward to continuing with the story!

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Incursion has a high element of mystery throughout the story, which kept me intrigued and interested in the plot. The writing was great and it allowed me to fully immerse myself into the world in which Hogan has created.
The characters have all been carefully developed, and are all fully three-dimensional (even the side characters) which was lovely to see.

This was a great read that kept me turning the pages. The main character Anskar struggles with looking up to his superiors and realising that they are not as wise or infallible as he had always thought them to be. This brings him to question more of what he has been taught and in this he struggles with his faith and direction.

There was enough character development and plot to keep me engaged. The story switches between Anksar's POV and another character from the rebels. I found myself always wanting to go back to the MC chapters as I enjoyed being led along with Anskar's struggles and where his powers would lead.

I'm definitely interested to see where the story leads and having seen that the next book is already available, I will be diving into this one soon.

The first book in a five-volume series. The rest are apparently being released during the year. I did enjoy reading this one, but the prospect of finding time to get through the whole series is a bit daunting.

3.5 stars

I'm glad I grabbed the audiobook of this because it's pretty long and has some slow parts. It went by much faster by listening than if I'd read the ebook. I did think the plot was interesting as a whole, but it could have been shorter and there's not much necromancy in this despite the series title.

We follow two main characters in this, Anskar and Carred. The former is an orphan who was taken in by the Order and trained to become a knight and sorcerer. He's very proficient and the subject of jealousy and bullying because of it. He begins sort of dating Saraya, another skilled sorcerer in his group as they go through trials. Carred is a rebel who believes the Necromancer Queen will rise again and fights against the Order.

I thought Anskar was an okay character. He was mostly likeable, but occasionally he did something hurtful that made me angry. I did like that he questioned the Order and stopped blindly following their edicts. Carred is more fun and I appreciated that she was a fighter and would do anything for her cause.

The magic wasn't in this enough in my opinion. There's almost no necromancy and I wanted to know more about how magic worked and the things it can do. I assume this will come in the subsequent books, but it would have been nice to see the dead raised in this one.

A lot of action is reserved for the ending and things you thought are upended. There is no resolution and the story leaves you wanting more.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the copy.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Incursion was a long book. Long but definitely entertaining. I will admit that things did start off pretty slowly after the prologue for me. Which is weird because that's what initially sucked me in. I wanted to know more about this Queen and the Necromancers.

After that, we meet Anskar. He is currently living with the Order and is excited to go into their trials to become a consecrated knight-sorcerer. What a mouthful. Anskar was kind of naïve for most of this book. Which is understandable because he was abused a little bit by the Order and was put into this mindset of pleasing them.

Then you meet Sareya. She is also competing in the trials but she was a hot mess in the beginning. Then randomly her and Anskar were hooking up and I just kind of went with it. So it's safe to say that this book had romance but it wasn't the main focus. No, the training and fighting the rebels were. With a dash of finding the lost heir and the protector- which had my guessing two people throughout most of the book. The same two people too.

I feel like everyone has a secret within this book. Then there's a ton of Shady people and a bunch of manipulation that it was hard to keep track of who was using who. It was interesting to see what Anskar, Sareya and their little crew were going to do while on their own adventure because of what they are seeing with their own eyes. I about cried (and cringed) with a certain killing scene because the horses deserved better in my opinion.

In the end, the ending left me intrigued to see where the next book will take me. Especially since I know now who is who and why they are so important.

If you can get past the first third, this becomes a decent book with an interesting world and intriguing plot twists. It's just getting to that point that was troublesome for me.

Early on, I was not expecting to give this book more than two stars. It's all teenage angst, drama, and sexcapades. It reads like a Young Adult book but with far too much sexual content for it to be YA. Anskar drove me nuts with his waffling back and forth and fretting about his choices and his future. His decision regarding Sareya made no sense as she had clearly been nothing but a bully towards him and was conniving and horrible to everyone.

Fortunately, the focus shifted to the trials, and the politics and intrigues of the world came into focus. The angst wasn't completely gone, but it did die down to a palatable level. The different factions and peoples have very different beliefs, throwing the frictions of the world into relief. I enjoyed that aspect of the book and the plot twist that comes from it.

Anskar, Sareya, and the other youngsters grow a lot during this book, especially after seeing the world beyond the walls that have protected them from other viewpoints, as well as danger. They begin to think beyond what they have been told to this point, and I can see it causing friction in later books.

Everyone has secrets. While some have been revealed in this book, I look forward to seeing what else is revealed in Corruption.

This book is an excellent example of how good fantasy can be! I was hooked from the very beginning, which outlined the defeat of the necromancer queen by the knights of the Order of Eternal Vigilance and the queen's promise to eventually return from the dead. From there, the book picks up 16-17 years later and follows two main characters, Carred and Anskar. Carred is the lover and captain of the former queen, who continues to lead a rebellion in the hopes her queen will one day return. Throughout the book, she continues to fight to save her people and culture from the invading knights while struggling to maintain the motivation to do so after so many years of defeat. Most of the book follows Anskar, a teenage boy on the verge of becoming a man. He longs to be the best knight in the Order of Eternal Vigilance. He works hard to pass his trials while attempting to understand his identity and growing power in addition to grappling with a deepening understanding that the Order he has always wanted to be part of may not be all it seems.

There are so many great things about this book it is impossible to include them all in this review. The characters are well-rounded and a great deal of time is spent on building an understanding of them and their inner worlds. Great care is also given to building the world the characters inhabit. The author is very good at describing different aspects of the societies involved in the story, including the religious, political, and economic realities the characters must face. I also found the magic system in this world to be unique and intriguing and am looking forward to learning more about it in future books. I liked how the author presented the world-building information as if the reader was learning the information along with Anskar throughout the novel.

As for the topics and themes in the book, there are a lot. Some of my favorites were the tackling of racism, the exploration of the impact of oppression on indigenous people and their culture, and the highlighting of the hypocritical nature of many leaders and religious figures. I was also pleased to find some bisexual representation in the book. Most of all, I loved the way the author explored moralistic relativism and the shift of Anskar's thinking from the black and white of conventional moral reasoning to more of a post-conventional moral rationale. A lot of fantasy novels have a clear picture of who is good and evil. By the end of the novel, I was honestly questioning whose side to be on.

There is not a lot I didn't like about this book, but I do have two criticisms. First, the book was slow and wordy at times, especially in the initial third of the book. However, that was offset for me by the characterization and world-building that occurred. Second, I was able to predict the big twist from almost the beginning of the book. The author gave a lot of hints and clues throughout the novel, and I picked up on them very early on, which made the ending somewhat less impactful. Although, I was proud of myself for figuring it out. So, it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the novel that much overall.

Overall, I give Incursion 4 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it to fans of fantasy because of its great characterization, world-building, and use of interesting themes.