After meeting with the Emerald Council, Corin has made himself some new enemies — most notably the Dalenos Six, a group of the most powerful representatives of the nation of Dalenos.
He’s also made dangerous deal.
A place of safety, if he can reach it. One where he can finally have one of the resources he needs time.
But while that strange place may hold the key for Corin to make his final preparations for a long-awaited rescue mission, it also holds hidden dangers. And one final secret tied to the Cadence household. One that could shake the very foundations of everything Corin has been raised to believe.
4.0 Stars This was a solid entry in the Arcane Ascension series. I was a bit let down by the past two books but this one completely pulled me back into the story. I enjoyed spending time with the characters but I particularly loved the use of Chronomancy. I am now looking forward to the next novel.
I would recommend this series to anyone who loves progression fantasy but you do want to start back at the beginning with Sufficiently Advanced Magic.
As I've come to expect from Andrew Rowe, Arcane Ascension 6 is a solid read. I never know what exactly I am expecting going into an installment, but I've yet to be disappointed. The interludes giving other characters' perspectives were a treat, and the dual-climactic-set-pieces have me excited for the 7th outing. (Shout-out to a character I wasn't expecting to see, but was EXTREMELY pleased to nonetheless!)
I recommend this series to literally everyone I talk to who likes fantasy stories with well thought out and intricate magic systems, sharp-as-the-author's-weapon-of-choice dialogue, and a cast of characters as diverse and widely representative as they come. I'll be coming back for more as long as the books keep coming.
The progression and action scenes are solid, as always, but this time, character growth feels abrupt like power-ups were handed out just to speed things along. The clever, strategic problem solving that defined earlier books takes a backseat, making victories feel less earned.
The plot moves efficiently, sure, but at the expense of depth. The witty, methodical pacing that made the series so engaging? Mostly missing here. It’s still a decent read, but compared to the highs of previous installments, this one falls short.
Final verdict? Functional, but forgettable. The series could do way better
The best entry to the series so far that benefits from wildly creative magic and problem-solving (even for Rowe), tightened pacing, satisfying payoffs (Rowe is exceptional at writing both dramatic wins and humbling losses for our heroes, balancing their power progression with a continued need for wit and improvisation.), and improved character development. I eagerly anticipate the series finale. 8.5/10, rounded up to 5 stars to emphasize that Arcane Ascension is an indie gem well worth the commitment, especially after stumbling in books 3-4.
*more detailed thoughts delve into minor spoilers*
3.75 stars. I can’t tell you what the overall plot to this series is anymore. So many different plots are set up and I’m not sure what’s important and what’s not. I don’t even know what the point of this book was or why they were doing the things they were doing. I don’t remember an explanation or reasoning. However, the last 5-7 hours of this book were pretty good. Really action heavy and fun. As I mentioned in the last book of this series, Rowe is good at action scenes. All the mechanics and magic system is really cool. I just struggle with where this story is going and these characters don’t grow personality wise except for our lead guy this time around. He actually did grow a bit. Things were just happening in this one and I don’t think they explained some stuff so it got confusing sometimes. I have lots of complaints but I’m 6 books into this series as well as 3 books in a side series in this same world. So I’m invested and for the most part, they’re fun reads.
This book was quite fun, time shenanigans and all. I enjoyed reading it, mostly the end was quite stellar and I am anticipating the end of the series.
But in some sense it just grows more and more complicated. Everybody has a secret plan and agency. There is so many different factions and plot lines and persons. And on top of that there are copies and simulacrums and echos and what not to the point that it starts to be messy.
The series does a good job to make it clear what is important and it is not hard to track main stuff but to make some connections to other work starting to sound a bit tedious.
When roughly 40% of the story is interludes and about half of those are about characters I don't like or where I don't see relevance it's hard for me to keep reading. For me this is telling, because I usually enjoy characters being expanded upon, and reading alternate PoVs.
A lot of the world building and setting feels really odd too and I think the entire effect of Isolation is not properly explored here (probably for good reason in terms of enjoyability for the reader yet it leaves me disappointed).
Spoiler paragraph: Corins running progression felt really weird and sort of inconsistent in terms of World building and comparison to others. And the powerscaling of people not with Corin in the Labyrinth felt vastly exaggerated and left a bunch of stuff to explain.
Also, Corn's obsession with Jin who betrayed him at least once is kinda really annoying and unhealthy.
There were cool and fun scenes here, don't get me wrong, but I think this might be the weakest entry in the series for me just yet. Especially the last part of the Labyrinth was well executed.
I am however looking forward to the next entry of the series, eagerly anticipating what comes next.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
One thing that I have really enjoyed about this series more than any other in the genre is that Rowe maintains amazing patience with pace. Some would argue too much. But I have liked that he has avoided quick unearned power ups for these characters in favor of creative solutions. This book however changes that.
I think given that his aim is to conclude this specific series in the next book, he chose to abandon some of his slow burn progression style in this book. Our characters jump in power level very fast with much of it happening “off screen” so to speak. That took this from a 5 star to a 4 star for me. I am excited to see how this series raps up in book seven though. It is rare that an author seems to ever complete a series. Although with Rowe’d epic world building multi-series style it does make sense that he can afford to.
I hope that Corin receives similar treatment to Keras in some future series. After the investment we have all have made in watching this character grow into a powerhouse, it would be a real shame not to get to see him as a mentor who has fully developed.
Very entertaining but honestly a little disappointing.
I thought the mechanics and premises were interesting but at the same time this series has clearly strayed a lot from the foundation that made me love it.
I think there might be a few too many cheat powers and the way that it interacts with the existing powerful characters is a bit sad for me.
There’s a fight against Mizuchi where I really don’t feel that the team should be able to win- but they beat her in a way she can’t even escape. Additionally, they do it through a lot of last minute power ups and just getting up after being hit, which doesn’t feel really believable to me.
I also found the fight against the Dalenos six to be frustrating- it felt so trivial and three of them ran through an instant kill door. I understand the desire to let characters that are finally powerful showboat a little but this was a bit too extreme.
Finally, I thought that the chronomancy usage was frustrating to me- too many solutions from people from the future, which while a really interesting premise was just not something I enjoyed in practice.
Excellent prose, but not my favorite book in the series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I enjoyed this book significantly more than the prior couple entries. Despite this book consisting heavily of the cast undergoing a training arc, it felt like more plot was advanced compared to all the other books except possibly the first. I think that might not actually be the case, but it was just such a satisfying feeling getting some of the long unanswered questions of the series at least somewhat resolved.
The writing quality also felt like it improved. The setting and events were much more interesting to me this time around which likely helps my perception there. However, I think the best change for me was that this book had much less exposition about how the magic system worked. All of the other books spend a large amount of time explaining in depth how the magic system works; to the point that it feels less like worldbuilding and more like a research paper. This time around, much more time was spent having the characters actually improve their much-explained skills and doing interesting things.
Overall, a book that got me reinterested in the series. I'm excited to see what happens in book 7!
I honestly had a great time with this even if the progression-path was wonky. But, hell, timey-wimey stuff is ALWAYS rather wonky. What can you expect with chronomancy, even with a dude whose core is all about enchanting?
Here's what I loved most: Training montages. Endless training montages. Power-ups with training montages. Quests related to training montages nested within training montages that are really recursive grand-training montages hosted by future selves who are, themselves, in training montages.
*wicked glee*
Yeah, perhaps it's fairly predictable, but THIS is what I keep coming back to the series for. Climbing spires and the grand war and the otherwise dire stakes for friends and family are almost a secondary concern, but also fun. I only wish I could get THESE particular books more often. :)
Personal note: If anyone reading my reviews is be interested in reading my SF (Very hard SF, mind you), I'm open to requests.
Just direct message me in goodreads or email me on my site. I'd love to get some eyes on my novels.
The series started out interesting enough, and I was mostly fine with having both of the TWO tie-in series to understand things. That ended with this book.
The author is clearly over-eager to loop in every character from his other series (including a third series?) into this one. Nevermind that this endless stream of "new" characters each has at least one alias, if not more, that it's honestly become a chore to remember who's who and who knows which secrets and which dozen other characters don't and can't know.
Topping it off, book six of seven is definitely a time to start wrapping up plot threads, not adding more. Stop adding more secrets that you'll inevitably not answer because "subtlety." It's not good writing.
Hopefully, the 7th book saves the series because after this entry, I am doubtful the ending will be worth slogging through the absolute disaster that is the OG series and then this book itself.
I don't know what I just read. I love this series and was looking forward to an expansion of the last and in the same style, but this made my head hurt. I don't even know what happened or what was going on. I hated the multi perspective hops that were like game of thrones but I can't even say that because I don't even know if things were happening in the same time sequence. Do I think maybe that was the point? Yes, but I still don't feel like this book helped the story which is sad. Plus it gave use so many possible spoilers for the next book which I guess now is the last one of the series. If things change wonderful but I just feel like this didn't help or progress the series this was like a filler book but not in the best way. Definitely will re-read to try and figure things out again and will read the next one but I feel like Rowe wrote this one in a hurry and opted for an this will do kinda model which didn't work.
I liked this book less than the previous books in the series. It feels like the characters got huge power-ups too fast. I could understand Corin becoming stronger due to spending a lot of time under time-speedup. But I don't understand how other characters could become strong enough to face the most dangerous enemies on the continent. It was spoken many times that spending too much time alone was bad for mental health and spending months on the trials should have had a negative effect... but there was none. The talk with Adric was weird. At the beginning (and in the previous book) it felt that he was a very driven character, but now he lost all his agency after one talk with his descendant. It was weird.a
First, this is a great balance of Corin's over-preparing enchanter paranoia in the first half, and intense action and high stakes in the second half. So if you like other books in the series, this has the same elements that made those books work.
Second, so many loose ends and mysteries get straight-up resolved in this book that you can clearly tell the series is winding down. With only one more book to go, I think we'll have a pretty satisfying conclusion to the series.
Overall, I was very pleased with this book and had trouble putting it down. Thank you Andrew Rowe for another great entry in your most popular series. I'll continue to buy and read everything you publish.
Much more focused, a stronger entry than the series has had in a while. All of the kids have really come into their own, both in terms of newfound agency and more mature reflection on how they've coped with what they've all gone through.
Keeping it to one major ordeal per subgroup of characters helped a lot; these seem to consistently work best when kept to a somewhat constrained setting instead of needing to redo exposition every few chapters.
A couple newer side characters get a bigger role but having trouble getting into them, despite cool concepts. Maybe some missing world context from side novels would help (?) but doesn't feel worth the investment right now.
The found family (or just family family?) banter and clumsy clueless flirtation remain so damn endearing.
This book was interesting in that, due to the plot point it's based around, there was a lot of character progression but not much story progression. It feels necessary, in order to get the characters into a position where they can reasonably compete with the challenges the larger story has established and it is satisfying that they've got there but there's a disconnect. The nature of the plot also means that character interactions are limited in this one.
I had a good time and am looking forward to the finale, although I did get the idea from somewhere that this book was that finale... That confusion might have accounted for some of why I felt the main story didn't progress as much as I would have liked.
This was a leveling book. Almost completely focused on training, crafting, along with some questions finally answered. The new interludes did not really work for me, they just didn't flow very well. This series rests heavily on the party, so having a book where one is alone didn't really work for me either. Still, setting up for a big finale, high stakes, and some good combat in this book made it worth it.
I should say time travel in fantasy rarely works for me, and it didn't here. The author clouds it in mystery "Is it multiverse? Is it just possible futures? Who knows!" Still, not my favorite trope and it didn't land for me here either.
This book pretty much consists of the main cast's training arc. And for what, the culmination of this story? Hopefully we see more of the cast in a future series. Because, if not, then this book is pretty much just "hot air".
Though I am a sucker for training arcs and this one was a good one at that.
Also, about 3 quarters in the book, there's quite a ham-fisted thing that occurs that honestly felt very contrived. It was something quite big, but it felt like the author just wanted something to happen to make the moment feel... different. I guess.
4 1/2 stars. I was up all night reading this. It is great to see Corin getting to do some crafting and continue to develop his friendships with his core group. Some of this was a training montage but the interlude with other people's POV was very interesting and we got to catch up with some people we have not seen in a very long time. And of course there was a dungeon dive that revealed some secrets.
Lots of things were answered in this book but there is much to be still be revealed I'm sure. Thanks Andrew for another great installment.
This might be my favourite book in the series. I dont know! I loved it though.
The application of time magic and its place in this story was spooky and fascinating. I found the terminal door trials to be almost tragic at times.
I love how the characters have evolved. It feels so satisfying to see how powerful everyone has become. I do still very much miss keras and I hope we get answers from weapons & wielders.
It feels crazy to have run out of arcane ascension for now. I can't say I'll wait patiently but I will be extremely excited when the 7th book comes out.
Despite taking too long to get caught up it was another enjoyable book. The author being cute with the recap being all in code confused me. If I understood the code for characters I wouldn’t need the summary. Like the character Thorns referenced throughout the book and they’re not even in the appendix. Still not sure who that is because the codes and characters aren’t in my head like the author’s.
Pretty good action sequences and some interesting revelations as well, but there seemed to be less problem-solving (that the first few books had) and the character growth was just simply okay. I feel that Rowe will wrap up this series well though, so I can give some of my critiques here a pass- the events of this book largely set the stage for the finale. I like Rowe's choices of titles, so I am curious on what he'll name the next one.
Corin doing a lot of enchanting and stuff related to attunements was very enjoyable. However, I wish this progression had started a book or two earlier, since there were plenty of cool magic with not a lot of time and plot to fully assimilate them.
The reveal about Farren was kinda expected but the details were fascinating. The parallel story between shrines was well executed. Looking forward to the concluding book, with many of the plotlines expected to be resolved!
AA6 is beginning to draw all the disparate stories started at the beginning of this character arc into focus while at the same time expanding the worldview of CC to a point where he’s seeing enough of the players on the board to draw a cohesive picture. Hate to see this come to an end next book, but as he’s tied in all of his other series at this point I’m thinking the next will be the true assault of the Sun Eater. 10/10 writing
Another great book. If there's one thing I have to say about it though, it's not about the quality of the book but rather that I wish the character appendix would be at the beginning of the book. I'm terrible with names and that makes reading this book somewhat challenging for me at times. Though to be clear that doesn't detract from my enjoyment in any way.
A. Excellent and compelling throughout. I usually hate when a book jumps perspective every chapter (which is out of nowhere for this series) but it was well executed. I also realized that there’s a trope of ~hyperbolic time chambers~ in progression fantasies where the character goes outside of time to level up faster and I’m so into it. Rowe is clearly gearing up for an endgame and I’m excited to see where it goes!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I absolutely love this series, and it's great to see Corin become one of the truly strongest around. Though it's tough to really compare fairly. He isn't Visage, Vae'kes, or Keras level but unlike in previous novels I give him fair chances against emeralds and more. Mara really comes into her own here, and I feel like I finally understand Sara... Patrick is great though I feel he didn't quite come into his own in this book.
This and book 5 have been so good, some of the best in the series. This remains one of my favorite fantasy books all time, and it just keeps getting better. Can’t wait to see the end of it, though I’m going to miss Corin and the Gang. Hopefully they get a spotlight in some of the other book series set in this universe!