REVIEW: STARBINDER (EYE OF ETERNITY # 0.5)

The Shaluay Starbinders...


After being pleasantly surprised to find this novella included in the Audiobook for BLOOD OF THE SPEAR, I went ahead and listened to it immediately after wrapping up the novel.

HOW I RATED IT 
4/5 The prequel novella has a lot going on and it's not immediately evident where things are heading, but n the end it packs quite a bunch and adds a substantial amount to Timmony's series. 

CONTENT
This story is set before the events of BLOOD OF THE SPEAR and follows a young teenage girl named Reiana who is part of a nomadic people. We're quickly introduced to her, a boy who she shares a mutual attraction to, her surly and cynical grandmother, and her younger cousin. The story very quickly escalates from some quiet family drama to a full blown battle for survival as the caravan is assaulted from enemies all around. From this point forward, borderline chaos ensues. More characters enter the fold, including some non-human ones and Reiana's grandmother's machinations are slowly revealed. In all honesty, it kind of felt like a lot to process in the heat of the moment and I wasn't initially sure if I was understanding anything properly and therefore had a relatively low enjoyment of the story being told. Fortunately, things clicked together pretty quickly for me and I ended up having a really good time with it. This story explores some of the non-human races that exist in the world as well as more of it's history. as the title implies, there is a big focus given on the Shaluay Starbinders and I ate these new lore drops right on up. Reiana quickly finds herself wrapped up in something much grander than herself as she gets mixed up with this group and has to make some hard decisions about how she will respond to the harsh realities which she is faced with. I found her reactions to different situations to be quite engaging such that she really grew on me over the course of the story which is still told from multiple perspectives despite it largely being focused on her. The other characters in the story all felt rather interesting and layered to me as well even though we don't get to spend enough time with them to know them too deeply. What really tied things together for me though was the way it all wrapped up and how the events of this story connected to those of BLOOD OF THE SPEAR. I think this novella could really be read either before or after the novel, but readers are likely going to get so much more out of it and have a better understanding of what's going on if they read it after the fact. This novella made me retroactively appreciate a character from the novel much more than I had previously and offers a much more enticing hook to continue onward in the series than I felt that the novel's ending provided. 

AUDIOBOOK
It was a nice surprise to have this be secretly included in the Audiobook for BLOOD OF THE SPEAR. It is, of course, handled by the same narrator who again does a mostly excellent job of delivering the narrative to us. One sort of petty issue I had is that I felt as though some of the voices used for characters in the main novel were reused for different characters in this novella. That's not really a massive deal, but I do think it added to some of my confusion early on as it took me a little while to associate familiar voices with new character names. I still think this narrator was perfect for telling us these stories and if future books in the series receive the audio treatment, then I hope they are able to come back to do those as well. 

CONCLUSION
This little novella is quite a heavy hitter when it comes to deepening the lore and characters of Timmony's fantasy world. Though I was a little bit mixed in my opinions on BLOOD OF THE SPEAR, this prequel to the series proper has me much more curious about where the series will go. 

(+) Remarkably quick set up and call to action.
(+) Impressive lore drops which greatly expand the world. 
(+) Fun insights into the fabled Starbinders and their motivations.
(+) Dynamic characters who each felt quite distinct and less obviously archetypal.
(+) A satisfying ending with some big moments and tantalizing glimpses at what the future of the series might hold.
(-) The frantic pacing can make it hard to settle into the story at first.
(-) Some voices recycled from the main novel threw me off slightly.

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