The Name of All Things

A Chorus of Dragons #2

by Jenn Lyons

"Everything epic fantasy should be: rich, cruel, gorgeous, brilliant, enthralling and deeply, deeply satisfying. I loved it."—Lev Grossman on The Ruin of Kings

You can have everything you want if you sacrifice everything you believe.

Kihrin D'Mon is a wanted man.

Since he destroyed the Stone of Shackles and set demons free across Quur, he has been on the run from the wrath of an entire empire. His attempt to escape brings him into the path of Janel Theranon, a mysterious Joratese woman who claims to know Kihrin.

Janel's plea for help pits Kihrin against all manner of dangers: a secret rebellion, a dragon capable of destroying an entire city, and Kihrin's old enemy, the wizard Relos Var.

Janel believes that Relos Var possesses one of the most powerful artifacts in the world—the Cornerstone called the Name of All Things. And if Janel is right, then there may be nothing in the world that can stop Relos Var from getting what he wants.

And what he wants is Kihrin D'Mon.

Jenn Lyons continues the Chorus of Dragons series with The Name of All Things, the epic sequel to The Ruin of Kings

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons, Fiction, High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Adult, Audiobook

592 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 29, 2019

About the author

Jenn Lyons lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, three cats, and a lot of opinions on anything from the Sumerian creation myths to the correct way to make a martini. At various points in her life, she has wanted to be an archaeologist, anthropologist, architect, diamond cutter, fashion illustrator, graphic designer, or Batman. Turning from such obvious trades, she is now a video game producer by day, and spends her evenings writing science fiction and fantasy. When not writing, she can be founding debating the Oxford comma and Joss Whedon’s oeuvre at various local coffee shops.

Reviews

[Petrik · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC & Review Copy provided by my friend—Traveling Cloak—and the publisher—Tor UK—in exchange for an honest review.

The Name of All Things is vast, complex, and engrossing; a wonderful improvement over its predecessor.

It’s quite surreal to think that Jenn Lyons released her debut, The Ruin of Kings, at the beginning of this year and a week from now its sequel, The Name of All Things, will be published to the world as well. Some of you may be familiar with The Ruin of Kings; it was Tor’s biggest and most advertised debut of the year. If you’ve read my review on The Ruin of Kings, you would know that I’ve had my share of mixed feelings with Lyons’s debut. It wasn’t that it was a bad book per se, but more like it could’ve been an even more incredible debut if it wasn’t due to the storytelling style that in my opinion felt too unnecessarily convoluted; whether you loved it or not though, I don’t think there’s any doubt that The Ruin of Kings was a super memorable debut with a unique narrative style. I can assure you that The Name of All Things is a terrific sequel that retains the series’ unique storytelling style but it was told in a much less convoluted manner which ends up elevating the book to triumph over its predecessor.

The Name of All Things is the second book out of five in A Chorus of Dragons series by Jenn Lyons. The story starts a few days after the destructive conclusion in the first book. Janel Theranon is asking Kihrin D’Mon—the main character of the first book and series—for his help to kill a dragon. Before they embark upon the quest, Janel and Brother Qown, recounts their background story that leads to their current timeline with Kihrin; their flashback runs in a parallel timeline to Kihrin’s in the first book. Told in a similar fashion to The Ruin of Kings, Janel’s flashback is narrated by herself through first-person narration, and Brother Qown, the chronicler of Jane’s story, tells bot of their story to Kihrin in third-person perspective.

Hearing this, you might be worried that this will end up being as confusing and convoluted as the previous book, but despite the constant alternating switch in narrative and timelines, there’s one adjustment in the Lyons’s storytelling style that makes The Name All of Things so much more accessible without losing the scope and complexity of the series: Janel’s flashback sections move forward in a chronological fashion. Unlike Kihrin’s story in The Ruin of Kings, the narrative doesn’t start at two different periods of flashback that progressed together at the same time. I personally believe that the overall quality of this book and the series itself are so much better for it. Do note that regarding the main plot itself, the present timeline moves forward only a bit. If you’re in here expecting a huge continuation to Kihrin’s story, there’s a high chance that you will be disappointed; only Part 4, which summed up the last 60 pages of the book, progressed the present timeline and Kihrin’s journey. I did wish that Part 4 was longer because the momentum building towards it was great, but the final battles of the book ended too quickly to my liking.

That said, I do want to acknowledge that I love Janel more than Kihrin as the main character. There’s just something about her attitudes and personality that had an impact more than Kihrin did. Janel and the Joratese culture were fascinating, and I incredibly enjoyed reading her relationship development with Arasgon, Qown, and Kihrin. Also, Janel reminded me of The Fool from The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb, that should say enough how great she was as the main character to follow. The themes of justice, reincarnation, identities, and familial connections were heavily dominant and well done. Let me remind you that there’s a glossary at the end of the book which will be highly beneficial. Each chapter begins with a very short snippet that recounts the events that happened at the end of the first book; believe me, there was a LOT. Before I close this review, Jenn Lyons isn’t a complex fantasy storyteller exclusively, she’s also a terrific artist. There are three gorgeous maps and tons of beautifully drawn chapter icons; all of them were drawn by Lyons herself! I’ll let the arts speak for themselves.





The Name of All Things is definitely superior compared to its predecessor; it’s an epic fantasy sequel that contains intriguing cultures, complex world-building, gods, demons, gigantic dragons, and magical artifacts. Written with engaging prose, Lyons created a sequel with a high focus on characters—both old and new—and world-building. Lyons seems to be preparing the story towards reaching a darker path in the third book, The Memory of Souls, and I’m really curious to know what comes next.

Official release date: 31st October 2019 (UK) and 29th October 2019 (US)

You can pre-order the book from: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Book Depository (Free shipping)

You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, so it doesn’t have all our peeps from the first book but I still loved it!! The third book will have them in it! And that 3rd book cover is amaze balls! I look forward to the continuing story!



Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[Eric Allen · Rating 1 out of 5]

"What's that," asked the author. "You absolutely loved the characters from the first book. Yeah. Fuck you. They're not in this one."

"What's that," asked the author again. "You were really into the story of the first book, and couldn't wait to find out what happened next? Well, fuck you twice. This book has nothing to do with anything that happened in the first book, even though, you know, the apocalypse just started and all."

Raise your hand if you HATE when authors do this.

(-_-)/

Okay. So. I'm a little over 20% done with this book, and it has some seriously huge problems. Two of them being the ones mentioned above. No returning characters from the first book (Kihrin does not count because all he does is offer an occasional comment on the story being told. He is not actually a part of the story.) And it is utterly disconnected from the story of the first book. We had this big epic fight that ended with all of the demons being set free to wake up the imprisoned, sleeping dark god that will destroy the world... and then we start this book straight off with HUNDREDS of pages of irrelevant back story of a character that had maybe 15 pages, if I'm being generous, in the first book. I. DON'T. FUCKING. CARE.

It wouldn't be so bad if Janel was in ANY WAY likeable or interesting. BUT SHE'S NOT!!!!! And her story is fucking boring. There is NOTHING driving it. There is no reason for anything to be happening. She hasn't even bothered to say what her goal in doing anything even is! The author has forgotten three of the most basic things in storytelling. She forgot to give me a reason to care about her protagonist. She forgot to give her protagonist any sort of motivation as a character. And she forgot to add in any sort of driving force moving the plot forward. Which makes trying to read this book EXTREMELY boring and frustrating, because I have no reason to care about the character or anything happening to her, and I have nothing within the story to hook me; something to make me care.

Not only is it a bit of a slap in the face that this book is NOT a continuation from the end of the first book, but the story we're being given instead is just not very good. The book starts off with Kihrin asking Janel what's going on, and Janel is like, "oh, I can't just tell you, or you might take it out of context, let me give you my entire life's story first." Funny that the author should mention context like that to justify her story to us, seeing as how she keeps using all kinds of weird fantasy words without giving any context for their meaning in this book. I don't remember that being a thing in the first book. And, uh, I’m not really all that in to horses. All the horse talk, the horse terms, the everything in life being compared to horses, yeah, that’s really starting to grate on me. Just one more thing that I absolutely do not care about in this book.

Also, one more thing. This book has a serious social justice chip on its shoulder. First, let me say that I usually do not have a problem with social justice at all. Of the five main characters in the book I'm currently writing, four are women, three are Asian, one is black, two are gay, and one is autistic. I'm a firm believer that everyone should have heroes that look like them to look up to. What I DON'T like is being bludgeoned in the face with it.

Here’s one example: This is something that actually happens in this book. Kihrin and Janel are having a conversation about something completely different, and Janel just out of nowhere starts explaining what transgender means to him. Completely unprovoked, she steps completely away from the story, and starts lecturing the readers about what it means to be transgender. Using, of all the stupid things in this world, horse analogies. Just, why? It’s SOOOOO jarring to have her just, all of a sudden, ignore the conversation that she’s in and go off on this tangential rant that really has nothing to do with what’s going on, or what’s being discussed. The moment you start lecturing your readers is the moment you have stopped telling a story.

Let me reiterate that I have only read about 20% of this book, and this is only ONE instance of MANY in only 20% of the book. This was a HUGE problem with the latest season of Doctor Who. Every. Single. Episode. Had at least one of the characters step out of the story to lecture the audience on the moral of the story. Or The Last Jedi and the Rose's terribly written lecture on slavery, and DJ’s lecture on the fact that the “good guys” are relative. I mean, the Canto Bight side story was already playing havoc with the pacing of the rest of the movie, and that lecture brought even the Canto Bight section to a screeching halt.

I don't mind progressive messages in stories. I welcome them. But they have to be competently delivered, and this one is NOT. When a character completely divorces herself from the story to lecture me on the author's opinions, it has stopped being a story. Any character that steps out of a story to lecture me is a character that I instantly dislike. There are better ways to incorporate your social justice message than to have the characters drop everything they're doing and lecture the readers on it.

There is such a thing as subtlety. You can weave your ideas into the story without bringing it to a screeching halt, and bashing your readers in the face with it. Go read Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (please go read it, it was really really good). That is a book that has an overt social justice message that is woven very well into the story and never bashes you in the face. It’s the most entertaining book I’ve read in years. This one is, by comparison, is just so inept. It makes the author look like a flippin' amateur. The REALLY annoying thing, is that I know for a fact that this author CAN be subtle with her social justice messages, and make them just as impactful, because she did it in the first book with homosexuality and slavery. God, this book is so frustrating!

AGAIN. IT IS NOT THAT I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE CHARACTER BEING TRANSGENDER. IT IS WITH THE COMPLETELY INEPT AND INCOMPETENT WAY THAT THE AUTHOR PORTRAYS THIS CHARACTER, AND CROWBARS HER HEAVY-HANDED PSA ABOUT IT INTO THE STORY AT MORE THAN ONE POINT IN THE PORTION OF THE BOOK THAT I READ.

I don't know. This book is extremely hard for me to enjoy. I've been toying with the idea of just putting it down and forgetting about this series. The beginning of this book is THAT BAD. Just. What the hell was she thinking? Let's take everything good about the story and toss it out for this mediocre, boring mess? It's so frustrating, because I really, really loved the first book, and the characters in it. Talon, especially. And instead of continuing the story, we get this. Uhg! The author VASTLY overestimated how much I care about the mystery behind this character that briefly showed up in the first book. I don’t. I don’t need to find out about her life. Especially when the character is not, in any way, compelling, she has no motivation within the story, and the story itself has nothing driving it forward.





After slogging through to almost halfway, I give up. This book is not for me. Mostly just all of the problems I stated above continuing on and showing no signs of getting better. I just thoroughly dislike Janel. She literally has not one single likable or sympathetic aspect to her character, and her constant preaching is really starting to get annoying. I’m not mad at this book. It’s not so far up its own ass that it can see daylight from the other end like a certain other second book in a popular fantasy trilogy that shall remain nameless. I’m just really, really disappointed. I’m disappointed that the author decided not to continue the story I was enjoying, with the characters that I knew and loved. I’m disappointed that this story didn’t have even half of the life and color of the first book. If it had been, in any way, a good story about a good character, I would have been annoyed, but I’d have read it, and probably liked it. But it feels so soulless compared to the first book. I’m disappointed that this mysterious character that was briefly introduced near the end of the first book turned out to be so boring and unlikable. I’m disappointed that the publisher’s summary flat out lies about what this book is about. It’s almost like they knew this book wouldn’t sell if we knew it was not a direct continuation of the first book or something... oh, right... fuck them. And just, for the love of god, can you stop talking about horses for two goddamn sentences? Please?

With all that said, I think I’m just walking away from this series. It just feels like the author does not respect me as her reader, and there are plenty of other authors out there that do. I’m trading this one back to audible for another book that I will hopefully enjoy more than I did this one. I don’t want the author to keep my money. She didn’t earn it. This book breaks the promise made by the first book in the series.

[Becca & The Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sad to say that after really enjoying The Ruin of Kings, this one missed the mark for me.
The Ruin of Kings got me hooked on Kihrin's story, and after a very confusing start to the series, I was looking forward to things becoming clearer as the story progressed.
However, The Name of All Things did not go in the direction I expected. Instead of building upon the first book, it was essentially the same thing, following a different character. I found this odd as the first book had a very unique narrative, so it didn't make sense to me for the second book to be told in exactly the same way, with 2 narrators, switching between 3rd and 1st perpective, and following 2 timelines.
I've been told that books 1 and 2 serve as a king of prequel to the rest of the series so I will be continuing, but this was a very disappointing follow up to The Ruin of Kings for me.

[Lauren Lanz · Rating 5 out of 5]

🐎 Full review posted! 🐎

I’m consistently impressed by Jenn Lyons and her ability to cram (what feels like) every element of fantasy you could think of into one series. The presence of dragons, royals, gods, demons, wizards, witches (and more!) provide an abundance of truly breathtaking action sequences. This paired with the fact that the characters are incredible propel A Chorus of Dragons towards a spot as one of my all time favourite series.

“How easy is it to convince ourselves we’re infallible, that our way and point of view are the only ones that matter. Oh, it is the easiest trap, and it always comes loaded with the most effective bait, our own desperate need for self-worth.”

The Name of All Things is—objectively—a very jarring sequel. Instead of picking up where The Ruin of Kings left off, the original cast is essentially unapparent (save for Khirin and some others like Relos Var). Knowing this beforehand lowered my expectations substantially. I mean, I love my boy Teraeth! And how cool was Tysentso? I know they’re all coming back in the next book, but little old me did not want a new cast.

Let me tell you; I ate my previous words (or thoughts) very quickly. The recently introduced characters were new levels of amazing (though Taraeth still owns my heart) (and Khirin’s -10 IQ might as well too). Janel practically invented the word badass, Ninavis will receive a guaranteed “thank-you” for kicking me, and Qown makes me want to adopt him.

There is so much LGBTQ representation! I mean, you name it, this has got it. Lesbian, gay, trans, bisexual, asexual and nonbinary characters are all present. I loved how the Joratese people could not give two shits about who sleeps with who or who identifies as what (no matter what the rest of the empire thinks).

The worldbuilding…. Are there too many places for my tiny brain to keep up with? Probably yes. Do I care? No. Every single place Janel or Qown visited was a delight due to how vividly it stood out from the previous location. Lyons’ descriptions are so well executed; I had great fun conjuring up mental images of the gorgeous locations she brings to life. This paired with the complex and action packed storyline leaves me no room for complaints.

Finally, the romance! The love triangle forming between Khirin, Janel and Taraeth is quite possible everything I need in life. Janel + Khirin make me want to scream (in the best way possible) and Janel forcing Khirin to realize his bestie is gay for him had no right being so funny:

“Janel stared at him. “You play the harp?”
“Yes, I play the harp. And Valathea was my” Khirin trailed off as Janelle's eyebrows rose. Then he remembered what Taraeth has said about having a type.”

For harp players LMAO

“He cleared his throat. “It’s not like that.Taraeth and I are just friends.””

Whatever you say, Khirin. Anyways, I sniff polyamory on the way. Onto book 3!

[The Tattooed Book Geek (Drew). · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review can also be found on my blog The Tattooed Book Geek: https://thetattooedbookgeek.wordpress...

The Name of All things is the second book in the A Chorus of Dragons series following on from the first book, The Ruin of Kings. The Name of All Things features a new main character in Janel Theranon and runs parallel to that of Kihrin’s story in The Ruin of Kings apart from the final part of the book which moves the present storyline forward.

The Name of All Things starts two days after the climactic ending of The Ruin of Kings. After destroying the Cornerstone, the Stone of Shackles and unwittingly releasing demons across the Empire of Quur Kihrin has escaped to Jorat where a stranger, Janel Theranon and her acquaintance Brother Qown are inexplicably waiting for him at a tavern. Janel needs Kihrin to help her kill a dragon before it destroys Atrine, the capital city of Jorat. Janel has her own story that is full of adventure and exploits to tell. With a storm raging outside, trapped in the tavern until it passes both Janel and Brother Qown recount everything that has led to the present and their meeting with Kihrin.

Brother Qown narrates in the third-person reading from his own written journal and Janel in the first-person, from her memory as they share the telling of the story and trade storytelling duties back and forth. Just like in The Ruin of Kings there is also a chronicler who has transcribed the whole story and who has added their own footnotes throughout. For The Name of All Things, the chronicling duties are undertaken by a different chronicler to The Ruin of Kings and they raise the snark bar to a whole new level of snarky awesomeness with their droll, sarcastic and wry footnotes.

At the beginning of each chapter, the story reverts back to the tavern. The interludes are entertaining and act as stop-gaps, breaks and breathing room for the main story to settle. They give the characters a chance to add context, digest and discuss what they have just heard and learnt.

The Name of All Things is told in a very similar way to how the story was told in The Ruin of Kings. But, at the same time, it is also more straightforward, which I mention for those that found the first book hard to follow. The Ruin of Kings wasn’t told in a linear fashion, it jumped around a lot and could be confusing to keep track of events and timelines. This time, in The Name of All Things the story is told chronologically making it more accessible to read and far easier to follow.

Through tragic events, experiences and hardship we get to see Janel grow as what she endures changes and shapes her. She is a terrific and fully-fleshed main character, fearless, flawed, headstrong, stubborn, strong and tormented. There are plenty of other well-drawn and individual characters (Dorna, Ninavis, Qown and Arasgon) that have roles to play in the story too.

By setting the story in different locations to The Ruin of Kings and by featuring a (mostly) different set of characters (some familiar faces from The Ruin of Kings do pop up during Janel’s story and for the finale too) it really aids in expanding the world. There is a depth to the world-building and every aspect of Lyons creation is complex and elaborately stitched together. It is a cruel world, hard, harsh and savage. A world that is sharpened like a blade and that will cut you if you let it. It is a world that is steeped in history, a rich and bloody history that has continued to echo through the ages with reverberations that are still felt in the present. The history, the lore, the mythology, the politics, the different cultures (the Joratese and Yoran are both fascinating) and religions are singular, all highly impressive. But, put all together, they are all pieces of a puzzle that fit perfectly and form an exquisitely constructed and intricately detailed world that feels real and that comes alive on the pages.

Throughout Janel’s story, there are occasional references to Kihrin’s own story. The slight overlapping of events serves to add depth, an extra layer and give a slightly fuller picture to the whole story. Allowing you to glimpse the impact that certain events that took place in The Ruin of Kings had at the exact moment that they happened in a different location.

The story is complex but never overly complicated to follow including plenty of action, politics, rebellion, prophecies and some twists along the way. There are demons, dragons, bigger metal dragons, firebloods (fanged, intelligent, resilient and loyal talking huge animals that are descended from horses), gates/portals, gods and goddesses, magic, magical artefacts, vampires, wizards and witches.

The writing is detailed, descriptive and easily evokes vivid images of the various locations visited during the story. The dialogue between the characters is absolutely superb including emotion, dry humour, barbs being traded and it is lively with feeling. It is only a little thing, inconsequential to the story but under each chapter heading is a subtitle, a droll sentence referencing events from The Ruin of Kings. Those subtitles never failed to make me smirk and just go to show the extra thought that Lyons has put into her work.

For those expecting The Name of All Things to be a direct continuation of Kihrin’s story. Well, you will need to alter your expectations or be left disappointed. Janel is the main focus in The Name of All Things and, for the most part, Kihrin only has a minor role to play, appearing in the tavern interludes and acting as a listener to Janel and Qown. It is only in the final part where the current story moves forward that Kihrin has a larger role. I have to admit that I did wonder if I would enjoy The Name of All Things and reading about a new character (she does briefly appear in The Ruin of Kings) in Janel. Or, would I be left yearning to carry on with Kihrin’s story? Honestly, within a few pages of starting The Name of All Things, I was hooked and I didn’t want to put the book down. I loved The Ruin of Kings, it was a tremendous debut and start to the A Chorus of Dragons series. But, The Name of All Things raises the bar and from start to finish, it is an exceptional read. For me, it is better than The Ruin of Kings and builds to an edge-of-your-seat and thrilling climax that leaves some tantalising threads dangling and I didn’t want it to end, next book, please!

Simply, the Name of All Things puts the EPIC in epic fantasy.

[Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany) · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is SO much going on in this series and I'm certain I'm not catching all of it, but I'm having a fabulous time. The Name of All Things explores gender identity and sexuality in really cool ways, pushing back on a lot of cultural assumptions. I adore Janel as a character. The twists and turns of political intrigue, magic, and mythology are excellent. There are Firebloods (sentient talking horses), dragons, old gods, snarky footnotes... Basically all the things I love. Thank you to the publisher for sending a copy for review, all opinions are my own.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Warning: This review features minor spoilers for The Name of All Things, as well as a major spoiler regarding the ending of the first book in the series, The Ruin of Kings. If you haven't read The Ruin of Kings or The Name of All Things yet, you might want to proceed with caution when it comes to reading my review for The Name of All Things.)

I really liked The Name of All Things for many reasons, I definitely have some very mixed feelings about the book as well. On the positive side of things, I definitely found the plot of The Name of All Things much more straightforward and easier to follow, and not as convoluted as I found The Ruin of Kings to be. The Name of All Things also had great pacing like The Ruin of Kings did, and Jenn Lyons also did a great job of maintaining the style of writing and somewhat humorous tone that I loved about The Ruin of Kings.

That being said, it really frustrated the hell out of me that Lyons basically threw Kihrin on the back-burner in this book, and pretty much focused on the characters Janel and Qown for the most part instead. While I definitely love both Janel and Qown (I honestly like Qown the most out of the two) and I think that their introduction to the series contributed a lot of great things to the series in terms of world building, I don't think that Lyons should have introduced them in this book at the expense of Kihrin's role in the series. For the record, I did think that Relos Var was a truly awesome character, though. I was also very disappointed by the fact that Tyentso was barely featured in The Name of All Things after being named empress at the end of The Ruin of Kings. Plus, I was especially disappointed by the fact that Talon was completely absent from The Name of All Things. However, I would like to mention that Jenn Lyons did reply to a tweet of mine on Twitter while I was in the process of reading this book, telling me that both Tyentso and Talon would be returning in the third book, The Memory of Souls; and I'm really hoping that Kihrin, Tyentso, and Talon will all be featured in The Memory of Souls in a much larger capacity than they were in this book.

Ultimately, my thoughts and feelings regarding The Name of All Things are definitely very complicated; since I did think that this book was better and more enjoyable for me than I thought The Ruin of Kings was in some ways. However, I was definitely very frustrated by the fact that Lyons put the spotlight on Janel and Qown so heavily in this book; and that ultimately definitely hindered my enjoyment of this book to a certain extent. Despite the complaints that I have about The Name of All Things, I'm definitely highly anticipating the release of The Memory of Souls.

My rating/score: 3 1/2 out of 5 Stars on the Goodreads rating system, and 7 out of 10 on my own personal scoring system.

***Update***
After reading The Name of All Things for the second time, I have to say that I found myself enjoying it a little bit more than I did when I read it the first time, so I've decided to raise my rating/score for the book to reflect my heightened level of enjoyment of this book.

My rating/score: 4 out of 5 Stars on the Goodreads rating system, and 8 out of 10 on my own personal scoring system.
***Update***

[Ash | Wild Heart Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved The Ruin of Kings, so to get an early copy into my hands was a gift from the gods. The Name of All Things picks up pretty much directly after The Ruin of Kings, with Kihrin having found himself in Jorat after needing to leave Quur because he maybe, hypothetically, technically killed the Emperor. But it wouldn't be the Chorus of Dragons series if Kihrin caught a break, soon enough he finds himself roped into killing a dragon - among other things.

"If you hear my dying screams, avenge me."
Star shrugged. "Not sure how. You're the one with the fancy sword."

Though we do of course see Kihrin, The Name of All Things is first and foremost, Janel's story. Having briefly met Janel is book one, we find out what she was doing during the Ruin of Kings, which eventually leads to why she needs Kihrin's help to slay a dragon. Now I'll admit - when I first realised this would be primarily Janel's POV before she met Kihrin I was a little disappointed because I was so keen to see Kihrin, Teraeth, Tyensto & co again. However it is impossible not to be won over by Janel. She is just amazing, I love her. She's badass, refuses to take men's shit and could step on me. That doesn't mean we don't see Kihrin's snark though, he is a salty boy and we love him for it. 

I love Jenn's worldbuilding. What she has created in A Chorus of Dragons is nothing short of phenomenal. The Empire of Quur and it's dominions are brought to life. Two of the things that I love most about it, is that 1) she confronts Quur's colonisation and bloody history, and 2) we legit get a whole ass country where polyamory and gender fluidity is the norm.

I love fantasy, it's my favourite genre but there are times, where despite the fact that you can have dragons and magic and anything is possible, it still ends up being racist, sexist and homophobic with empires - often without challenging those things. (On that note I will never get the people who don't blink an eye at dragons but supposedly having happy gay people or whatever is unrealistic). In The Name of All Things (and the RoK) Jenn challenges these things. Quur is an patriarchal, homophobic and racist empire, who over the course of its history has invaded most of the countries on the continent but it's not just accepted or left uncritiqued. We are also given Jorat where queer, polyamorous relationships are accepted and are the norm. Jenn said fuck your heterosexual fantasy worldbuilding. And it's really wonderful to see.

Now let me tell you - the excitement I have for the next book is extreme. We will get to (hopefully) see Kihrin, Teraeth and Janel together. I need this like I need air, you don't understand - I have never wanted to see a ship come together more. Please Jenn deliver us the polyamorous, badass trio we deserve. 

The Name of All Things continues to cement A Chorus of Dragons as one of my favourite series despite the fact this is only book two of five. There's disaster bisexuals, prophesies, dragons, complex and layered villains who, even if you don't condone their actions who can understand - it's just everything. 

*I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own*

This review and more can be found at https://wildheartreads.wordpress.com/

[TheMilkJar · Rating 1 out of 5]

....i loved loved loved book 1 and i came for kihrin....this book was not about kihrin it was about janel. janel is so-so, her story however was mindnumbingly boring. no one is more upset about this low rating than me, trust me. this series was going to be one of my favourites. maybe less janel next time? maybe.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This sequel is better than the first in several ways, but I should mention that I really enjoyed the way the reveals kept dropping and kept us guessing in the first.

This one, however, moves us into Janel's storyline and has a delightful setup of actually Telling the story within the story in a way that tickled many of my clever narrative fancies. The asides and commentaries were great.

That being said, it's a delightful turn. And there are dragons galore. The good kind. Immortal, magical, and in some cases, way too crafty and cruel. But there's always a reason. Or fourteen. I'm a big fan of old heroes living long enough to be the villains.

This is solid, rich, and fun. I definitely recommend it for you epic fantasy readers who have been missing the good stuff for far too long.

[T Coffee Fiend · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF.

This sequel did not at all follow the story or characters of the first book. That's the first thing you should know before starting.

Second thing you should know is that the story being told is boring. I found it hard to care about what is happening during the 'telling' of these misadventures.

I especially disliked how one of the characters retells his story by reading from his chronicles and so is constantly referring to himself in the third person.

I absolutely **hate** the constant references to horses as a metaphor and comparison to anything and everything. It's maddening. Every few sentences someone is referring to someone as a mare, stallion, colt, or foal. God I hated it so much.

The first book felt new and interesting and the unusual narrative style was fun and spicy. That style used in this book feels like window dressing to distract from a boring story.

I'm so disappointed as the first book really captured my imagination, I actually had pre-ordered this book. It took me a while to get to it, but I really regret the purchase. This book didn't at all feel like a sequel to the first one. It just uses one if the characters from the first book as a prop to connect the two in a really lazy way, and tells a story that I just couldn't get into.

I seem to be in the minority with this opinion as I incredulously am reading a bunch of 5 star reviews from people who loved it, some even more than the first book. Meanwhile I give it one star and one of my rare DNFs.

[Marcia · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Notes to self about why I shouldn't try to finish it in the future:
1) still hate the footnotes. Distracts from just reading the book and they don't add anything except demeaning sarcasm.
2) after getting through the first 75 pages I'm still bored out of my mind and especially let down how slow and frustrating the storyline is going.
3) wtf is all this talk about stallions/mares/female/male? Don't care. Doesn't make the story better. If Janel has to tell the reader that she's better than any other creature regardless of gender, sex, ethnicity, or partners she needs to show it. We don't need discussion around it and if I'd been Kihrin I'd have left asap with that ridiculous demeaning dialog.
4) this is the woman that intrigued him so badly? Disappointed to say the least.
Maybe the book gets better at some point along with the characters too but too many other great books calling my name to waste my rare free time on this. Self, don't fall for it. Stay away from this book!

[Freya Marske · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my money, this is even better than the first book in the series. It's smoother and faster, with a much more straightforward narrative, and it contains all the things I loved best about book 1 (snark! dragons! footnotes! more snark!) plus: incredible action scenes, the badass horse-girl protagonist of my heart, some AMAZINGLY compelling villains, and the burgeoning spark of a three-way romantic tangle in which I am now deeply invested.

(Read in ARC form because I'm lucky and I know Jenn well enough to shout AUGH! THESE WONDERFUL IDIOT TEENS!! at her.)

[Anil · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry I couldn't rate it -52 stars. :|

This is a book written for leftist idiotic propaganda of sex and gender. If I ever wanted myself to educate about these subjects the last thing I would choose to read is a fantasy book. This book and the book "On the Shoulders of Titans" by Andrew Rowe are proofs that the left has no ground narrative to build its politics on, this is why they want to propagate this idiocy in youngsters and ignorant who don't read anything other than fantasy books or watch anything informational, whose thoughts can be controlled, and who can be herded around like a flock of mindless sheep.

I didn't get two chapters in without a lecture on the difference between Sex and Gender, I'm sorry but this is another book ruined by forced ideological crap, I can respect your opinions, only if you don't dump your pathetic politics on me when I'm trying to enjoy something in my time off. How would you feel if I throw open the doors of your living room turn off the movie you're watching and force a PowerPoint presentation about "12 things you could do with bacon" down your throat. This is worse than that. I'm DNFed and wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wants to just relax and enjoy a good story.

[Bec (becklebooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[The Typed Writer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Name of All Things Book Review

I swear to God that I feel like I have been reading this book for my entire life. I can’t remember a time I wasn’t reading Jenn Lyons’ next installment in the A Chorus of Dragons Series.

And while I found the first installment, The Ruin of Kings, filled with jargon, confusing for a large portion, and sometimes over inundated with the many god-kings, characters, and places, I also found it action-packed, whimsical, and truly original with her use of POV and world building.
This unfortunately all goes to shit in the sequel.

I was excited enough about The Ruin of Kings to immediately pick up the sequel and read it with starry eyes and enthusiastic gusto. However, it was quickly established that this novel was not like the others for one dominant reason: the main character.

Now, I won’t get into the nitty gritty about why I enjoyed Khirin D’Mon as a main character in the last book, as you could simply read my review about it, but to summarize, I found him witty, charming, engaging, and driven. Perhaps naively, although I truly feel like I was duped, Khirin is hardly in the second installment at all (even if the jacket cover makes you believe otherwise).

Instead, the main character of book two is a girl named Janel Danorak who has suffered at the hands of the demon Xaltorath (just like Khirin) and has manifested superhuman-strength as a result. It chronicles her life up to the current present where she is currently sitting in a tavern with Khirin three days after the conclusion of last book and is essentially telling Khirin every single fucking thing that has happened to her in her lifetime to bring her to the current moment.
It is beyond maddening.

If Lyons thought she was creatively manipulating the narrative by doing a paltry back-and-forth maneuver in which Janel and Brother Qown are re-telling their own stories to “bring Khirin up to speed” it failed. I didn’t find it clever, charming, or engaging. Instead I was irritated, bored, and indifferent.

Instead of getting more action, progressing the plot, establishing more of the world, building relationships that have already been established, and you know, advancing Khirin’s character and motives, a character we have entirely seen the world through up to his point, we instead get what comes across to me as the longest, more boring “filler” in the history of books I have ever read.

This whole almost-600-page book felt like a, “Oops. I wanted to include all this information earlier cause it’s important. Yeah. Important. I’ll just spend a whole book talking about shit that doesn’t matter and that already happened so that I can tell everyone how important Janel is. Perfect.”
I don’t remember the last time I was so frustrated finishing a book. This book did nothing, and I mean nothing, to progress anything that happened in book one except for maybe the last forty pages, and that’s being generous.

Instead, it was essentially Lyons’ way of word vomiting exposition onto her audience without actually telling an engaging story or continuing book one in any fashion. Make no mistake, ladies and gentleman, this is the Janel Danorak show and nothing else.

Maybe I wouldn’t have hated it so much if I actually found Janel to be an engaging character like Khirin, or even like Thurvishar, Tyentso, or Teraeth, but nope. Hell, I would have taken Senera or Brother Qown over Janel any day, as they were much more interesting side characters than Janel could ever hope to be.

To me, Janel came across as the most generic crybaby who whined like a little bitch and pretended to be strong for the entire book when she was really just unintelligent, uninspired, and lacking in every way. Lyons tries very, very hard to tell you that Janel is amazing. She’s so cool, so strong, so authoritative, so different, omg. But no.

Unlike book one, where we learn Khirin’s characteristics through trial and error and are able to deduce them for ourselves, Lyons switches methods completely in this book and just tells us over and over again that Janel is super awesome hoping that it will stick.

It doesn’t.

And on top of that, why do Khirin and her get together at the end? Why does Khirin give one inch of a damn about her?? He has no reason to. He’s known her for three goddamn days as that is the duration of THIS WHOLE BOOK. It’s completely out-of-character for Khirin and frustratingly nonsensical. It simply serves as another example of how Lyons is spoon-feeding us how cool Janel is when all it really does is make me never want to pick up the book again.

I can’t even really say anything about the plot. Which, it being 600 pages is pretty pathetic. Bottom line: Janel needs to kill a dragon. She needs a special spear to do it. She spends a vastly inordinate amount of time getting this spear and dicking around and then goes to kill the dragon. Oh, and Senera and Relos Var are killing people like normal and Relos Var betrays everyone again.

That’s about it. That’s the whole book.

Hopefully now you can see why I’m so vexed. There was no reason Lyons needed to take this much time and this length to tell Janel’s story. Quite honestly, a chapter or two would have sufficed for her background and then her and Khirin could have set off for their adventure. That’s it. That’s would should have happened.

But it didn’t. It didn’t at all. And this poorly paced, poorly written, horribly executed sequel was the epitome of a disappointment.

Recommendation: I don’t even know. Read The Ruin of Kings and pretend it’s a stand-alone novel. When the third book comes out, check Google Pages to make sure the whole thing isn’t a flashback of Janel Danorak and I might be interested. Huge emphasis on the might. This is why I stick to YA, people.

Score: 3/10

[Briar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you very much to Pan Macmillan Australia for providing a review copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

The Name of All Things is the epic sequel to a fantasy book that has already become an all-time favourite of mine. The Ruin of Kings was a stunning and complex novel with badass characters and a phenomenal storyline that kept me gripped to the page. A book such as this would be difficult to top, but Jenn Lyons manages to do just that with The Name of All Things.

While The Ruin of Kings followed Kihrin D’Mon’s story, The Name of All Things introduces us to Janel Theranon, whom Kihrin briefly meets in the first novel. The Name of All Things is Janel’s story, set during the events of The Ruin of Kings, told in flashbacks to Kihrin by Janel herself and her friend Brother Qown, in a small tavern in Jorat, with an ice-breathing dragon waiting outside to kill them all. Janel needs Kihrin’s help in killing a dragon before it awakens and massacres an entire city full of people. As Kihrin listens to Janel’s story, he discovers that her life is far more intrinsically entwined with his own than he realised.

Janel is easily one of my most favourite characters in this series, just behind the bisexual disaster that is Kihrin D’Mon. She’s such a powerful person who inspired a group of exiles, peasants and nobles alike to follow her, all of whom have decades on her. She has a fiery personality and a strong sense of justice and what is right. Brother Qown, on the other hand, is a sweetheart who needs to be protected at all costs. While Janel is all fire and ferocity and a natural-born leader, Brother Qown is calm and gentle, driven by knowledge and a desire to learn. This novel has a whole cast of fantastic secondary characters who readers will undoubtedly fall for, but I’ll let you discover how wonderful they are. Let me just say: Dorna rules.

Unlike The Ruin of Kings which had a non-linear narrative, The Name of All Things is told chronologically, with a brief return to present-day Kihrin in the tavern at the beginning of each chapter. I personally enjoy books with non-linear stories as I love piecing together clues dropped in chapters from different timelines, but I think many readers who perhaps struggled reading The Ruin of Kings will find The Name of All Things a bit easier to follow. Kirhin’s story resumes in the last 100 pages of the book, with an epic battle that the entire book had been leading up to.

Lyons’ world building continues to blow me away. In this novel, we follow Janel into the wilds of Jorat, the icy fortress that is Yor, and the mazed city of Atrine. Each city or country we’re introduced to is so vividly brought to life with phenomenal descriptions of its people and diverse cultures. They seem impossibly real, a mark of Lyons’ fantastic prose. I have to say that my favourite country that we’ve come across so far is Jorat, a place where gender fluidity and polyamory are ingrained into the culture. No one bats an eye at a trans person or a polyamorous throuple, which is as it should be. Janel herself is genderqueer, and she goes by she/her pronouns. In Joratese culture, she is a stallion, although to anyone someone outside of Jorat she would be viewied her as a mare because of her physical appearance.

I really appreciate Lyons’ discussion about gender and sexuality, and how she challenges the fantasy genre’s tendency towards white, cisgender, heterosexual characters. Its hard to believe that a genre that has the potential for so much imagination — a genre that frequently includes dragons, elves, centaurs, zombies, unicorns, mermaids, and so much more — still balks at the idea of including people of colour, queer people, trans or non-binary people, or disabled people in books. Or, when they are included, are called “unrealistic”: as in its “unrealistic that this queer person exists and has a happy ending”. I’m thankful for the authors like Jenn Lyons who challenge the stereotypical worldbuilding of fantasy novels that have been the norm for far too long.

The Name of All Things ups the tension and excitement of the first book in the series tenfold. Janel’s story is an adventure tale of epic proportions featuring gods, demons, dragons that can talk, unique magic systems, and the most incredible worldbuilding I’ve read in a very long time. Lyon’s writing draws the reader into the story and makes us fall in love again with beloved old characters as well as many new ones. I am dying to get my hands on the third book in the series, The Memory of Souls. I can’t wait to see where this fascinating tale will go next.
_______________________________

Buddy reading with Ash!!

_______________________________

I got an arc
_______________________________

what do I have to do to get an arc of this

[Nina M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh, usually I would *hate* to side with the people who downvoted this, mostly because a large chunk of them did so for homophobic/anti-SJW reasons (and yes, if by social justice you mean representing human beings, then the incels have a point, I guess it falls into that category). So, I would love to give it five stars merely for the fact that it tried. The plot is edge-of-the-seat, too. The writing is too fast-paced, but I think most of us reading epic fantasy can forgive that in exchange for good characters and world-building, right? Especially if that world finally includes people like you. But. But. This isn't representation: it's queer-baiting.

So, for those of you that came to this series on the off chance that you might get genuine, healthy LGBT+ representation... tough luck. The author spends hundreds of pages in book 1 hinting at the bisexuality of the male lead and that of his so-titled "best-friend", which carries on into this book as well.... only to make it a male/female love triangle at the end. Where the two men, what with being best friends and all, naturally squabble over the woman, cause why not? You might as well go read ACOTAR, or whatever cishet nonsense is all the rage these days.

Addendum: I have no idea if the "transgender" representation is respectful or not. As much as I hate the enforced gender binary, I cannot call myself transgender and therefore have no right to declare if the portrayal of male/female/nonbinary using horse metaphors is... inventive, or crudely reductionist. I'm curious whether the author consulted with any nonbinary friends on this matter. I wouldn't bet on it, but maybe she had. Again, not my place to comment.

What I can comment on is the LGBT+ situation, and one word covers it: sad. It's not even sad for lack of trying, which somehow makes it even worse. I would've so loved for this to be a book I can scream to all my non-heterosexual friends and finally make them see that fantasy does not have to be "Abuse Factory" Martin. Apparently not. All we get is one more m/m/f triangle, an f/f affair we hear nothing about after two sentences and whose character disappears into the literal blue, and a minor gay (?) man (surprisingly, his name does appear more than once). Yes, it's more than Geroge Martin gave us. How's that bit on beggars and choosers?

Hey, strong women is great. I just wish we'd all collectively stop pretending that the bar is this low. It's 2020. No "genre" literature in the past two decades, including fantasy, crime, historical fiction or even SF has had a shortage of strong women.

If we don't hold young authors like Jenn Lyons accountable, then we shouldn't expect to get anything different from the rest of the genre. I'm racking my brains for any "big names" in fantasy that have any LGBT+ representation, save for the usual f/f action peppered in to show "Cultural Freedom": Rothfuss? None. Scott Lynch? Apparently looking to change that . Sanderson? My good man, I love you and you've come so far , but 5.000 pages and (1) one-liner on a guy liking another guy? Anyway.

Two stars because I'm bitter and we should aim higher.

[Jade Ratley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE THIS BOOK

[Megan ❀ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am in love with one (1) woman and her name is Janel Theranon.

This book is a VAST improvement over its predecessor novel. In The Ruin of Kings, the two biggest detractors for me were the unnecessarily convoluted method of storytelling and the sheer number of fantasy elements that didn't have enough nuance to be interesting yet. The Name of All Things not only solves all those issues I had with the first book, but improves upon everything that made me enjoy the first novel.

What turns most people away from the first novel is how stupidly complicated it is, when it doesn't have to be. This book doesn't do that, THANK GOD. While in this book the narrative is still framed by at least two characters telling a story of past events from the present moment in time, the story that is being told is linear. No more of that "two characters telling the same story but at different points in time that meet up at the end" BS. I tried to be forgiving of that in the first book, but when there was absolutely no ah-ha moment of WHY it had to be that complicated and I realized it was complicated just because it could be, I wasn't happy. A considerably more linear story does WONDERS for this novel, especially when the body swapping/reincarnation/resurrection/soul splitting/shapeshifting/"wait who am I actually related to" shenanigans continues in this book.

And for the record, the the body swapping/reincarnation/resurrection/soul splitting/shapeshifting/"wait who am I actually related to" shenanigans are significantly more enjoyable, engaging, and a unique element in the world when I could put all my attention into keeping track of that, rather than the confusing non-linear format of the first novel. The linear format really allowed Jenn Lyons to explore the world more closely and develop some of the typical fantasy elements - demons, gods, tournaments, magic - into ideas that were uniquely her own. The first book gave me a lot of "glimpses" into these things, but juggling between countries, cultures, and characters as we switched between points in time didn't give much opportunity to feel grounded in this world. In this book, I absolutely fell in love with the world and the characters.

The majority of this novel takes place in Jorat, a country part of the Quuros Empire that retained its culture and organizational structure, unlike many other conquered nations. Horse girls really won with this book, because Jorat is so deeply entwined with horses and horse culture, to the point where the country has talking horses that are considered full citizens. It also has one of THE MOST UNIQUE organizational structures I've seen in a fantasy novel, in which biological sex and gender identity have no bearing on power and leadership. Instead, every person is either a leader or follower, and take on the responsibilities associated with either position based on their personality. In comparison to the patriarchal, homophobic Capital City of Quuros that half of the first novel is set in, Jorat is an absolute breath of fresh air.

Because of Jorat's complicated and fluid views on biological sex, gender identity, and sexuality, following Janel as she navigates the world inside and outside of Jorat was fascinating. Janel is biologically female and uses she/her pronouns, but is not especially attached to the concept of being a women. In fact, she considers herself a man by the Empire's standards. In Jorat, Janel is a leader through-and-through; however, that concept doesn't translate outside of Jorat's unique power structure. Therefore, by the Empire's standards, she's a man because she has power. But because she knows this would be confusing to anyone outside of Jorat, she chooses to use she/her pronouns due to her biological sex, even if the concept of "woman" doesn't necessarily apply to her. Also, she's bisexual af and could rip a man's head off with her bare hands, so to say the least, I'm in LOVE with her.

But Jorat being the greatest LGBTQ+-friendly fantasy county in literature doesn't just stop there. There are queer characters EVERYWHERE in this novel, from main characters to side characters to characters that were mentioned twice and never again. I don't think anyone in Jorat has a straight bone in their body. There are at least two canonical, on-page trans characters, with the implication that half of Jorat could be trans due to a yearly festival in which a goddess changes anyone's biological sex who participates. Absolutely, these two trans side characters had a son before later deciding to attend the festival and are now both the opposite sex and gender, which I'm absolutely living for.

But if all of that queer content didn't already decapitate me, the seeds of a Kihrin-Janel-Teraeth romance really start to sprout in this novel. It was fairly obvious that Teraeth was horny af for Kihrin in the first book, but it was unclear if that was to help hammer home that Teraeth is pansexual or because something was going to come of that. Whereas Kihrin's attraction to Janel was much more prevalent. But as all three characters become more involved with each other in this book - and with Janel and Teraeth having no qualms with polyamory - I can't help but call it now: they're going to be a thruple. It's going to straight up murder my little bi heart when it happens. Oh my GOD.

Jenn Lyons really said "what if I wrote the queerest possible fantasy novel in the current fantasy canon."

So when you take all of those amazing elements and combine it with extremely lovable characters, the same hilarious humor that had me laughing my ass off in the first book, and an engaging plot, it can't be anything less than 5 stars from me. I fucking LOVED this book. I'm absolutely obsessed with these characters and this world, and I am so glad I pushed myself through the first book so that I got to read this one. It's definitely not perfect, but everything about The Name of All Things is so charming and fun that it is absolutely one of my new all time favs. I can't say it plainly enough: GO READ THIS BOOK!!!

[Booksblabbering || Cait❣️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4

Count Janel is driven to action after witnessing abuses of power that are rare in Jorat, along with murder, demons, a dragon, and Relos Var, Kihrin’s enemy.
As fate brings them together, or prophecies, or gods, or demons (who knows at this point?), Janel claims she already knows Kehrin and demands his help in saving Jorat’s capital.

”I hate prophecies," Janel said. "Have I mentioned how I truly hate prophecies?"
"Ah, and even worse when they come true," Dorna said. "Dark times ahead for all.”

Ah, the mind-set of the so-called Destined Hero. We need to stop so-and-so. Why?
Because he's ... he's ... I mean, he's a bad guy!
Why? Because I don't like him, that's why.
Save me from fools and would-be "heroes."

Whilst focus is on a different cast of characters in this book, old characters still crop up (of course Kihrin remains a main character), but this takes us to different part of the empire with a completely different culture. And I loved it.

A lot of the Joratese society is based on horses - this sounds weird, but it’s awesome. This allows discussions on gender and power to be explored in a totally new way. Male and female exist in the physical sense, but you are determined by being stallion or mare, and who can rule is based on this, getting around the whole ‘women can’t rule’ principle.
It was so fascinating to read how different people treated the Joratese and saw their ways, yeh it is the Joratese who reveal the absurdity of traditional Empire ways.

The characters are brash, arrogant, and quick on the mark with wit, guile, weapons, and retorts.
I loved following their conflicting thoughts as they were drawn into politics beyond their awareness, as their lives expand to encompass strangers who show them a new perspective, way of living, and understanding.

I could gain everything I wanted by betraying everything I was.

Admittedly, the names, families, allegiances, and history remains difficult to follow and keep track of (why do all the name have to be so similar and why is body swapping a thing?!), yet I could just about keep up, enough so to reach the end and enjoy it anyway!

I would recommend this to fans of Faithful and the fallen, Priory of the Orange tree, The Mortal Blade and Mask of Mirrors.

Bookstagram

[Conrad J · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost never write a review before finishing but at the halfway mark, I feel compelled to warn readers that this series is tedious and convoluted; I was eager to read about the characters from the first novel but the cast from the first novel is sidelined to focus on another aspect of the story. (No spoilers)

Lyons has a rich world and I applaud the ambitious scope of her story. Yet, I feel disappointed by the execution of it. The story goes from one Canton to another, with boring travel dialogue mashed into cultural vignettes of the new setting.

The heavy handed and obnoxious handling of gender and sex made me cringe so that I couldn't pick up the book for another month. The novel uses a similar Western centric understanding of gender paradigms, just parodied with horse metaphors.

I resumed reading again because it's one of the few books I got before COVID-19 arrived in my locale. I'm questioning whether I should finish it because I'm guessing the future books will follow a similar format: weaving together a universe of characters around a single event, but it really feels like Lyons has ignored the major stitches of the garment and focused on unevenly embroidering specific sections of it, to make it sloppy and unbalanced in proportions.

[Zee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note: I requested this ARC directly from Tor on the first day I saw it was available through Edelweiss (I just wanted a hard copy so I didn't get it directly through Edelweiss). A ridiculously huge thank you to the publisher & the author. I am fully aware that I am probably the first person to finish this book who isn't a personal friend of Jenn Lyons or an employee at Tor--at the very least I am the first person to write a written review and I would never, ever forgive myself for spoiling a single thing in this book so have no fear, I will not tell you a single plot thing or any specifics at all. That said, if this is a convoluted, crazy sounding review... that's why. I don't think it's fair to mention anything specific when this book doesn't hit shelves until October. By the same token, I have no intentions of trying to remember what I felt about this book in May when it's October.

So.

To catch up, this book is the sequel to THE RUIN OF KINGS, aka the best book I have ever read in my life. A book so good that writing the review for it had me shaking. A book that literally had me in tears because I knew that no other book would ever possibly compare to it and that I wanted to reread again and again and again - think Harry Potter level obsession - but that I couldn't allow myself to do, because I'm a bookseller and it's my job to talk shop about every book in my store and 2019 is an amazing year for publishing.

If you haven't read THE RUIN OF KINGS, by the way, like if you're just seeing this review cuz we're Goodreads friends, stop what you're doing. Right now. Go get it. Go read. And reread.

Anyway.
I genuinely thought THE RUIN OF KINGS would be the best thing I read all year.
I was wrong.
This was.

I can't go into too much detail and I apologize for how vague this is going to sound. The first chapter literally had my jaw on the floor. This book has so many things I never even considered. Fanged, talking horses. Epic cons. So many dragons. So many plot twists. Women's rights. Love triangles I did not see coming. The best narrator I have ever seen in my entire life--Thurvishar ain't shit, y'all. Senera is a savage.

The sass literally had me cracking up in waiting rooms and looking like a crazy person cuz I'm clearly reading A Very Serious High Fantasy (non-essential spoiler, she refers to someone as a librarian getting dropped into a gladiator tournament, ok?? If this phrasing doesn't make the final cut I will cry)

But THE NAME OF ALL THINGS is so much more than that laundry list. This book is a piece of art. Jenn Lyons takes the very idea of storytelling and made it into a freaking masterpiece. I have never seen such an appreciation, such an understanding of storytelling in and of itself, as I have while reading this ARC. Ever. Hands down. It was absolutely magnificent. If I think about it too much I will probably cry. It's... it's everything.

It's THE RUIN OF KINGS but times ten. And it's... I can't explain it in words and I obviously can't give any specific examples but dear lord almighty this series as a whole is the best thing I've ever read.

[Ava · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did you ask for fire, feminism, and sorcerer horses? Because you're getting all of that and so much more in this phenomenal sequel to The Ruin of Kings.
TNOAT does do that thing where, for the most part, it follows a different character's journey - but Kihrin-stans should have no fear because not only are Janel, Qown, and Senera phemonenal follow-ups to Talon, Kihrin, and Thurvishar's narrations, but they also (directly and indirectly) interact with the events of TROK, and even some characters. To my everlasting delight, Teraeth shows up in Janel's story, and is subsequently used as a bargaining chip by his MOTHER (#awkward).
This book follows Janel, a young woman (by Quur standards - she's a stallion, and don't you forget it) who dies every night, sending her soul to the Afterlife, where she must fight demons and resist the temptations offered by her "mother", the demon queen Xaltorath. On top of that heaping pile of childhood trauma, Janel's been cast out of her life by an ex-fiance jealous of her badassery, and after encountering everyone's favorite asshole (Relos Var), she sets out on a mission to free Jorat of Var's influence and rebel from the Duke of Yor, who's trying to sway the Joratese into his plan to take over Quur. Don't worry - there are still dragons.
Much like the first book, this installment tackles gender and sexuality themes; Joratese society is not predicated on traditional gender roles, but rather the idea that "you protect what you rule" and bullies are thrown out of the "herd" - the terms "stallion" and "mare" are used in lieu of "man" and "woman" and although I did have to read the explanation a few times over, Kihrin's initial confusion acts as a nice buffer for readers - a little, "it's okay if you don't get it right on the first try." But it was really such a nice change of pace from most fantasies, because Joratese culture doesn't really seem to be based on any society from our world (at least that I've encountered XD). It was fresh and fun, and as an equestrian, I loved the firebloods (sassy horses-who-aren't-quite horses).
There's so much girl power in this book, and it all comes to a truly incredible conclusion that certainly left me desperate for the next installment!

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 Stars
This might be one of those rare wonderful cases where the sequel is even better than the first book in a series.

I'm usually someone who prefers the first book in a series so I was absolutely delighted to discover how much I loved this second volume. I would even encourage readers who struggled with book one to keep going. 

This is an epic fantasy told in a unique chronicle style. The narrative is filled with fun and humor while still keeping the stakes high. The story manages to be both complex yet easy to follow at the same time. I am impressed how accessible this story felt. Yet there is so much detail and depth for me to unpack in future rereads. 

The story heavily addresses aspects of queer diversity with some fascinating (and funny) conversations around gender identity and sexual orientation. These topics are very much at the forefront of the narrative as the author paints diverse, open cultures.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. The story is long, but I honestly just enjoyed going along for the ride. The author is clearly a talented storyteller. 

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher. 

[L'encre de la magie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Avis Lecture "Le Nom de Toutes Choses", Le Chœur des Dragons tome 2, Jenn Lyons 🐎🐉
@bragelonnefr

Je n'ai pas voulu trop tarder et me suis plongé dans ce tome 2, assez rapidement après le 1er volume de la série. Et j'ai bien fait!
Jenn Lyons nous donne toujours autant d'informations et après un premier roman déjà très riche, l'autrice continue de surprendre... Et chez moi, la surprise a été plutôt mitigée... 😵‍💫
J'ai été très heureux de retrouver l'univers, fier d'avoir relu le 1, et de retrouver Kihrin. Malheureusement, les personnages et leurs recits présentés ici m'ont moins touché. Que ce soit Janel ou bien le prêtre (dont j'ai déjà oublié le nom 😭😅), ça n'aura pas forcément fonctionné chez moi. J'ai mis le livre en pause pendant près de 12-15 jours et je pense que ça aussi... Ça n'a pas aidé 😰
J'ai eu des difficultés également avec l'écriture de certains dialogues que je trouvais très plats et me faisaient lever les yeux au ciel... Bref vous l'aurez compris, je pense que tout à jouer contre ce livre.

Pour autant, j'ai tout de même apprécié des éléments, comme la découverte d'autres états de l'empire, la rencontre avec d'autres peuples et culture et surtout une écriture engagée de la part de l'autrice - un point qu'elle avait déjà mené lors du tome 1. Ici, l'on découvre une société ou les différentes appartenances d'un genre ou un autre sont plutôt aplaties. Sans trop vous en révéler, la société est construite sur le modèle équin, donc des chevaux. On parle alors de juments ou d'étalons mais à la différence c'est qu'ici, l'autrice ne vise pas un genre dans cette dénomination mais bien le rôle plus ou moins actif d'un individu dans une société. On peut donc retrouver des femmes étalons. Et c'est d'ailleurs le combat de l'une d'elles. C'est vraiment un point que j'ai trouvé fascinant et reste ce que j'ai préféré de ce volume.
L'autrice garde la même structure du récit que pour le tome 1, à savoir une double temporalité et une triple narration (avec les notes de bas de pages) 👍
Malgré le côté mitigé de mon avis, je vais tout de même tenter le tome 3 pour savoir si je continue ou abandonne la série 🤞

[Melissa (thereaderandthechef) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aww no, I never wanted The Name of All Things to end! What will I do now until The Memory of Souls comes out?

Oh but this book was AMAZING. Still trying to wrap my head around all of the events that took place in this installment which happened around the same time of the events in The Ruin of Kings. I will forever be in awe at how well crafted this book is. Every turn and plot twist is simply genius and I am just anxious to keep spending more time in this world!

But anywhoo, in The Name of All Things, we visit another side of Quur and learn about Yorat and Yor, plus several other places through the lens of Janel & Qown. But worry not, Kihrin is still very much part of this story but it’s his time to listen to Janel and Qown as they explain how they need Kihrin’s help to slay a dragon that cannot be slayed before it destroys the city of Atrine.

Much like The Ruin of Kings, we experience much of the story while being cooped up in a place. Kihrin arrives to a Tavern 3 days after the ending of book 1 and is forced to stay there along the company of Janel, Qown, and many other allies while another dragon (Aeyan’arric) perches to nap above them all. In here is where, through Janel and Brother Qown’s notes, we learn along Kihrin about her life as Count Janel Theranon (also known as Janel Danorak, the young girl who led the hell march into her city), the secret rebellions they’ve been leading, and the dangerous dark forces that threaten the whole world.

SO MUCH happens in this book and never once did it disappoint. While I did miss a few characters from The Ruin of Kings, I quickly fell in love with the characters introduced in this book, including the new sassy (and quite villainy) footnoter. Her name is Senera and she’s honestly one of the biggest highlights since her notes and often unnecessary comments were simply there to drag and complain about how Kihrin messes up every single time he breathes. It was lovely.

Ahh, I just need book 3 now. I will come back to extend this mini review later and flail more about the HUMOR that was ever present, about every character like Ninavis, Arasgon, more of Brother Qown, RELOS VAR, Senera, and all the others. A friend (@paperfury) and I keep making memes about each character and it’s simply because they are all so memorable and amazing.

But please, read this series!! It’s epicly complex with its meddling gods, magic, dangerous dragons, and a thousand reincarnations of Kihrin. It deserves all the praise and recognition!!

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was this better than the first book? Yes. Was it still a little overly complicated? Yes. Was I still confused about what was actually going on below the main surface story? Yes. Will I continue to read this series? Yes.

This book did not go where I thought it was going to. I had assumed we would continue on with our main character, Kihrin, but instead, this book focuses on Janel (the beautiful redhead that Xaltorath showed Kihrin in his vision, and whom he met in the Afterlife). And honestly, it was so much better for it! She was a much more interesting protagonist than he was in book one.

Once again, Lyons continues her commitment to having dual narrators, though this time it was a little more useful to have them because they had different perspectives on the same events. She also thankfully drops the back and forth timeline shtick, though every chapter begins with a brief interlude in present day. Janel and Brother Qown find Kihrin in Jorat two days after the events of last book and ask for his help to slay the dragon Morios, but first they have to give him "context," which is basically Janel's life story, but in particular everything that's happened to her since she was sixteen, which is when she got caught up in a rebellion.

Having read this book now, I think the rest of the series will play out with the next two books focusing on one of the four Hellwarriors from the prophecy (are we supposed to know who any of the other two are? Is one Teraeth? I'm really hoping the series ends in a thrupple for him, Janel, and Kihrin), and the final book bringing them all together to save the world, or whatever.

I did like what Lyons did with the "villain", Relos Var, in that she made him a much more complicated and grey figure than he was from Kihrin's perspective. I also really liked getting immersed in Joratese society, especially in regards to the way they treat leadership and gender/sex. This is the kind of thing I love when fantasy explores.

I'm tentatively going to recommend that if you like fantasy, you should check out this series. Lyons seems to be getting more assured as a writer, and I'm hoping I'll like the following books even better than I did this one.

[3.5 stars, rounding up]

[هادی امینی · Rating 3 out of 5]

خوب.... باز هم عجیب بود.
اول، چند وقت پیش کتابی خوندم که دو تا نویسنده، یک ایده درخشان سایفای رو به بهترین شکل ممکن نابود کرده بودند. این کتاب برعکسه. نمیدونم نویسنده چه ایده کلی‌ای جز جنگ و درگیری و جادو و جنبل داشته، ولی به نظر من میاد که هیچ ایده خاصی نداشته. با این وجود، کتاب رو خیلی خوب نوشته.
دوم، به نظرم روحیات دیگرآزاری شدیدا در نویسنده موج میزنه و غالب هست. در نیمه اول قسمت اول، شخصیت‌ها و روابط رو تعریف کرد، بعد در نیمه دوم همه اونها رو به هم ریخت. توی جلد دوم، یعنی همین کتاب، باز با دو نیمه روبرو هستیم. نیمه اول وظیفه نابودکردن همه قسمت اول رو برعهده داره، نیمه دوم هم وظیفه نابودی کتاب قبلی و نیممه قبلی خودش. بنابراین به هیچ چیزی در این کتاب اعتماد نکنید. همه چیز میتونه یه جور دیگه باشه. (البته همین نکته یکی از ایده های اصلی کتابه که خیلی کمرنگ نشون داده میشه. هر چیزی به دیدگاه فرد بستگی داره. حتی خوبی و بدی.)

باز هم پر بود از چیزهای عجیب و غریب و شگفت‌آور، جادو و جنبل، ورد و سحر، مرده ها و زنده ها، دیوها و اژدهاها، نژادهای عجیب، حیوانات عجیب‌، مرگ و زندگی.... و یه عالمه چیز دیگه.

(خدا به دادم برسه برای ترجمه)