The Thousand Eyes

The Serpent Gates, Book 2

By: A. K. Larkwood

Narrated by: Aysha Kala

Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

The sequel to A. K. Larkwood's stunning debut fantasy, The Unspoken Name. The Thousand Eyes continues the Serpent Gates series - perfect for fans of Jenn Lyons, Joe Abercrombie, and Ursula K. Le Guin.

Just when they thought they were out...

Two years after defying the wizard Belthandros Sethennai and escaping into the great unknown, Csorwe and Shuthmili have made a new life for themselves, hunting for secrets among the ruins of an ancient snake empire.

Along for the ride is Tal Charossa, determined to leave the humiliation and heartbreak of his hometown far behind him, even if it means enduring the company of his old rival and her insufferable girlfriend.

All three of them would be quite happy never to see Sethennai again. But when a routine expedition goes off the rails and a terrifying imperial relic awakens, they find that a common enemy may be all it takes to bring them back into his orbit.

"I cannot recommend this series enough." (Tamsyn Muir, New York Times best-selling author of Gideon the Ninth)

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books.

©2021 A. K. Larkwood (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Does not live up

Barely finished. Story and narration a huge step down from the first one. Do not recommend.

Superb, dramatic, funny, and interesting

Refreshingly written fantasy with great narration and laugh out loud dialogue mixed with dramatic plot twists and interesting fights and intrigue. The characters are multidimensional and relatable, plus it is great to have non-binary characters, bisexual characters, and LBGTQ+ representation throughout. The first book was good, but this sequel really solidified the story.

I listen to fantasy and sci-fi almost exclusively, and I have to say this is extremely well done. I was pleasantly surprised. I will definitely be looking for more works by A. K. Larkwood, and for more audiobooks narrated by Aysha Kala.

Good but not great.

I really enjoyed the first one and was excited to continue the story however I found this one to b lacking. The beginning of the book was interesting but by the third part I was less invested since it was such a large time gap and my favorite characters were no longer the center of the story. With that being said I did enjoy this story.

I Really Really Tried!!!

I suffered my way through the first book, and because of FOMO I said I am going to try and finish the series because it got so many great reviews. The performance was dull and not very engaging. The character development was lacking and I just couldn't care about them. Also, I couldn't get a clear picture in my head of what they looked like from the description in the books. I really tried to like the book but I never was really excited about the story.

Amazing!

This is mind blowing, I swear! So much bigger in scope and just all around epic. Truly, an amazing duology :)

Not as good as the first, but a satisfying love story

The first book with these characters was riveting, and it was easy to suspend disbelief with the storyline. There was an interesting fantasy world, similar to that in Ursula Le Guin’s The Tombs of Atuan, and the love story between two of the main characters was sweet and compelling. In fact in this sequel, the continuation of the lives of the main characters was the best part.

I had grown fond of the characters, and it was very satisfying to be able to follow them into their future lives. However, the introduction of new aliens in the form of snake shape shifters was a little bewildering and hard to follow. In fact, I was a little perplexed about how it all was supposed to hang together. I was also really disappointed that the same narrator didn’t narrate this book. I always dislike when they change voices like that in the middle of a story!However, to the new narrator’s credit, her accent wasn’t drastically different than the original, and she read the different characters with a great deal of skill, so that did not end up being much of an issue.

Overall, I would greatly recommend this book for the ability to follow the main characters into their futures, but it was not as good as the first book in the series.

Fantastic

Ok I will admit I put this down for a long time after certain things happened lol! But god I lived these books so much. I'm genuinely sad to say goodbye to them and the characters. Beautifully read, wonderfully written, and just totally fun and enjoyable at every turn. it's definitely one I'll reread many many times.

I Can’t Wait For More

A.K. Larkwood is an amazing storyteller. I hope they continue to write because I can’t wait to read more. I’m tempted to start over with The Unspoken Name just so I can live in this world a little longer. The characters are as real as any person you’ve met, and the world they live in is utterly epic.

An excellent sequel

I absolutely loved this book. The author is unafraid to shake up their characters and world in drastic ways, without the cliche of everything and everyone giving into apathy and despair. I genuinely had no idea what was going to happen next for much of the book. The characters are endearing and unique, and the development they all go through feels meaningful and believable. Some of the solutions to problems seem to resolve themselves a bit conveniently, but honestly it didnt bother me.

A charmingly crafted story

Absolutely loved this sequel, if you aren’t into big timeskips I would say maybe tread lightly, but I personally love to see characters grow and age. I’m also so incredibly glad that Tal got major character development! Fun read!