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

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

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

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

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

There is a lot of description included on the places and buildings within the story which make it easier to build the image of what the settings would look like which is great. . I really wanted to enjoy this book but overall I found it difficult to get attached to the characters and felt the main storyline was lost within lots of smaller sub stories and events.

DNF at 44%. Here's what happened: I forgot my Kindle at home, so I wasn't able to read this book for a day or so... and when it came time to pick it back up, I literally groaned at the idea of having to do so. That's when I knew this was a DNF.

It's very slow, there's almost no action, and I can't make myself care about the characters. No bueno.

I truly wanted to like this book. I had the pleasure of meeting Mitchell Hogan at an event years ago, and he was a lovely person. However this book just didn't do it for me. I felt that the pacing was off, and that things happened just for the sake of the story, and not in a natural way. There are some good chunks of action and a few twists that I didn't see coming, but sadly I wasn't invested enough in the characters to really care one way or another. Maybe I'm biased because I love the Johannes Cabal Necromancer books, and Gideon the Ninth of course. Maybe there's only room in my heart for a few necromancers? No that's not it.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the rest of the trilogy. I really liked the premise of the book and the magic system that is introduced in the book. The characters were interesting and i am interested in what happens to them. The plot twist was amazing and I look forward to seeing it play out.

This book was a pleasant surprise for me. I love another series written by this author, the Sorcery Ascendant trilogy.. I was engrossed from start to finish.. Mitchell Hogan did a fantastic job with character and world building which left me wanting to read the next book in the series immediately.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At first, this book seemed like it has the standard plot of a fantasy novel. I seem to be able to enjoy it more as I delved into the story. It's a dark blend of adventure, magic, and political intrigue and it's very interesting. I also love the characters and their development and dynamics. It's safe to say that I'm looking forward to the next book!

This book had so much potential, unfortunately it did not come to fruition. DNF at 25%.

I was expecting there to actually be necromancy in the book, maybe it came later? I could not get myself to care about the main character.

I just went in with too high of expectations, I will try to reread in a month or so.