My Five Word TL:DR Review:This Book Made Me Sob

And, this is no small thing, you have to hand it to a book that makes you emotional and my goodness this book hits you in ways you don’t expect and maybe you’re not even ready for. And frankly it’s a testament to the writing here that the story can provoke such strong emotions because in all honesty, I’m pretty much as hard as nails and don’t cry at the drop of a hat.

In terms of this review I’m not going to really go into the plot other than to say this is about change, and the fear of change, also the fear of anything different than the norm. You have various groups of people, ambitious people, who will catch everybody up in their tangled webs and desire to climb to the top. Okay, that sounds a bit vague and maybe a little convoluted. We have two warring elements and the small, every day folk that get caught in the middle. A fair bit of treachery and a giant dollop of family love.

But, I realise I’ve probably made that sound very pedestrian when in actual fact this is far from that. In a nutshell, if you want to read – characters that are nothing if not real, fights and skirmishes that come to life on the page, a setting that is positively breathtaking and bursting with life, myths, folklore, outlandish terrains and customs – then, in all seriousness, I implore you to pick this book up.

What I really loved about this? Apart from the wonderful prose and the points I raised above? Primarily the characters, I mean, clearly I don’t love all of them because some of them were getting on my last nerve, but I confess that the amount of feeling that this first book managed to generate in me towards certain characters was really a surprise. Strictly speaking, it shouldn’t have been a surprise, having read the author before, I know that he excels at making you fall hard for some of his characters, but even forearmed with that knowledge I am always over the moon when an author consistently lives up to those expectations.

The story is told in a number of POVs which work really well. All of the POVs are easily recognisable and also equally enjoyable. That being said, I adored both Halia and Dagmar’s chapters. To be fair all the characters here are good for different reasons. You’re not supposed to like everyone after all. We have the good, the bad and the ugly here and definitely a lot of morally grey. I loved Halia for her spirit and also the way she ties the family together, she really is the heart of the family and the depth of feeling is so enjoyable, like uplifting, to read. Dagmar is this stalwart character, he’s a bit of a maniac who runs into danger and takes his oaths very seriously. He’s the kind of brooding character that makes you think ‘watch this space and definitely don’t underestimate him’.

Also, I would like to throw out that I feel the need for a domovoi (I didn’t make a note so I’ve probably misspelled that). I loved this character.

Did I have any negatives. No, not at all. I would mention that this isn’t the type of story that you should try to rush through. There is some set up as the author lines everything up, of course, but more than that you should take the time to really let this absorb, imo.

In conclusion an excellent read set in a fascinating place with amazing characters and a book that will feel like its given you a swift kick when you least expected. That is all. How can you possibly resist.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 5 of 5 stars