She Reads Too Much

First off - this book was LONG! Like I was getting to the point where I wondered if it would ever freeking end. Now that's not to say it was a bad book, because that is not accurate. There were just...lots of words.

The world created in the book is quite interesting. The society is like the Dark Ages of Europe in politics, society and religion however there is the interesting addition of demons that manifest and attack from sunset to sunrise every day. People are protected from these demon attacks by wards that are drawn upon – well – everything. Those that draw the wards are different depending on the location. For instance in a larger city they have Warders, part of a Guild, that people pay to draw wards. Each Warder, it seems, has their own set of wards they have discovered and/or mastered. Wards are drawn on walls surrounding the cities and on individual dwellings in the city. People are, it seems, required to offer succor (or allow strangers outside into their home) after dark when requested. In mid-sized places there are people who are Warders but don’t seem to be in a Guild, they ward around the towns and houses and what not. In smaller villages and hamlets almost everyone can draw wards, they ward their own property and help neighbors do the same.

These wards are purely defensive. History tells though, of a Defender and his armies, which had offensive wards that have been lost over time. It seems this world has evolved much like ours – from Dark Ages, to an age of Science and Innovation and then fallen again into the Dark Ages. Interesting commentary on the cyclical nature of humanity and civilization. There are many times I wonder when our society and civilization will collapse because it is only a matter of time – history has proven it over and over again.

Anyway, people no longer believe in these offensive wards and while not at all content they are resigned to being slowly killed off by demons.

Now, I’ll say again, this is actually a fascinating society and the world building is detailed. That’s one of the things I love about fantasy books, especially when done right. This author did it right and I was easily immersed in the society, their fears and their hopes and dreams, their despair. And God, overall it happens to be a pretty damn depressing place. People are being killed every night and that kinda sucks.

Fascinating society aside I spent this book reading and reading and reading and while there was a lot going on there was very little happening. Hmmm…maybe that doesn’t make sense. It’s like this. There was a lot of foundation building going on and we are introduced to the three people that seem to be the heroes of this book when they are children. They are all three different ages so there was a lot of history covered in the book. Arlen is the first one we meet, an 11-year old at the time, when there are huge losses in a demon attack in his hamlet. We follow him for quite a bit until we meet Leesha, 13-years old at the time, who is the daughter of a wealthy paper maker and warder in a small town. After following her for a while we meet Rojer, who is the 3-year old son of inn keepers in another small town. So we follow them all as children and as they grow up – the struggles they face, the choices they make and how their attitudes are shaped. When these three fuckin’ finally meet Leesha is 27, Rojer is 17 or 18 and Arlen is somewhere in his late 30’s I think, it’s never really clear to me.

For me the action really started to happen once these three meet up. It’s tense and unhappy and they don’t trust each other. Though Leesha and Rojer have known each other for a few months by the time they meet Arlen they are not best buddies or anything. There is a sort of love triangle which is not really well executed and doesn’t seem to go anywhere in this book either.

At this point I’m kind of torn because I did a lot of skimming prior to the three meeting up but there were interesting parts that helped you to understand how and why the characters developed as they did. I think the author was trying to set up why these three are uniquely set to work with each other and fight demons while rallying people. Arlen is a warrior, Leesha is a healer and Rojer is an entertainer; an unlikely trio yet completely believable. In the end though I’m left feeling that maybe half the words of this book could have been cut and I would have stilled enjoyed and understood it. It also ended abruptly. While not a cliffhanger per se everything was left unresolved with the exception of the commitment of the three to work together.

I’d recommend with slight reservations for fans of well-developed fantasy worlds who don’t mind uncompleted series. It appears there are three books right now and two more planned. At this point I don’t think I’ll go on simply because I’ve already go too many books to read and I keep buying more! I did enjoy this though.