Rating: 4/5 stars
Pages: 464
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Macmillan-Tor/Forge
Release Date: February 11, 2020
Since Csorwe was little, she knew how she would die—she would climb the mountain to the Shrine of the Unspoken and act as sacrifice.
When a mysterious mage comes to her temple and offers her a way out, she finds her loyalty tested. She can stay and die, or she can turn traitor and leave for a new life with him. Under his tutelige, she’ll learn to be a a spy and talented warrior—someone to help him topple an empire, reclaim his former power and recover an ancient artifact of untold power.
But when her quest brings her back to the doorstep of her past, she’ll have to face the god she betrayed and pay her old debts.
** Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with an eARC of this book**
So, this is an awesome foray into a new and complicated world of gods and magic. The world-building with this book was fantastic—complicated and layered. And even better, I enjoyed how the author didn’t shy away from names that are hard to pronounce (though I did thoroughly appreciate the pronunciation guide at the beginning!).
Where the story didn’t work as well for me was in the main character, there was just something about her that didn’t quite click with me. It often felt like she was just going along with the flow. And that’s really too bad. She just doesn’t stand out as a memorable character for me, which was so disappointing because so many of the other characters really did work for me and I found the worldbuilding to be so interesting.
What I did enjoy were the moments where there wasn’t a clear right or wrong answer and thus when Csorwe had to make her decisions, it made that much more interesting. And I really enjoyed the ending, and am thoroughly looking forward to the next one.
Overall, a great choice for anyone who loves epic fantasy, and particularly epic fantasy with complex and deep worldbuilding.
To learn more about the author, click here.
To preorder this book click here!