Union of Renegades by Tracy Falbe - 5/5 stars
This story is a beast - 180,000 words of pure epic fantasy. I read all of it. It took me a month. Every word was worth it!
The story starts off with an interesting premise; that of warrior-general Dreibrand, of the conquering Atrophane army. He yearns to explore the Wilderness, an exotic and unknown land to the West. But he is of a family cast into disrepute, and has to work hard to win the favour of Hordemaster Kwan, his superior.
The other main character was Miranda. I found her story strangely and unexpectedly compelling; beaten and oppressed by her petty, but physically intimidating, partner who is intent on using her to put coins in his pocket.
The beginning of the story certainly piqued my interest, and had enough elements to prod my curiosity. The next 80% is a fantastic build-up of events, where we see new characters and places interwoven with a mysterious race called the rys, blue magical beings.
After having been unable to stop reading this well-crafted and weaved story with multiple character viewpoints, I was really looking forward to some action. The build-up was great and certainly intriguing, but I wanted to be rewarded. And alas, I was. The last 10% was a fulfilling reward to a well-rounded story, and gives the reader satisfaction that they have read a great book. But unfortunately the reader feels they must read the next book to learn more about the characters, which made this technique a double-edged sword.
There were a few spelling and grammatical mistakes in this book, which intensified just before the middle, I think, but they did ease up for the second half of the story.
Overall this story is a pleasant world to be immersed in, and a thoroughly enjoyable read. The paperback set on the author’s website looks very tempting.