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Caithan Crusade #1
Call of Madness
Great power commands a great price...
Magic has been forbidden in Caithe for 200 years and those born with magic—the Lorngeld—are considered the devil’s children. The Lorngeld are ruthlessly executed by the Caithan Church before they can be corrupted by mind-plague—the volatile madness that afflicts untrained wizards. Only King Kelwyn, artificially gifted with borrowed magic, is exempt from punishment. His daughter may not be so lucky.
Impertinent and rebellious, Princess Athaya prefers to spend her time gambling and drinking rather than courting would-be suitors. Discovering that she is a natural-born wizard is an unwelcome surprise. But there are those who believe it is a gift, and that an adept of Athaya’s inherent ability may be an opportunity to finally lead the Lorngeld out of persecution.
Torn between loyalty to her kingdom, her duty to the Lorngeld, and her own impulsive heart, Athaya must harness her burgeoning magic before it drives her mad, and learn to wield its power before those who fear it—and those who envy it—can destroy her.
Magic has been forbidden in Caithe for 200 years and those born with magic—the Lorngeld—are considered the devil’s children. The Lorngeld are ruthlessly executed by the Caithan Church before they can be corrupted by mind-plague—the volatile madness that afflicts untrained wizards. Only King Kelwyn, artificially gifted with borrowed magic, is exempt from punishment. His daughter may not be so lucky.
Impertinent and rebellious, Princess Athaya prefers to spend her time gambling and drinking rather than courting would-be suitors. Discovering that she is a natural-born wizard is an unwelcome surprise. But there are those who believe it is a gift, and that an adept of Athaya’s inherent ability may be an opportunity to finally lead the Lorngeld out of persecution.
Torn between loyalty to her kingdom, her duty to the Lorngeld, and her own impulsive heart, Athaya must harness her burgeoning magic before it drives her mad, and learn to wield its power before those who fear it—and those who envy it—can destroy her.
311 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 13, 1990
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118 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 23, 2013
I loved this series! It was so unique and different from all the other fantasy books out there. I loved the spirit Athaya was written in and her complex relationship with Jaren.
Julie really thought out the magic system in this series...and if was very clear and natural. You could almost imagine being able to cast the spells standing in the corridors of your mind.
I really wish these books would have gotten more attention as they were great from start to finish. I don't know what happened to he author, but I wish she would return to writing with how easy it is to self publish.
If you like magic and a good story, I would give Julie's series a try!
Julie really thought out the magic system in this series...and if was very clear and natural. You could almost imagine being able to cast the spells standing in the corridors of your mind.
I really wish these books would have gotten more attention as they were great from start to finish. I don't know what happened to he author, but I wish she would return to writing with how easy it is to self publish.
If you like magic and a good story, I would give Julie's series a try!
January 18, 2012
Julie Dean Smith wrote some great stuff with this series. Not your typical fantasy. Not a ripoff of Tolkein as so many are. Just a decent story.
Good series.
--Wag--
Good series.
--Wag--
December 20, 2019
In the land of Caith, magic is evil. And unlike other franchises or realities, this conclusion isn’t so unreasonable: mages go mad and, in their delusion, use their power destructively. Thus mages are slaughtered via a religious practice known as ‘absolution.’
Curiously exempt from both the madness and the slaughter is the king’s wizard adviser. And there’s the king himself—though not born with powers, he’s worked with his adviser to gain some modicum of magic to help unification of his fractured country.
So magic is evil except when it’s applied to the rich and powerful. Well, that’s tremendously realistic.
None of this matters to Caith’s princess, Athaya. She’s bored, petulant, moody. She feels vaguely bad for the mages, but doesn’t see any alternative, and besides, it’s not her problem.
I struggled with Athaya. I’m sure the author thought that they had written a strong female character, but I assert that if you character is just contrary and reckless, that’s not strength. And dear cod is Athaya contrary and reckless. She’s no Bastard Princess—she doesn’t go out of her way to prove how strong she is—she’s just cocky and clueless. Example:
Athaya beats a man at cards in a dingy tavern. He angrily accuses her of cheating. She mocks him. Because of her arrogance, I assumed she’s a whiz at knife-play or has a burly friend nearby to intercede on her behalf. Nope. Aggressive man steals her dagger, marches her upstairs at knifepoint, and tries to rape her. She gets a lucky shot at his balls and escapes, leaving him in a crumpled pile. And then … she stays at the tavern?
I know she’s a princess used to a decent amount of privilege, but that didn’t save her when he first attacked her. She was very, very nearly raped. Why is she sticking around?
Naturally, he sends friends to get revenge. They STEAL HER DAGGER AGAIN. Why does she even carry that thing? It seems more a danger than an asset.
She gives them a withering look. “Do you mind?” she says, as if they’re playing keep-away with her hat.
Bitch, the man who tried to rape you sent friends and they just stole your dagger. Do you have no innate sense of self-preservation?
Sure, this is chapter one. She needs to have flaws so she can grow before our eyes. I get that, but her behavior is so contrary to how almost anyone else would react in this situation that my ability to suspend disbelief is stretched thiiiiin.
And while won’t get into spoilers yet, I would argue that she never evolves past this reckless, selfish, and contrarian behavior. Her causes may get loftier, she may finally have some sort of moral conviction, but she’s still foolish. Worse, I’d say she becomes more selfish as the book goes on. Sneaking off to play cards in a bad tavern is one thing—if things go sideways, she’ll only hurt herself. Her decisions going forward, however…
I guess in general I have an issue with characterization. Athaya is clueless and reckless and selfish despite being brave and noble and self-sacrificing; she’s whatever is convenient for advancing the plot. Everyone around Athaya, however, is either 100% her ally or enemy. The allies’ loyalty never wavers and the enemies are so single-mindedly ruthless about Athaya that they’re one-dimensional, which is neither realistic nor interesting. Any time the story poses a question about the potential actions of a character, you can predict the answer with certainty, so long as you’re paying attention to the narrative.
Which, I admit, I struggled with for the first 100 pages because the only plot was Athaya being like “Ugh, I don’t want to get married off to some prince, I want to marry my hunky captain-of-the-guard boyfriend. But my shitty father is probably right and I should be a better daughter even though I don’t care what he thinks. Also, bummer about the ritualistic slaughter of mages thing.”
Now, I would normally consider something that happens 100 pages deep in a book to be a spoiler, but if the back copy doesn’t worry about divulging it, then neither do I: Athaya is a latent mage.
Finally there’s a hook. Hell, there’s even the hint of a series-worthy plot. Huzzah!
That feeling lasted for a few pages before returning to the quality of the first hundred pages for another hundred pages.
Call of Madness did end on a massive upswing. Despite Athaya continuing to be Athaya, the last 125 pages were legitimate page turners. Awesome concepts were introduced, and more than one thing came entirely out of left-field and left me agape in a good way.
Other reviews that say this isn’t a standard fantasy are correct. It’s neither Tolkien-esque, nor does it fall into that camp of medieval-style fantasy were political intrigue and foreign wars rule the plot. There’s not a single monster, and while there is magic and it’s integral to the plot, it’s not a crutch. There are serious positives to be said about the book, though all of them are straight-up spoilers.
I’m half-tempted to keep reading the series, since it feels like the author hit her stride as the book came to a close, but I don’t think I’m going to.
One reason is a lack of attention to detail. For example, the relationship between Athaya’s brother, Nicolas, and her captain-of-the-guard boyfriend, Tyler. When the two first interact on screen, Tyler refers to Nicolas in all-seriousness as “Your highness,” and Nicolas gets all “Ew, no. Just call me Nicolas.”
About a day later Tyler and Nicolas are together and Nicolas teases Tyler lightly. Tyler responds with the equivalent of “Knock it off, you knucklehead.”
There’s no way he’s made that mental leap in a day, especially when this is royalty v non-royalty. That sort of social conditioning runs deep. I’m 32 and I still can’t bring myself to call my best friend’s mother by her first name—even though she asked me to at least 15 years ago. The thought of mocking her, even in obvious jest, mortifies me.
Then, near the end of the book, Athaya reflects back on the fact that Nicolas has been good friends with Tyler for years.
But … on page seventeen it’s absolutely clear that Tyler and Nicolas have no personal relationship whatsoever.
That might not seem like a big deal, but for me it’s huge. Someone—either the author or the editor—should have caught that. And yet it’s still there, presumably to help the story-telling, plot, and emotional engagement of the reader. But if the facts of the story are that malleable from beginning to end of book one—I'm not sure I want to know what liberties are taken between book one and book four.
The author also doesn’t seem to have a firm grasp on POV. Call of Madness is mostly Athaya’s POV—except when it’s convenient to let the internal state of any of the other characters known.
Oh, and this is just a serious pet-peeve, but I abhor when authors refer to grown-ass sexual women as “young girls.” If a young boy is, like, under the age of 9, then a young girl is, too. There’s no such thing as a “buxom young girl,” as described in this book about a pointedly sexual bar maid.
My other points are spoilers, so, continue with caution.
And, as previously stated, the beats were so right on the last 125ish pages that I read it in one sitting. There is good here. And it’s entirely possible that in a month I’ll still be kicking Call of Madness around in my head and, if I am, I’ll pick up the next book in the series. I wouldn’t count on it, though.
Cover art by Michael Herring.
[I read old fantasy and sci-fi novels written by women authors in search of forgotten gems. See more at forfemfan.com]
Curiously exempt from both the madness and the slaughter is the king’s wizard adviser. And there’s the king himself—though not born with powers, he’s worked with his adviser to gain some modicum of magic to help unification of his fractured country.
So magic is evil except when it’s applied to the rich and powerful. Well, that’s tremendously realistic.
None of this matters to Caith’s princess, Athaya. She’s bored, petulant, moody. She feels vaguely bad for the mages, but doesn’t see any alternative, and besides, it’s not her problem.
I struggled with Athaya. I’m sure the author thought that they had written a strong female character, but I assert that if you character is just contrary and reckless, that’s not strength. And dear cod is Athaya contrary and reckless. She’s no Bastard Princess—she doesn’t go out of her way to prove how strong she is—she’s just cocky and clueless. Example:
Athaya beats a man at cards in a dingy tavern. He angrily accuses her of cheating. She mocks him. Because of her arrogance, I assumed she’s a whiz at knife-play or has a burly friend nearby to intercede on her behalf. Nope. Aggressive man steals her dagger, marches her upstairs at knifepoint, and tries to rape her. She gets a lucky shot at his balls and escapes, leaving him in a crumpled pile. And then … she stays at the tavern?
I know she’s a princess used to a decent amount of privilege, but that didn’t save her when he first attacked her. She was very, very nearly raped. Why is she sticking around?
Naturally, he sends friends to get revenge. They STEAL HER DAGGER AGAIN. Why does she even carry that thing? It seems more a danger than an asset.
She gives them a withering look. “Do you mind?” she says, as if they’re playing keep-away with her hat.
Bitch, the man who tried to rape you sent friends and they just stole your dagger. Do you have no innate sense of self-preservation?
Sure, this is chapter one. She needs to have flaws so she can grow before our eyes. I get that, but her behavior is so contrary to how almost anyone else would react in this situation that my ability to suspend disbelief is stretched thiiiiin.
And while won’t get into spoilers yet, I would argue that she never evolves past this reckless, selfish, and contrarian behavior. Her causes may get loftier, she may finally have some sort of moral conviction, but she’s still foolish. Worse, I’d say she becomes more selfish as the book goes on. Sneaking off to play cards in a bad tavern is one thing—if things go sideways, she’ll only hurt herself. Her decisions going forward, however…
I guess in general I have an issue with characterization. Athaya is clueless and reckless and selfish despite being brave and noble and self-sacrificing; she’s whatever is convenient for advancing the plot. Everyone around Athaya, however, is either 100% her ally or enemy. The allies’ loyalty never wavers and the enemies are so single-mindedly ruthless about Athaya that they’re one-dimensional, which is neither realistic nor interesting. Any time the story poses a question about the potential actions of a character, you can predict the answer with certainty, so long as you’re paying attention to the narrative.
Which, I admit, I struggled with for the first 100 pages because the only plot was Athaya being like “Ugh, I don’t want to get married off to some prince, I want to marry my hunky captain-of-the-guard boyfriend. But my shitty father is probably right and I should be a better daughter even though I don’t care what he thinks. Also, bummer about the ritualistic slaughter of mages thing.”
Now, I would normally consider something that happens 100 pages deep in a book to be a spoiler, but if the back copy doesn’t worry about divulging it, then neither do I: Athaya is a latent mage.
Finally there’s a hook. Hell, there’s even the hint of a series-worthy plot. Huzzah!
That feeling lasted for a few pages before returning to the quality of the first hundred pages for another hundred pages.
Call of Madness did end on a massive upswing. Despite Athaya continuing to be Athaya, the last 125 pages were legitimate page turners. Awesome concepts were introduced, and more than one thing came entirely out of left-field and left me agape in a good way.
Other reviews that say this isn’t a standard fantasy are correct. It’s neither Tolkien-esque, nor does it fall into that camp of medieval-style fantasy were political intrigue and foreign wars rule the plot. There’s not a single monster, and while there is magic and it’s integral to the plot, it’s not a crutch. There are serious positives to be said about the book, though all of them are straight-up spoilers.
I’m half-tempted to keep reading the series, since it feels like the author hit her stride as the book came to a close, but I don’t think I’m going to.
One reason is a lack of attention to detail. For example, the relationship between Athaya’s brother, Nicolas, and her captain-of-the-guard boyfriend, Tyler. When the two first interact on screen, Tyler refers to Nicolas in all-seriousness as “Your highness,” and Nicolas gets all “Ew, no. Just call me Nicolas.”
About a day later Tyler and Nicolas are together and Nicolas teases Tyler lightly. Tyler responds with the equivalent of “Knock it off, you knucklehead.”
There’s no way he’s made that mental leap in a day, especially when this is royalty v non-royalty. That sort of social conditioning runs deep. I’m 32 and I still can’t bring myself to call my best friend’s mother by her first name—even though she asked me to at least 15 years ago. The thought of mocking her, even in obvious jest, mortifies me.
Then, near the end of the book, Athaya reflects back on the fact that Nicolas has been good friends with Tyler for years.
But … on page seventeen it’s absolutely clear that Tyler and Nicolas have no personal relationship whatsoever.
That might not seem like a big deal, but for me it’s huge. Someone—either the author or the editor—should have caught that. And yet it’s still there, presumably to help the story-telling, plot, and emotional engagement of the reader. But if the facts of the story are that malleable from beginning to end of book one—I'm not sure I want to know what liberties are taken between book one and book four.
The author also doesn’t seem to have a firm grasp on POV. Call of Madness is mostly Athaya’s POV—except when it’s convenient to let the internal state of any of the other characters known.
Oh, and this is just a serious pet-peeve, but I abhor when authors refer to grown-ass sexual women as “young girls.” If a young boy is, like, under the age of 9, then a young girl is, too. There’s no such thing as a “buxom young girl,” as described in this book about a pointedly sexual bar maid.
My other points are spoilers, so, continue with caution.
And, as previously stated, the beats were so right on the last 125ish pages that I read it in one sitting. There is good here. And it’s entirely possible that in a month I’ll still be kicking Call of Madness around in my head and, if I am, I’ll pick up the next book in the series. I wouldn’t count on it, though.
Cover art by Michael Herring.
[I read old fantasy and sci-fi novels written by women authors in search of forgotten gems. See more at forfemfan.com]
February 10, 2025
I found this book at an antique bookstore in Finland, and whenever I visit such a bookstore it's always my goal to find an obscure fantasy, sci-fi, or horror book. This book is definitely obscure, as it only has 106 ratings on Goodreads (107 now with my review). This is apparently the first book of a 4-part series call the Caithan Crusades, and I would classify it as grimdark fantasy. I don't want to spoil too much about what the world is like, but in the kingdom of Caithe, a person born with magic is viewed by the Catholic Church as one of the Devil's Children, scorned by God. The powers of magic don't begin to manifest itself in these people—called the Lorngeld—until 20 or so years later, and if they don't learn how to control and comprehend this magic, they will inevitably be led to madness and lose control over their magic, causing a lot of unintentional harm to others. The Church has developed a way to deal with this eventuality, but I won't spoil what that is. So, are the Church's concerns well-founded, or are the Lorngeld simply victims of the Church's prejudice? You can probably guess as to which one it is.
The protagonist is a woman named Athaya, who is princess of Caithe, and the early signs of these magical powers begin manifesting in her as she struggles to come to terms with these powers she was born with and putting aside her prejudices against the Lorngeld herself. As princess of Caithe, you can imagine the political implications this has. Besides this political intrigue, there is also conspiracy involved, and some romance, which I know a lot of people enjoy. (It's not my thing, but fortunately it's not overplayed.) What I found most interesting is, obviously as a pastor, the Church angle in the novel. The Church's theological justification for their views against the Lorngeld, while prejudiced, are nonetheless interesting. On the one hand, I'm tired of the old trope that the Church is the main antagonist, but I do commend Smith for having the motivations of the protagonists to REFORM the Church rather than destroying it as combative atheists. Basically, the Church of Caithe needs their own Martin Luther—which, as a Lutheran pastor, I of course love. But we'll see if these motivations of reformation remain the same throughout the series. I hope it does.
On Goodreads, this book has an average rating of 3.37, which isn't entirely bad, but I find it surprising because I actually liked the book a lot. The plot does move quite fast, but that's to be expected of a book that's only 311 pages. Even though it is quite fast-paced, I still thoroughly enjoyed the pace of the plot and the character development. I do like Athaya, the protagonist, but at times I found myself annoyed by her because she can be quite childish and impulsive at times, and she's incredibly naïve. But I don't fault this against the author because Athaya is a spoiled princess (even though she doesn't like the life she was born into), and her impulsivity, naïveté, and penchant to mess everything up is part of her character; and a completely likable protagonist wouldn't make them a realistic person, in my opinion. I'm interested to see how she develops as a character and possibly improves on these flaws throughout the series.
There are two main themes throughout the book. The first is the obvious one: the Church's view on the use of magic. As a pastor, there isn't really much to say about this compared to the real life Church's view against magic. In the real world, the real magic that's condemned are things like divination, mediums, psychics, and so forth, not things like conjuring fire or telekinesis because those things are completely imaginary, not real. If such magic did exist, I would be of the opinion that it's a gift of God. The second theme is duty, which is something Athaya struggles with deeply. She's faced with having to choose between the man she loves versus her duty as princess of Caithe, as well as her duty as a Lorngeld. Her duties are ones she's had no choice over, and she struggles with the duties that are expected of her and what she really wants to do with her life. This speaks to the vocations God has given each of us. There are few times we do get to choose our own vocations, such as our job (sometimes), but even then these are duties given to us by God. And at other times, it seems like we don't get to decide the vocations God has given us. So, like Athaya, we are left with the decision of accepting the honor of fulfilling our God-given duties, or abrogating them. These are surprisingly profound themes for such a short book, and they are explored exceptionally well in such few pages.
So, I really enjoyed the book—the magic system is rather unique, the persecution of the Lorngeld reminds me of the Dragon Age video game franchise, there are classic antagonists, and there are unexpected twists. I'm definitely going to get the rest of the series. From the research I've done, it looks like these 4 books are the only ones Smith has published, and so far the first book is extremely underrated, in my opinion, and I'm eager to see how Smith continues and finishes the series.
The protagonist is a woman named Athaya, who is princess of Caithe, and the early signs of these magical powers begin manifesting in her as she struggles to come to terms with these powers she was born with and putting aside her prejudices against the Lorngeld herself. As princess of Caithe, you can imagine the political implications this has. Besides this political intrigue, there is also conspiracy involved, and some romance, which I know a lot of people enjoy. (It's not my thing, but fortunately it's not overplayed.) What I found most interesting is, obviously as a pastor, the Church angle in the novel. The Church's theological justification for their views against the Lorngeld, while prejudiced, are nonetheless interesting. On the one hand, I'm tired of the old trope that the Church is the main antagonist, but I do commend Smith for having the motivations of the protagonists to REFORM the Church rather than destroying it as combative atheists. Basically, the Church of Caithe needs their own Martin Luther—which, as a Lutheran pastor, I of course love. But we'll see if these motivations of reformation remain the same throughout the series. I hope it does.
On Goodreads, this book has an average rating of 3.37, which isn't entirely bad, but I find it surprising because I actually liked the book a lot. The plot does move quite fast, but that's to be expected of a book that's only 311 pages. Even though it is quite fast-paced, I still thoroughly enjoyed the pace of the plot and the character development. I do like Athaya, the protagonist, but at times I found myself annoyed by her because she can be quite childish and impulsive at times, and she's incredibly naïve. But I don't fault this against the author because Athaya is a spoiled princess (even though she doesn't like the life she was born into), and her impulsivity, naïveté, and penchant to mess everything up is part of her character; and a completely likable protagonist wouldn't make them a realistic person, in my opinion. I'm interested to see how she develops as a character and possibly improves on these flaws throughout the series.
There are two main themes throughout the book. The first is the obvious one: the Church's view on the use of magic. As a pastor, there isn't really much to say about this compared to the real life Church's view against magic. In the real world, the real magic that's condemned are things like divination, mediums, psychics, and so forth, not things like conjuring fire or telekinesis because those things are completely imaginary, not real. If such magic did exist, I would be of the opinion that it's a gift of God. The second theme is duty, which is something Athaya struggles with deeply. She's faced with having to choose between the man she loves versus her duty as princess of Caithe, as well as her duty as a Lorngeld. Her duties are ones she's had no choice over, and she struggles with the duties that are expected of her and what she really wants to do with her life. This speaks to the vocations God has given each of us. There are few times we do get to choose our own vocations, such as our job (sometimes), but even then these are duties given to us by God. And at other times, it seems like we don't get to decide the vocations God has given us. So, like Athaya, we are left with the decision of accepting the honor of fulfilling our God-given duties, or abrogating them. These are surprisingly profound themes for such a short book, and they are explored exceptionally well in such few pages.
So, I really enjoyed the book—the magic system is rather unique, the persecution of the Lorngeld reminds me of the Dragon Age video game franchise, there are classic antagonists, and there are unexpected twists. I'm definitely going to get the rest of the series. From the research I've done, it looks like these 4 books are the only ones Smith has published, and so far the first book is extremely underrated, in my opinion, and I'm eager to see how Smith continues and finishes the series.
May 30, 2021
For the first quarter of this book, I had figured I'd probably end up giving it three stars. It seemed like your regular, by-the-numbers fantasy book. Inoffensive but also nothing to write home about. By the half point, it had became abundantly clear that this would not be the case. That's because this book ends up not sticking with you in the slightest. Apart from from the last 100 pages or so, my eyes often ended up just gliding over the text because there wasn't anything to grasp on to. And sadly, this glide never felt effortless. Let's go through a few reasons why.
Reactionary Main Character Most of the story feels like it is just being pushed and pulled by the wings of fate. Everything is done because the situation requires it and we ended in places not because we want to but because we must. Even the scenes that are clearly meant to establish what kind of main character we have are all about them reacting to situations, never choosing to act on something. This makes it a chore to follow them because it feels like we are supposed to follow someone else's story. Someone who's doing something.
Ease of Emotions Unfortunately this is not in reference to the characters' ability to freely and healthily express their emotions. No, this is about their apparent ability to have complex struggles of character and emotion in mere moments. A couple of the central characters are faced with complete paradigm shifts whereby their whole world view is essentially disproved. Naturally, this emotional and hard struggle is done and over with after an exposition dump or two or potentially, with none. This makes the story feel too easy. The conflicts are resolved too easily. Only people who resist are depicted as obstinate and backwards. If no-one has to work on anything, the conflict doesn't work for us.
Thin World If you'd ask me what customs the nations mentioned in this story have, I couldn't tell you. If you'd ask me to describe them, I could probably muster "European middle ages inspired, with magic and religion is evil except when not". There are conflicting religious beliefs in this book. Both worship "God". It is never made clear if it is a same god or a different god. One of the big moments in this book is when the main character finds out that the view of the world she has learned is not true. In fact, the truth is essentially the opposite with no shades of grey. We are told this through an exposition dump naturally. This book was really bad at making me feel the places it was telling me about. It only tells - and I do mean tells - the reader what they absolutely need to know. Nothing is ever shown, indicated, or implied. I'd say a lot of by the numbers fantasy novels have this issue, but usually it's made up by the story or characters. As indicated in part by above entries, this is not the case here.
There are other issues, such as poor pacing, as well, but these were the major ones that made me actually dislike reading this book. Only reason why it is not one star is because it is not offensive in any overt way. It just is, neatly packaged in book form.
Reactionary Main Character Most of the story feels like it is just being pushed and pulled by the wings of fate. Everything is done because the situation requires it and we ended in places not because we want to but because we must. Even the scenes that are clearly meant to establish what kind of main character we have are all about them reacting to situations, never choosing to act on something. This makes it a chore to follow them because it feels like we are supposed to follow someone else's story. Someone who's doing something.
Ease of Emotions Unfortunately this is not in reference to the characters' ability to freely and healthily express their emotions. No, this is about their apparent ability to have complex struggles of character and emotion in mere moments. A couple of the central characters are faced with complete paradigm shifts whereby their whole world view is essentially disproved. Naturally, this emotional and hard struggle is done and over with after an exposition dump or two or potentially, with none. This makes the story feel too easy. The conflicts are resolved too easily. Only people who resist are depicted as obstinate and backwards. If no-one has to work on anything, the conflict doesn't work for us.
Thin World If you'd ask me what customs the nations mentioned in this story have, I couldn't tell you. If you'd ask me to describe them, I could probably muster "European middle ages inspired, with magic and religion is evil except when not". There are conflicting religious beliefs in this book. Both worship "God". It is never made clear if it is a same god or a different god. One of the big moments in this book is when the main character finds out that the view of the world she has learned is not true. In fact, the truth is essentially the opposite with no shades of grey. We are told this through an exposition dump naturally. This book was really bad at making me feel the places it was telling me about. It only tells - and I do mean tells - the reader what they absolutely need to know. Nothing is ever shown, indicated, or implied. I'd say a lot of by the numbers fantasy novels have this issue, but usually it's made up by the story or characters. As indicated in part by above entries, this is not the case here.
There are other issues, such as poor pacing, as well, but these were the major ones that made me actually dislike reading this book. Only reason why it is not one star is because it is not offensive in any overt way. It just is, neatly packaged in book form.
July 12, 2025
An oldie but a goodie! Do not judge this book by its cover! Full of intrigue, magic, adventure, love, loss, twists and turns, witty banter, and strength. The FMC is headstrong and determined. She is going to run life by her playbook. Either join her in her quest, or stay out of the way. This can be very frustrating at times, but admirable. I throughly enjoyed this read and looking forward to continuing the adventure in the next book in the series!
May 6, 2020
God book. Bogs down in the middle but regains momentum.
May 3, 2023
Book did more "telling" than "showing".
April 2, 2015
Old skool, teenage favorite recently found at a used bookstore.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews