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The Balance Academy #1
The Healers' Road
An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.
Agna had looked forward to her overseas assignment for the last four years. It was just a side project on the way to taking over her father’s art agency, of course, but she eagerly awaited the opportunity to use her education and prove that studying to be a magical healer had been worthwhile.
Keifon never wanted to leave home. His choice was bleak: ship himself overseas, or be shut out by the man he loved. But he followed the gods’ will. He only wanted to spend some time alone, make himself useful to the foreigners as a medic, and make up for the things he’d done.
Two strangers, two years, one mission: Travel the back roads of an unfamiliar country and heal those who need to be healed. Including, perhaps, themselves.
The Healers' Road is a fantasy/character-study novel (122,000 words). Book 2, The Healers' Home, is available now!
Agna had looked forward to her overseas assignment for the last four years. It was just a side project on the way to taking over her father’s art agency, of course, but she eagerly awaited the opportunity to use her education and prove that studying to be a magical healer had been worthwhile.
Keifon never wanted to leave home. His choice was bleak: ship himself overseas, or be shut out by the man he loved. But he followed the gods’ will. He only wanted to spend some time alone, make himself useful to the foreigners as a medic, and make up for the things he’d done.
Two strangers, two years, one mission: Travel the back roads of an unfamiliar country and heal those who need to be healed. Including, perhaps, themselves.
The Healers' Road is a fantasy/character-study novel (122,000 words). Book 2, The Healers' Home, is available now!
290 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 18, 2014
97 people are currently reading
1585 people want to read
About the author
S.E. Robertson
4 books34 followersS.E. Robertson lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and their cat. She enjoys quilting, making bespoke teddy bears, gardening, working through her giant to-be-read book pile, discovering new music, and occasionally cosplaying as villainous characters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
November 2, 2016
This is an unusual book. Yes, yes, I know I specialise in unusual books; not for me the dull old treadmill of mainstream popular works. I read stuff you’ve never heard of. But this book is special: I came across it on a forum where the author lamented that she’d only sold… no, let’s not put a number on it. Let’s just say: not very many. So this is a book that nobody has ever heard of.
So what’s it about? Well, let me tell you first what it’s not about. It’s not about saving the world. It’s not about finding the lost heir to the kingdom. There’s no quest, no named sword, no moustache-twirling villain, no prophecy. There are no orcs, dwarves, elves or goblins. No dragons, either, sadly (every fantasy book should have dragons, in my opinion, but there you go). There are no witches, werewolves, vampires.
OK, I hear you saying, so what the **** IS in it, then? People, that’s what. No, not characters, these are real, flesh-and-blood people, who happen to live in the pages of a book. They have histories and personalities, they have weaknesses and strengths, they have beliefs, hopes and dreams, fears and uncertainties. You know, just like everyone.
Here’s the premise. Agna is a young healer from a rich family in Nessiny, trained to use magic to heal. Sent to a foreign land to repay her training in service to others, she joins a caravan of merchants and craftspeople travelling through the towns and villages. Keifon is an army-trained medic from Yanwei, deeply religious but with his own demons, assigned to be her partner. She thinks he’s surly and rude. He thinks she’s a spoiled rich brat.
And herein lies the whole story: two very different people, from vastly different backgrounds, who have to learn not only to work together, as healers with diametrically opposed methods, but also to live together under the basic conditions of the caravan. It’s not so much what happens that’s interesting, but how: the almost imperceptible inching towards an accommodation, the delicate dance around each other.
If you’re looking for a book filled with action, or any action at all, you won’t find it here. There is perhaps only one moment that qualifies in the whole book. But if you’re looking for something deeper, a painting in words, if you like, where every tiny moment, every glance or touch or word is a perfectly nuanced brush-stroke, this is the book for you. If ever you wanted to know what literary fantasy looks like, this is it. A wonderful book. Five stars.
So what’s it about? Well, let me tell you first what it’s not about. It’s not about saving the world. It’s not about finding the lost heir to the kingdom. There’s no quest, no named sword, no moustache-twirling villain, no prophecy. There are no orcs, dwarves, elves or goblins. No dragons, either, sadly (every fantasy book should have dragons, in my opinion, but there you go). There are no witches, werewolves, vampires.
OK, I hear you saying, so what the **** IS in it, then? People, that’s what. No, not characters, these are real, flesh-and-blood people, who happen to live in the pages of a book. They have histories and personalities, they have weaknesses and strengths, they have beliefs, hopes and dreams, fears and uncertainties. You know, just like everyone.
Here’s the premise. Agna is a young healer from a rich family in Nessiny, trained to use magic to heal. Sent to a foreign land to repay her training in service to others, she joins a caravan of merchants and craftspeople travelling through the towns and villages. Keifon is an army-trained medic from Yanwei, deeply religious but with his own demons, assigned to be her partner. She thinks he’s surly and rude. He thinks she’s a spoiled rich brat.
And herein lies the whole story: two very different people, from vastly different backgrounds, who have to learn not only to work together, as healers with diametrically opposed methods, but also to live together under the basic conditions of the caravan. It’s not so much what happens that’s interesting, but how: the almost imperceptible inching towards an accommodation, the delicate dance around each other.
If you’re looking for a book filled with action, or any action at all, you won’t find it here. There is perhaps only one moment that qualifies in the whole book. But if you’re looking for something deeper, a painting in words, if you like, where every tiny moment, every glance or touch or word is a perfectly nuanced brush-stroke, this is the book for you. If ever you wanted to know what literary fantasy looks like, this is it. A wonderful book. Five stars.
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November 4, 2022“The ground has to be soft for things to grow."
CW: Alcoholism, robbery
So What’s It About?
Agna had looked forward to her overseas assignment for the last four years. It was just a side project on the way to taking over her father’s art agency, of course, but she eagerly awaited the opportunity to use her education and prove that studying to be a magical healer had been worthwhile.
Keifon never wanted to leave home. His choice was bleak: ship himself overseas, or be shut out by the man he loved. But he followed the gods’ will. He only wanted to spend some time alone, make himself useful to the foreigners as a medic, and make up for the things he’d done.
Two strangers, two years, one mission: Travel the back roads of an unfamiliar country and heal those who need to be healed. Including, perhaps, themselves.
What I Thought
I’ve been reading more indie SFF than ever before this year, and I’m so pleased by that. I’ve had these books recommended to me as the ultimate slice of life reads, and they’re pretty much the epitome of that genre as well as my “no plot, just cozy” shelf on Goodreads. If you need high-octane thrills and crazy action in your fantasy, this isn’t going to be a good fit. But if you’re looking for the slowest of slow burns, genuine character/relationship growth from characters who feel like real people and lots and lots of little details of day-to-day happenings, you couldn’t ask for anything better.
I am really fond of both Keifon and Agna because they feel so real. They are loveable and flawed - Keifon with his terminal pessimism and self-hatred and Agna with her sheltered arrogance and superiority that hides her insecurity. It’s such a pleasure to see such well-rounded characters, and it’s even better when they interact in ways that also feel so grounded and realistic.
They start out hating each other and making giant assumptions about each other - it’s very well-done, as is the way that they gradually try to bridge the game between them. The trust and friendship that ultimately develops between them is very lovely. What it all comes down to is vulnerability and how hard it can be to be vulnerable - as Keifon reflects, “if she was human, then [he] wasn’t alone.” There are some great moments that demonstrate how hard it is to break out of habitual mistrust and defensiveness, but how incredibly worth it it can be to be vulnerable. One example is Agna’s distress when she assumes that her love interest Laris is making fun of her by showing interest in her - she then works through it and is able to start a relationship with him. I also loved the scene where Keifon tells Agna about his homelessness, alcoholism and losing his daughter despite his incredible shame about these things.
The second biggest theme is the interplay of different cultures and the complexities of learning about new cultures. Once they call a truce and start to become friends, Keifon and Agna deliberately try to learn each other’s languages and try to understand each other’s cultures, religions, educations and approaches to healing. These cultures and religions are interesting and well-developed, and I really liked the emphasis on learning about things you don’t know because they are important to people you care about.
This is a short and sweet read that I would recommend to anyone looking for the dynamics and elements I mentioned at the very start of this review. I’ve already read the second and third books (actually, I beta-read the third book!!) at the time of writing this review (due to my fatal inability to write reviews in a timely manner) and I’m happy to say that good things await anyone who continues the series.
CW: Alcoholism, robbery
So What’s It About?
Agna had looked forward to her overseas assignment for the last four years. It was just a side project on the way to taking over her father’s art agency, of course, but she eagerly awaited the opportunity to use her education and prove that studying to be a magical healer had been worthwhile.
Keifon never wanted to leave home. His choice was bleak: ship himself overseas, or be shut out by the man he loved. But he followed the gods’ will. He only wanted to spend some time alone, make himself useful to the foreigners as a medic, and make up for the things he’d done.
Two strangers, two years, one mission: Travel the back roads of an unfamiliar country and heal those who need to be healed. Including, perhaps, themselves.
What I Thought
I’ve been reading more indie SFF than ever before this year, and I’m so pleased by that. I’ve had these books recommended to me as the ultimate slice of life reads, and they’re pretty much the epitome of that genre as well as my “no plot, just cozy” shelf on Goodreads. If you need high-octane thrills and crazy action in your fantasy, this isn’t going to be a good fit. But if you’re looking for the slowest of slow burns, genuine character/relationship growth from characters who feel like real people and lots and lots of little details of day-to-day happenings, you couldn’t ask for anything better.
I am really fond of both Keifon and Agna because they feel so real. They are loveable and flawed - Keifon with his terminal pessimism and self-hatred and Agna with her sheltered arrogance and superiority that hides her insecurity. It’s such a pleasure to see such well-rounded characters, and it’s even better when they interact in ways that also feel so grounded and realistic.
They start out hating each other and making giant assumptions about each other - it’s very well-done, as is the way that they gradually try to bridge the game between them. The trust and friendship that ultimately develops between them is very lovely. What it all comes down to is vulnerability and how hard it can be to be vulnerable - as Keifon reflects, “if she was human, then [he] wasn’t alone.” There are some great moments that demonstrate how hard it is to break out of habitual mistrust and defensiveness, but how incredibly worth it it can be to be vulnerable. One example is Agna’s distress when she assumes that her love interest Laris is making fun of her by showing interest in her - she then works through it and is able to start a relationship with him. I also loved the scene where Keifon tells Agna about his homelessness, alcoholism and losing his daughter despite his incredible shame about these things.
The second biggest theme is the interplay of different cultures and the complexities of learning about new cultures. Once they call a truce and start to become friends, Keifon and Agna deliberately try to learn each other’s languages and try to understand each other’s cultures, religions, educations and approaches to healing. These cultures and religions are interesting and well-developed, and I really liked the emphasis on learning about things you don’t know because they are important to people you care about.
This is a short and sweet read that I would recommend to anyone looking for the dynamics and elements I mentioned at the very start of this review. I’ve already read the second and third books (actually, I beta-read the third book!!) at the time of writing this review (due to my fatal inability to write reviews in a timely manner) and I’m happy to say that good things await anyone who continues the series.
September 1, 2015
Я понимаю, почему такие романы почти не пишутся и едва ли читаются. Я понимаю, почему у этой книги всего семь оценок, хотя написана она почти год назад. И да, я понимаю, что и сама в какой-то другой момент своей жизни могла пройти мимо.
Но оттого мне не менее грустно. Грустно, что тысячи людей восхищаются однотипными NA-шными соплежуйками или мутными историями, полными грязи и насилия - что угодно, лишь бы эпатировать публику, привлечь внимание. А необычный в своей простоте и искренности роман так и останется непрочитанным.
Это фэнтези.
Фэнтези без драконов, единорогов, великанов, волшебных палочек, громких заклинаний, обморочных дев, остроухих спасителей и прочих-прочих. Здесь нет антагониста с темным прошлым и коварными планами. Нет таинственных карт, невыполнимых заданий, спрятанных сокровищ и мальчиков со шрамом на лбу.
Есть только люди и долгая дорога к себе.
Агна и Кейфон из разных стран и сословий.
Агна - девушка из обеспеченной семьи, только что окончившая академию маг-целитель.
Кейфон - армейский лекарь, человек крайне набожный и замкнутый.
В обычной жизни они вряд ли бы когда-нибудь пересеклись, но теперь волею судьбы оказались в одном караване как напарники. Это новый проект благотворительной организации - нечто вроде передвижной клиники. Способ доставить помощь туда, где целителей отродясь не водилось.
Караван едет, Агна и Кейфон встречают разных людей, узнают друг друга, но главное - себя самих.
Вот об этом книга. О человеческих страхах, слабостях и пороках. А еще о силе, мужестве, верности. О дружбе и любви. О том, что порой самый глупый поступок в твоей жизни может оказаться самым мудрым.
Книга об исцелении.
Это не захватывающее приключение, но незабываемое путешествие. С обычными-необычными людьми, на месте которых легко представить себя.
Но оттого мне не менее грустно. Грустно, что тысячи людей восхищаются однотипными NA-шными соплежуйками или мутными историями, полными грязи и насилия - что угодно, лишь бы эпатировать публику, привлечь внимание. А необычный в своей простоте и искренности роман так и останется непрочитанным.
Это фэнтези.
Фэнтези без драконов, единорогов, великанов, волшебных палочек, громких заклинаний, обморочных дев, остроухих спасителей и прочих-прочих. Здесь нет антагониста с темным прошлым и коварными планами. Нет таинственных карт, невыполнимых заданий, спрятанных сокровищ и мальчиков со шрамом на лбу.
Есть только люди и долгая дорога к себе.
Агна и Кейфон из разных стран и сословий.
Агна - девушка из обеспеченной семьи, только что окончившая академию маг-целитель.
Кейфон - армейский лекарь, человек крайне набожный и замкнутый.
В обычной жизни они вряд ли бы когда-нибудь пересеклись, но теперь волею судьбы оказались в одном караване как напарники. Это новый проект благотворительной организации - нечто вроде передвижной клиники. Способ доставить помощь туда, где целителей отродясь не водилось.
Караван едет, Агна и Кейфон встречают разных людей, узнают друг друга, но главное - себя самих.
Вот об этом книга. О человеческих страхах, слабостях и пороках. А еще о силе, мужестве, верности. О дружбе и любви. О том, что порой самый глупый поступок в твоей жизни может оказаться самым мудрым.
Книга об исцелении.
Это не захватывающее приключение, но незабываемое путешествие. С обычными-необычными людьми, на месте которых легко представить себя.
March 7, 2018
I read this for the first time several years ago, and I loved it so much then that I was a little worried about how well it would hold up on re-read. Well, I still love it!
This is a somewhat unusual book, meandering slowly through two years of life for Agna and Keifon. There's not a plot, per se, and the world building is gradual and fairly limited. But Agna and Keifon are compelling and well characterized, and slowly through the details of their lives we learn more about their world. The author has a great talent for emotional description and character development. By the end of the story, I felt as though I really knew the pair of them. There's also an assortment of interesting secondary characters who appear in varying levels of detail, but the real focus is on Agna and Keifon.
One of the things that I appreciated most when I first read this book (at that time having very little knowledge of queer sff) is the casual inclusion of different sexualities. Seeing characters like Keifon who are bisexual without anyone making a fuss was, and still is, something that I really appreciate in fiction. I also enjoy that gender and sexuality norms were consistently more inclusive than the ones we live with. Being able to read about worlds without sexism or heterosexism is so incredibly comforting and important for me some days.
This is a somewhat unusual book, meandering slowly through two years of life for Agna and Keifon. There's not a plot, per se, and the world building is gradual and fairly limited. But Agna and Keifon are compelling and well characterized, and slowly through the details of their lives we learn more about their world. The author has a great talent for emotional description and character development. By the end of the story, I felt as though I really knew the pair of them. There's also an assortment of interesting secondary characters who appear in varying levels of detail, but the real focus is on Agna and Keifon.
One of the things that I appreciated most when I first read this book (at that time having very little knowledge of queer sff) is the casual inclusion of different sexualities. Seeing characters like Keifon who are bisexual without anyone making a fuss was, and still is, something that I really appreciate in fiction. I also enjoy that gender and sexuality norms were consistently more inclusive than the ones we live with. Being able to read about worlds without sexism or heterosexism is so incredibly comforting and important for me some days.
December 14, 2016
Strong literary fantasy, with both cultural and gender diversity. This is a story of relationships and personal growth, of coming to terms with yourself and learning to trust in yourself and others. If you're looking for action, there's an exciting moment around the 20% mark, but other than that, this is a story of developments, hope and heartbreak and new beginnings.
I'm surprised this author doesn't have a bigger following! I picked up this book on the strength of Pauline's review. Her review pretty much says it all. ;)
I'm surprised this author doesn't have a bigger following! I picked up this book on the strength of Pauline's review. Her review pretty much says it all. ;)
June 9, 2019
5 stars for this truly lovely book. It is such a shame it has not been read and reviewed more. Thank you Pauline Ross for pointing it out. The story is moving, the writing subtle, and the editing tight.
short version. This is well worth reading. I got it on Kindle Unlimited but I now plan to buy it. Give it a try. And if you like the book check out the authour's site. It was there that I found her link to this song she said was her soundtrack for Keifon's early practice sessions where he is obsessing over his lover. Chinese Zither cover of Adele's Rolling in the Deep
long rambly version.
I am often reminded how much language choices matter, particularly in the labels we use. Most of us seem to know this when we are thinking about words of hate. We are also starting to understand this in relation to gender neutral words. We don't say authoress or lady-teacher any more thank god. But not all labels are bad and I wonder if lack of proper label is how this book slipped through the cracks. On the author's website she lists the genre as "Slice-of-life fantasy in a new-adult frame of reference. Or, if you prefer, platonic bromance meets mundane fantasy." Even after reading the book this makes no sense to me. Goodreads users have it on lists for under rated fantasy and LGBT sci fi and fantasy. And while I can see this I think that most people will expect something entirely different based on those labels. The world is not ours and there is magic so yes it is fantasy. But there is not much time spent on world building, nor are there great adventures or quests. Yes one of the main characters sleeps with both men and women but it is an entire non-issue. At one point he is considering a new relationship and he has both a male and female choice. He ponders several factors when trying to make a decision and not one of them is their gender. This is simply the world our characters live in and they are really what is important in the book.
Our two main characters are Agna and Keifon. They come from 2 different countries and find themselves working as partners in a travelling caravan in a third country. At one point Agna is explaining all the different words for love in her language. Romantic love, love of your children, love of your friends, spiritual love, love of community, et cetera. In many ways that is what this book is about.
Agna is a young healer on her first job. She is from a wealthy background that has her quite unprepared for the rigours of camping. Keifon is an army medic who has had to leave behind a child and a lover. Both are broken and hurting when they start the journey. Additionally they both have prejudices about the other's culture, class, religion, and training. Because they are working and living together in very cramped conditions nearly 24/7 they are obviously their main relationships, but certainly not their only ones. Both have people they have left behind and also form new relationships with others they meet on the way. None of the relationships are fully described. Often all we see are bits of a letter. And somehow it is enough. It does not mean there is less love or less meaning. We are presented with enough of every relationship to understand Agna, Keifon, and their journeys.
While the book does leave open the door for the sequel it was not a cliff hanger. In fact I felt the ending was perfect.
short version. This is well worth reading. I got it on Kindle Unlimited but I now plan to buy it. Give it a try. And if you like the book check out the authour's site. It was there that I found her link to this song she said was her soundtrack for Keifon's early practice sessions where he is obsessing over his lover. Chinese Zither cover of Adele's Rolling in the Deep
long rambly version.
I am often reminded how much language choices matter, particularly in the labels we use. Most of us seem to know this when we are thinking about words of hate. We are also starting to understand this in relation to gender neutral words. We don't say authoress or lady-teacher any more thank god. But not all labels are bad and I wonder if lack of proper label is how this book slipped through the cracks. On the author's website she lists the genre as "Slice-of-life fantasy in a new-adult frame of reference. Or, if you prefer, platonic bromance meets mundane fantasy." Even after reading the book this makes no sense to me. Goodreads users have it on lists for under rated fantasy and LGBT sci fi and fantasy. And while I can see this I think that most people will expect something entirely different based on those labels. The world is not ours and there is magic so yes it is fantasy. But there is not much time spent on world building, nor are there great adventures or quests. Yes one of the main characters sleeps with both men and women but it is an entire non-issue. At one point he is considering a new relationship and he has both a male and female choice. He ponders several factors when trying to make a decision and not one of them is their gender. This is simply the world our characters live in and they are really what is important in the book.
Our two main characters are Agna and Keifon. They come from 2 different countries and find themselves working as partners in a travelling caravan in a third country. At one point Agna is explaining all the different words for love in her language. Romantic love, love of your children, love of your friends, spiritual love, love of community, et cetera. In many ways that is what this book is about.
Agna is a young healer on her first job. She is from a wealthy background that has her quite unprepared for the rigours of camping. Keifon is an army medic who has had to leave behind a child and a lover. Both are broken and hurting when they start the journey. Additionally they both have prejudices about the other's culture, class, religion, and training. Because they are working and living together in very cramped conditions nearly 24/7 they are obviously their main relationships, but certainly not their only ones. Both have people they have left behind and also form new relationships with others they meet on the way. None of the relationships are fully described. Often all we see are bits of a letter. And somehow it is enough. It does not mean there is less love or less meaning. We are presented with enough of every relationship to understand Agna, Keifon, and their journeys.
While the book does leave open the door for the sequel it was not a cliff hanger. In fact I felt the ending was perfect.
July 10, 2019
I feel bad - everybody else seemed to love this book, and I...didn't.
The first 25% was exquisitely painful. Everybody making assumptions of each other, and making each other miserable. It reminded me a lot of Fitz in the Robin Hobb series. Agna in particular. But that's fine, it's a deliberate choice of the author. It's something that I decided 10 years ago that I don't like to read, but I got through it.
The next 50% of the book everybody just became too solicitous of each other. There do come points where you can be relatively sure of how somebody will react to something, especially if you've been constant companions for the past year. You don't always have to tiptoe on eggshells for every conversation with a person. Aaaaaaargh!
And there's slow, and then there's a complete lack of goal or resolution of plot. After that first 25% there were a few medical things, and then it just became really introspective on each character.
And Keifon's verbal tics. "Mmn." "Nn." "Hm." "Umn." Repeated ad nauseam. It drove me batty!
Anyway, a lot of the too-solicitous problems I had with this were similar to what I had with Becky Chambers' The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. So ironically, I think I might recommend Healer's Road if you liked Becky Chambers. They're both probably great books, but very much not for me.
The first 25% was exquisitely painful. Everybody making assumptions of each other, and making each other miserable. It reminded me a lot of Fitz in the Robin Hobb series. Agna in particular. But that's fine, it's a deliberate choice of the author. It's something that I decided 10 years ago that I don't like to read, but I got through it.
The next 50% of the book everybody just became too solicitous of each other. There do come points where you can be relatively sure of how somebody will react to something, especially if you've been constant companions for the past year. You don't always have to tiptoe on eggshells for every conversation with a person. Aaaaaaargh!
And there's slow, and then there's a complete lack of goal or resolution of plot. After that first 25% there were a few medical things, and then it just became really introspective on each character.
And Keifon's verbal tics. "Mmn." "Nn." "Hm." "Umn." Repeated ad nauseam. It drove me batty!
Anyway, a lot of the too-solicitous problems I had with this were similar to what I had with Becky Chambers' The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. So ironically, I think I might recommend Healer's Road if you liked Becky Chambers. They're both probably great books, but very much not for me.
July 3, 2019
Read this for the r/fantasy book bingo challenge as "Slice of life".
I actually enjoy slice of life fantasy and this book was recommended repeatedly so I gave it a shot.
Frankly I don't see why it was so hyped. I don't regret reading it and I liked a lot of the things it was trying to do but the execution was not up to the job.
So first the meh (because I prefer to end on positive notes, and there ARE some):
The writing is pretty average and the two protagonists act like socially awkward teenagers. It works for the girl because she comes from a specific sheltered milieu but the man has lived too much, been married, had a child etc. to have a teenager's approach to relationships with people.
There's also a very sudden shift in their relationship halfway through that happens in the space of a couple of pages that feels shoehorned in because the author didn't know how to get them from point A to point B and needed them at point B right this minute. I feel like an earlier, much more important event was the better place to start them getting along better.
The world is not very clearly defined, I wasn't entirely sure what I was supposed to be picturing in my mind and had to make those decision consciously with little corroborating material from the book. So I decided Wildern, for example, looks like an Alsacian small town and Murio looks like 16th century Florence and Vertal maybe like 15th century Paris. Don't ask me about Yanwei, I can't decide if it's Tibet or Scandinavia.
The good:
The caravan concept I liked though we don't get much of caravan life itself. It's really all set in the reduced space of the healers' tents. Still, it's a nice conceit and it felt like there was movement and people and life in the background, even if we hardly got to know anyone in it.
It's an inoffensive sort of book, bit melodramatic at times but that's the high strung characters. It's a safe read that doesn't push you or challenge you much. When I tried to describe it to my sister, I came up with "it's the warm bath of literature. No bubbles or candles or even music, and maybe your neighbours are being noisy, but it's still a bath."
I know a lot of people are sorely in need of this kind of reading experience. I like it too but the writing didn't do it for me with this one.
Would I recommend? Probably not. But I don't regret reading it either. So there's that.
I actually enjoy slice of life fantasy and this book was recommended repeatedly so I gave it a shot.
Frankly I don't see why it was so hyped. I don't regret reading it and I liked a lot of the things it was trying to do but the execution was not up to the job.
So first the meh (because I prefer to end on positive notes, and there ARE some):
The writing is pretty average and the two protagonists act like socially awkward teenagers. It works for the girl because she comes from a specific sheltered milieu but the man has lived too much, been married, had a child etc. to have a teenager's approach to relationships with people.
There's also a very sudden shift in their relationship halfway through that happens in the space of a couple of pages that feels shoehorned in because the author didn't know how to get them from point A to point B and needed them at point B right this minute. I feel like an earlier, much more important event was the better place to start them getting along better.
The world is not very clearly defined, I wasn't entirely sure what I was supposed to be picturing in my mind and had to make those decision consciously with little corroborating material from the book. So I decided Wildern, for example, looks like an Alsacian small town and Murio looks like 16th century Florence and Vertal maybe like 15th century Paris. Don't ask me about Yanwei, I can't decide if it's Tibet or Scandinavia.
The good:
The caravan concept I liked though we don't get much of caravan life itself. It's really all set in the reduced space of the healers' tents. Still, it's a nice conceit and it felt like there was movement and people and life in the background, even if we hardly got to know anyone in it.
It's an inoffensive sort of book, bit melodramatic at times but that's the high strung characters. It's a safe read that doesn't push you or challenge you much. When I tried to describe it to my sister, I came up with "it's the warm bath of literature. No bubbles or candles or even music, and maybe your neighbours are being noisy, but it's still a bath."
I know a lot of people are sorely in need of this kind of reading experience. I like it too but the writing didn't do it for me with this one.
Would I recommend? Probably not. But I don't regret reading it either. So there's that.
December 5, 2018
I saw this recommended on r/fantasy for people looking for slice-of-life fantasy. I didn't really think such stories existed but this book came at the right time for me. The writing style starts out really unremarkable, gradually improving as the story progresses. It isn't anything bad--good enough at moving the story but once we get to know the characters better, the author's style gains some spirit.
I have so many thoughts but I just finished THR and I'm struggling to piece them together. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy character-driven stories where the conflicts that propel these stories are internal rather than external. The Healers' Road is heavily focused on its two main characters, Keifon and Agna, and the bond that grows between them, which becomes something of a lifeboat amid all the personal issues they're struggling with. The relationship is ambiguous so far (officially, a friendship) with romantic undertones that may or may not come to the surface.
I have so many thoughts but I just finished THR and I'm struggling to piece them together. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy character-driven stories where the conflicts that propel these stories are internal rather than external. The Healers' Road is heavily focused on its two main characters, Keifon and Agna, and the bond that grows between them, which becomes something of a lifeboat amid all the personal issues they're struggling with. The relationship is ambiguous so far (officially, a friendship) with romantic undertones that may or may not come to the surface.
June 29, 2023
Unfortunately, I didn't like this book as I hoped I would. The premise and the cover captivated me, as did some comments by other readers somewhere, thus why I felt like trying it too.
I've felt the pace was too slow, then too easy, then too boring... the characters were promising but their emotional development didn't really seem engaging. The road mentioned in the title is physical but also a metaphorical one and I have to say that that part let me down for certain.
The characters also seemed promising, especially because Agna was clearly too naive and a bit spoiled, and Keifon had this secret past, and I was looking for to see them lower their defenses and become friends (I didn't have the vibe the goal was for them to be a couple) and work together. I've imagined that, perhaps, they would eventually rely on one another during the work journey as well as in the emotional changes they would have individually, but... these things didn't captivate me after all.
I know there are two more installments, perhaps some of these elements might be developed then, but I confess I don't feel the appeal now.
I've felt the pace was too slow, then too easy, then too boring... the characters were promising but their emotional development didn't really seem engaging. The road mentioned in the title is physical but also a metaphorical one and I have to say that that part let me down for certain.
The characters also seemed promising, especially because Agna was clearly too naive and a bit spoiled, and Keifon had this secret past, and I was looking for to see them lower their defenses and become friends (I didn't have the vibe the goal was for them to be a couple) and work together. I've imagined that, perhaps, they would eventually rely on one another during the work journey as well as in the emotional changes they would have individually, but... these things didn't captivate me after all.
I know there are two more installments, perhaps some of these elements might be developed then, but I confess I don't feel the appeal now.
February 7, 2020
This was recommended to me as a slow-burn romance, and it's that, but also much more. It's about growing up, moving past your regrets, and building something new. It's very in-depth on characters and very light on action, but I didn't mind that at all. When I find myself tearing up over character's journey, that's when I know that a book has been truly successful for me, and I definitely did that here. Highly recommended if you're into character-driven emotional stories.
January 7, 2019
This is going to be a tough one to review. It's not like any fantasy I've read before. When I think of fantasy novels, I think elves, dragons, sorcery, vast empires, epic scale etc. The Healer's Road isn't at all like that.
Magic is small, and an everyday part of life. It's hardly even noticeable within the context of the book. Agna is a Balance healer, and her patients don't think anything of it. And that's pretty much the extent that magic is used in the book.
What the book is about is people. Friendship. Growing up. Making mistakes, and learning from them. Healing both physically, and emotionally. And it's so much more than that.
Agna is a young, naive woman setting out on her own in a strange country. She's there for all the wrong reasons. Yet, when faced with hardship, she makes the best of things. She also learns from the mistakes she makes.
Keifon is in a bad place. He's made many mistakes culminating with a bad break-up. With a broken heart, and a case of PTSD, he starts his journey only wanting to do something good with his life to make up for past wrongs.
Their relationship gets off to a rocky start. There are many cultural misunderstandings between them, as well as preconceived notions that get in the way of forming any kind of friendship.
During the course of the book, they grow up, they figure things out. As their journey continues, their world expands, and they make more friends, and other kinds of relationships.
Does that sound boring? The conflict is almost entirely personal. There are a few disasters they face along the way, but for the most part, the story focuses on the characters. If you're looking for wizards and sword wielding heroes, this probably isn't the book for you.
But if you want to get caught up in the lives of people who grow, change, figure out their lives, make amends, learn, and eventually decide on their future, then this is the book for you.
It really was a compelling read for me. I enjoyed finding things out alongside Agna and Keifon. I liked finding out more about the country they were traveling through as they discovered it. The deliberate pace might drive some readers crazy, but it was just right for the story being told.
Magic is small, and an everyday part of life. It's hardly even noticeable within the context of the book. Agna is a Balance healer, and her patients don't think anything of it. And that's pretty much the extent that magic is used in the book.
What the book is about is people. Friendship. Growing up. Making mistakes, and learning from them. Healing both physically, and emotionally. And it's so much more than that.
Agna is a young, naive woman setting out on her own in a strange country. She's there for all the wrong reasons. Yet, when faced with hardship, she makes the best of things. She also learns from the mistakes she makes.
Keifon is in a bad place. He's made many mistakes culminating with a bad break-up. With a broken heart, and a case of PTSD, he starts his journey only wanting to do something good with his life to make up for past wrongs.
Their relationship gets off to a rocky start. There are many cultural misunderstandings between them, as well as preconceived notions that get in the way of forming any kind of friendship.
During the course of the book, they grow up, they figure things out. As their journey continues, their world expands, and they make more friends, and other kinds of relationships.
Does that sound boring? The conflict is almost entirely personal. There are a few disasters they face along the way, but for the most part, the story focuses on the characters. If you're looking for wizards and sword wielding heroes, this probably isn't the book for you.
But if you want to get caught up in the lives of people who grow, change, figure out their lives, make amends, learn, and eventually decide on their future, then this is the book for you.
It really was a compelling read for me. I enjoyed finding things out alongside Agna and Keifon. I liked finding out more about the country they were traveling through as they discovered it. The deliberate pace might drive some readers crazy, but it was just right for the story being told.
January 18, 2026
A book rarely makes me cry. Even rarer I would admit it did. And never will I admit this in public.
Let me break this rule just this once.
"The Healers' Road" made me cry.
A little backstory first.
I've learned about this novel in a non-conventional way. I posted an ask to beta read my first completed novel 'The Healer' on Reddit, and S.E. Robertson (the author of "The Healers' Road") reached out to offer their help without asking for a return favor.
I've read the comments that they had left in the doc and grew curious of how they managed to see right through my story. So I asked to share their own work.
That's how I came to learn about this book.
"The Healers' Road" is a beautiful story about Agna and Keifon, two... human beings that end up travelling together in a caravan, sharing a tent, and working side-by-side. They heal people who come to them, and, more importantly, they heal each other over the course of the story.
The story stirred a sweet feeling within me while I was reading about the clumsy attempts at interactions of two deeply hurt human beings. Slow trust building through sharing time together and learning of each other's vulnerabilities and failings, an intricate dance -- one step forward, two steps back... and a long wait to cross the threshold in one's heart. I know this dynamic very well and I can tell that it is painted with great craft. As if lived.
The story is slow-paced but necessarily so. As other reviewers have said, there are no dragons, witches, phoenixes, or leviathans. At least, not directly. There are also no battles. If one excludes the battles within characters' own souls, that is.
This book is not for everyone. I would have surely overlooked it a few years back. But I am glad that life offered it to me in such a roundabout way. Just imagine -- I had to write a book in order to learn about the existence of this one!
Thank you S.E. Robertson. Thank you for writing and offering it to the world.
Yours truly,
Vladimir E. Storm
Let me break this rule just this once.
"The Healers' Road" made me cry.
A little backstory first.
I've learned about this novel in a non-conventional way. I posted an ask to beta read my first completed novel 'The Healer' on Reddit, and S.E. Robertson (the author of "The Healers' Road") reached out to offer their help without asking for a return favor.
I've read the comments that they had left in the doc and grew curious of how they managed to see right through my story. So I asked to share their own work.
That's how I came to learn about this book.
"The Healers' Road" is a beautiful story about Agna and Keifon, two... human beings that end up travelling together in a caravan, sharing a tent, and working side-by-side. They heal people who come to them, and, more importantly, they heal each other over the course of the story.
The story stirred a sweet feeling within me while I was reading about the clumsy attempts at interactions of two deeply hurt human beings. Slow trust building through sharing time together and learning of each other's vulnerabilities and failings, an intricate dance -- one step forward, two steps back... and a long wait to cross the threshold in one's heart. I know this dynamic very well and I can tell that it is painted with great craft. As if lived.
The story is slow-paced but necessarily so. As other reviewers have said, there are no dragons, witches, phoenixes, or leviathans. At least, not directly. There are also no battles. If one excludes the battles within characters' own souls, that is.
This book is not for everyone. I would have surely overlooked it a few years back. But I am glad that life offered it to me in such a roundabout way. Just imagine -- I had to write a book in order to learn about the existence of this one!
Thank you S.E. Robertson. Thank you for writing and offering it to the world.
Yours truly,
Vladimir E. Storm
August 27, 2018
Probably 6.5-7, but rounding up anyway. This was an enjoyable read for me, so I won't give it 3/5 stars, but I know it will really depend on what people enjoy.
The Healers Road is a slice of life story about two radically different people. You have Agna, a rich, university educated healer, and Keifon an army medic, who get paired up to be a charities doctors on a year long caravan trek. At the beginning they both dislike each other, purely from cultural and assumed offences taken and given perspective. Robertson has made it easy to sympathise with both of the characters during their chapters, and you understand why they dislike and hate each other so. I do think that their reconciliation however was a bit too speedily done.
Which brings me to things that could have been better. Writing wise, I had no issue with the book. Stylistically it was good. The thing that I had an issue with was the pacing. Some sections seemed to drag out, while others speed by far to quickly. Some of the character development didn't feel like it got enough screen time, and while you know that large chunks of time have passed, I'm not sure it's conveyed well enough.
That said, these are minor things on the whole. I got to read a book which documented the changing lives of two people as they travel around the country helping people. It is very much a book about self discovery and trying to be a better person, whilst being held back by cultural norms. Very much so in Keifon's case. I enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading the next.
The Healers Road is a slice of life story about two radically different people. You have Agna, a rich, university educated healer, and Keifon an army medic, who get paired up to be a charities doctors on a year long caravan trek. At the beginning they both dislike each other, purely from cultural and assumed offences taken and given perspective. Robertson has made it easy to sympathise with both of the characters during their chapters, and you understand why they dislike and hate each other so. I do think that their reconciliation however was a bit too speedily done.
Which brings me to things that could have been better. Writing wise, I had no issue with the book. Stylistically it was good. The thing that I had an issue with was the pacing. Some sections seemed to drag out, while others speed by far to quickly. Some of the character development didn't feel like it got enough screen time, and while you know that large chunks of time have passed, I'm not sure it's conveyed well enough.
That said, these are minor things on the whole. I got to read a book which documented the changing lives of two people as they travel around the country helping people. It is very much a book about self discovery and trying to be a better person, whilst being held back by cultural norms. Very much so in Keifon's case. I enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading the next.
December 2, 2021
I really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately it was not to be. I feel it's a problem of two parts: 1. Our first protagonist, Agna, reminds me far to much of myself, especially her quirks and embarrassing moments. 2. There are some aspects that are just not well written.
To extrapolate, both protagonists are socially awkward, though only Agna is just out of university. Both are haunted by their pasts, but Keifon has endure more trauma that he needs some serious help to recover from. Alas, this world apparently has only magical body healers, not mind ones.
While this is a slice of life fantasy book, it was low on the "life" elements. I wanted more healing. I wanted more life on the road moments. I wanted less weird time and place jumps that came out of no where.
Two major writing flaws I couldn't help but be rather irritated by were that firstly, Keifon has a TON of annoying verbal tics that added at least 50 extraneous pages to this book and made me picture those horrible embarrassing anime scenes where no one can talk except make weird mouth noises while slowly falling against a wall with a stiff body. It's not fun. It's the opposite of fun. It pulled me out of immersion every damn time.
And second, a lot of this book is told-not-shown. Which is really sad because those moments the author decided to go the show route something truly magical happened. The writing was descriptive and beautiful and swept you into the moment. But it o my ever last at most two pages at a time.
This book felt a lot longer than it was. I wanted it to be better than it was.
To extrapolate, both protagonists are socially awkward, though only Agna is just out of university. Both are haunted by their pasts, but Keifon has endure more trauma that he needs some serious help to recover from. Alas, this world apparently has only magical body healers, not mind ones.
While this is a slice of life fantasy book, it was low on the "life" elements. I wanted more healing. I wanted more life on the road moments. I wanted less weird time and place jumps that came out of no where.
Two major writing flaws I couldn't help but be rather irritated by were that firstly, Keifon has a TON of annoying verbal tics that added at least 50 extraneous pages to this book and made me picture those horrible embarrassing anime scenes where no one can talk except make weird mouth noises while slowly falling against a wall with a stiff body. It's not fun. It's the opposite of fun. It pulled me out of immersion every damn time.
And second, a lot of this book is told-not-shown. Which is really sad because those moments the author decided to go the show route something truly magical happened. The writing was descriptive and beautiful and swept you into the moment. But it o my ever last at most two pages at a time.
This book felt a lot longer than it was. I wanted it to be better than it was.
September 22, 2021
This book was like a cup of tea, a new blend you haven't tried before: a little astringent and too-herbal at first, but slowly settling into a sweet and abiding warmth. It tells a small story of two people growing together in multiple ways as they serve out a two-year contract as traveling healers; growing closer to each other, growing in themselves, growing emotional intimacy. For me, the lynch pin of the book was when healer Agna and medic Keifon both got sick, and had to take care of each other, after spending most of the time prior at odds and unwilling to reach out to each other. There was something so tender and quiet about it, and the way they both felt: two people who have trouble with intimacy and making connections, trusting each other and themselves to take care of each other, and seeing that caretaking as an honor, as something precious.
I can't tell if the series is setting up an Agna/Keifon romance though. I think it would be tremendously sweet, but I'd also be fine with their relationship staying platonic. Their partnership grows into a lovely thing.
I can't tell if the series is setting up an Agna/Keifon romance though. I think it would be tremendously sweet, but I'd also be fine with their relationship staying platonic. Their partnership grows into a lovely thing.
August 29, 2017
This is really a nice little book. It is fantasy (barely fantasy) slice-of-life with a little bit of romance. Or a lot of - it depends if friendship for you has most of the same connotations as a love story. If it is so, then it is a 100% romance book.
The tale follows terribly immature Agna Despana the 20 year old rich-kid-just-out-of-college fantasy healer coming from a Southern-Europe sounding culture and Keifon, who comes from some sort of vaguely Eastern culture and is a non-magical healer. He's also a kid, well, at least to me, but in his 25 years he managed to .zip becoming an orphan from a bandit raid, getting married and having a little kid, getting an alcohol problem, getting divorced, getting in the military, getting together with a same-sex partner (no prejudice for homosexuality here), getting thrown away by him like garbage and finally running away from his country to be a caravan medic with aforesaid Agna.
The book is about 300 pages long, and it is nicely written with a PoV that jumps from Agna to Keifon and baffingly enough to a very minor character for a single chapter. The slow progression of seasons and the evolution of feelings is superbly timed. The book is great for you character-driven aficionados. It's not a plot-driven book at all. There is barely "action", and what is there has less than heroic overtones and a lot of consequences.
The main - and only - problem I had with this book is that the cultural differences are at times a bit overplayed, especially since we see really little of the world, its logic and its history. I appreciate a book where the background is like an iceberg, I get to appreciate it a bit less when the tech-level is "fantasy standard" and everybody seems decked with equipement that feels like it's out of some Western pioneer movie strangely hybridized with armours and broadswords instead of guns and railways. But I have a similar problem with how neat and ordered historical Ancient China "feels" to me in movies, historical novels and animation, since I am completely incapable of spotting anachronisms in such a culture. This is the same problem here, the details are so sparse that you really can't pintpoint anything and justify why it is there except that it is pretty handy to have around for the characters.
That said: fantasy slice of life with perfectly normal losers and young people being stupid, please, write more of it!
The tale follows terribly immature Agna Despana the 20 year old rich-kid-just-out-of-college fantasy healer coming from a Southern-Europe sounding culture and Keifon, who comes from some sort of vaguely Eastern culture and is a non-magical healer. He's also a kid, well, at least to me, but in his 25 years he managed to .zip becoming an orphan from a bandit raid, getting married and having a little kid, getting an alcohol problem, getting divorced, getting in the military, getting together with a same-sex partner (no prejudice for homosexuality here), getting thrown away by him like garbage and finally running away from his country to be a caravan medic with aforesaid Agna.
The book is about 300 pages long, and it is nicely written with a PoV that jumps from Agna to Keifon and baffingly enough to a very minor character for a single chapter. The slow progression of seasons and the evolution of feelings is superbly timed. The book is great for you character-driven aficionados. It's not a plot-driven book at all. There is barely "action", and what is there has less than heroic overtones and a lot of consequences.
The main - and only - problem I had with this book is that the cultural differences are at times a bit overplayed, especially since we see really little of the world, its logic and its history. I appreciate a book where the background is like an iceberg, I get to appreciate it a bit less when the tech-level is "fantasy standard" and everybody seems decked with equipement that feels like it's out of some Western pioneer movie strangely hybridized with armours and broadswords instead of guns and railways. But I have a similar problem with how neat and ordered historical Ancient China "feels" to me in movies, historical novels and animation, since I am completely incapable of spotting anachronisms in such a culture. This is the same problem here, the details are so sparse that you really can't pintpoint anything and justify why it is there except that it is pretty handy to have around for the characters.
That said: fantasy slice of life with perfectly normal losers and young people being stupid, please, write more of it!
November 5, 2022
a decent way to spend an afternoon/evening! ‘the healers road’ is firmly in the like category of my mind - overall I had a positive experience but despite appearances i wouldn’t say this is the most ‘me’ book.
there’s something about it that i perhaps can’t quite appreciate yet, so one day i might like to revisit this world. for now, i think i’ll leave this book as a standalone :)
there’s something about it that i perhaps can’t quite appreciate yet, so one day i might like to revisit this world. for now, i think i’ll leave this book as a standalone :)
September 8, 2018
It's been a while since a book drew me in this much, making it hard to lay down and go to bed in the evening. Agna and Keifon (the main characters) became close friends to me, much more quickly than I expected, and much more deeply than I bargained for. I frequently had to lay down the book and examine the many ways in which their experiences paralleled and diverged from mine, and what I could learn about myself from that.
It's not an epic fantasy story. It's slice-of-life, and gives insight into the characters' thoughts and feelings during moments that define and change their relationship to themselves and each other. If you're looking for a sword-wielding hero cleaving through enemies, you won't find it here. What you will find is a continuous stream of character development, set in a fantasy world, with a backdrop of medieval-like lifestyle laced with some minor healing magic. And if you're like me, you'll find yourself swept away by this combination :). A fine mixture of escapism and engaging characters doing both stupid and beautiful things.
It's not an epic fantasy story. It's slice-of-life, and gives insight into the characters' thoughts and feelings during moments that define and change their relationship to themselves and each other. If you're looking for a sword-wielding hero cleaving through enemies, you won't find it here. What you will find is a continuous stream of character development, set in a fantasy world, with a backdrop of medieval-like lifestyle laced with some minor healing magic. And if you're like me, you'll find yourself swept away by this combination :). A fine mixture of escapism and engaging characters doing both stupid and beautiful things.
February 15, 2019
I found out about this book through a recommendation on r/fantasy for unusual fantasy books, and I am glad I picked it up. One of the main characters, Agna, had me so mad at her for like nearly all of the beginning half of the book. She was condescending, rude, and assuming, to just name a few of the things I ranted to my friends about. I liked the other main character, Keifon, better, but he didn't help matters in their relationship with his personality and the way he communicated, or rather, the lack of it, either. But once they started over and started to try to understand each other better, their friendship grew to the point that I was 'aww'ing at the last 30% of the book. This is a feel-good fantasy book that is still mature, very much character driven, and well-written, which was just what I needed after reading some truly miserable fantasy worlds. I'm also happy that the relationship here is platonic, which is not so common.
Read
December 27, 2016this is a wonderful book. it's introspective and reflective -- a kind of slice-of-life character study. lots of little insights about communication, fear, love, courage, insecurity, etc. i really enjoyed this. i need more like this!! the two characters' love for each other is not romantic, and the casual mention of guys with boyfriends are just <333
February 19, 2017
Would give 4.5 stars if possible. Solid fantasy with well developed characters. Loses a star because the world is not as well developed as the characters and can come off as flat. Some parts dragged and had very little to do with the plot. Over all very solid and engaging. First heard of this book through Improbable Island and got sucked in. Thank you CaveMan Joe :-p
January 10, 2022
Stagnated a bit towards the end in my opinion, but it’s a good-enough book... not life-changing. Like this review if you think Edann is a huge prick!!
November 19, 2024
The Healers' Road is a book about love; whether that be romantic, familial, or fraternal; and the bonds of belonging and obligation it creates between us.
I'll start with the negative, because that's always the best place to start with a book I liked and would highly recommend. There's not a lot to dislike, though there's certainly elements that could be better. Robertson's prose is mediocre; it's not bad, or amateurish, but it's not something to recommend the novel on. The pacing is meandering, occasionally to the point of disorientation or query; a character breaks their arm at one point, for instance, and this is a significant plot point, and then half a dozen chapters later it ceases to be an issue, such that I was unclear on whether they'd fully healed or if it just wasn't bothering them anymore.
To an extent though, this works with the framing of the novel; it's set over the course of two years following a trade caravan, and so focus inherently narrows when the caravan stops or when there are notable events happening, broadening again to skip over weeks or months in transit or without notable happenings. It's not an epistolary novel, though it has shades of it, and indeed letter-writing is a major focus of Agna, one of the two protagonists.
Where Robertson really excels, and what makes the novel worth recommendation, is in characterisation. The novel is tightly focused around the two protagonists, with only the barest flitting to an occasional external POV, and greatly benefits from this focus and the ability to delve into them deeply as characters.
Both Keifon and Agna are, initially, very unlikable characters, though not in a negative way for the reader, and both have their reasons for being so. Agna is a spoilt rich girl with little perspective, who views her healing arts as largely a side endevour; a respectable profession for a young woman of standing, and something to show her parents that she's capable of knuckling down and putting in work. Keifon, meanwhile, is irritable and standoffish to the point of hostility, and while he isn't outwardly dogmatic about his religion his internal monologue makes it clear he considers Agna and most others he meets to be godless sinners and infidels, if perhaps well-meaning ones.
Robertson shows an excellent understanding of why people develop flaws and views like this, however. Both Keifon and Agna have plenty of negative characteristics, but they have understandable and relatable reasons for these. Agna comes off as entitled and stuck-up, treating people like servants, but it's clear she has major self-esteem issues and fundamentally struggles to understand why strangers would do things to help her without expecting to be paid for their time. Keifon is painfully aware of his status as a foreigner and an outcast on the run from his past, and expects people to see him as such; a dangerous but useful outsider to be treated with polite hostility and wariness, and chased out of town the moment that balance tips too far away from usefulness.
I'm a big fan of religion and religious characters in fantasy, and Robertson excels here with Keifon, painting a detailed and sympathetic portrait of a man who has anchored his life around religion out of neccessity as much as desire, who is fulfilled by it personally but at the same time distanced by it from others. There's the occasional stumble in worldbuilding; Keifon is explicitly in the military, for instance, something key to his character, but he doesn't seem to have a rank and it's unclear why he's on loan to a fantasy equivalent of the Red Cross/MSF, but this doesn't detract from the novel overall.
The novel epitomises that which I like best about its subgenre; it's not quite cozy fantasy, to me, but it's low-stakes fantasy, and uses this to tell a story focused around character development and exploration instead of dramatic, world-changing events. An excellent debut, and one that leaves me looking forward to reading more by the author.
I'll start with the negative, because that's always the best place to start with a book I liked and would highly recommend. There's not a lot to dislike, though there's certainly elements that could be better. Robertson's prose is mediocre; it's not bad, or amateurish, but it's not something to recommend the novel on. The pacing is meandering, occasionally to the point of disorientation or query; a character breaks their arm at one point, for instance, and this is a significant plot point, and then half a dozen chapters later it ceases to be an issue, such that I was unclear on whether they'd fully healed or if it just wasn't bothering them anymore.
To an extent though, this works with the framing of the novel; it's set over the course of two years following a trade caravan, and so focus inherently narrows when the caravan stops or when there are notable events happening, broadening again to skip over weeks or months in transit or without notable happenings. It's not an epistolary novel, though it has shades of it, and indeed letter-writing is a major focus of Agna, one of the two protagonists.
Where Robertson really excels, and what makes the novel worth recommendation, is in characterisation. The novel is tightly focused around the two protagonists, with only the barest flitting to an occasional external POV, and greatly benefits from this focus and the ability to delve into them deeply as characters.
Both Keifon and Agna are, initially, very unlikable characters, though not in a negative way for the reader, and both have their reasons for being so. Agna is a spoilt rich girl with little perspective, who views her healing arts as largely a side endevour; a respectable profession for a young woman of standing, and something to show her parents that she's capable of knuckling down and putting in work. Keifon, meanwhile, is irritable and standoffish to the point of hostility, and while he isn't outwardly dogmatic about his religion his internal monologue makes it clear he considers Agna and most others he meets to be godless sinners and infidels, if perhaps well-meaning ones.
Robertson shows an excellent understanding of why people develop flaws and views like this, however. Both Keifon and Agna have plenty of negative characteristics, but they have understandable and relatable reasons for these. Agna comes off as entitled and stuck-up, treating people like servants, but it's clear she has major self-esteem issues and fundamentally struggles to understand why strangers would do things to help her without expecting to be paid for their time. Keifon is painfully aware of his status as a foreigner and an outcast on the run from his past, and expects people to see him as such; a dangerous but useful outsider to be treated with polite hostility and wariness, and chased out of town the moment that balance tips too far away from usefulness.
I'm a big fan of religion and religious characters in fantasy, and Robertson excels here with Keifon, painting a detailed and sympathetic portrait of a man who has anchored his life around religion out of neccessity as much as desire, who is fulfilled by it personally but at the same time distanced by it from others. There's the occasional stumble in worldbuilding; Keifon is explicitly in the military, for instance, something key to his character, but he doesn't seem to have a rank and it's unclear why he's on loan to a fantasy equivalent of the Red Cross/MSF, but this doesn't detract from the novel overall.
The novel epitomises that which I like best about its subgenre; it's not quite cozy fantasy, to me, but it's low-stakes fantasy, and uses this to tell a story focused around character development and exploration instead of dramatic, world-changing events. An excellent debut, and one that leaves me looking forward to reading more by the author.
April 25, 2020
**½ stars rounded down. I guess YAisms and weak worldbuilding annoy me more than I would have guessed.
So this book is called THE HEALERS' ROAD. It certainly features two healer-type protagonists, on a road, but the healing and the road are both very peripheral to the story, which is roughly "two disagreeable people with chaotic emotional states eventually become agreeable to each other."
It wasn't enough for me. Agna and Keifon were each annoying to read about for roughly half the book (almost all of Part 1), only to perform rapid face-turns and then become differently annoying, though to a lesser degree. I can only read so many lines of their stuttering, stumbling, halting, blubbering conversations, or brief inner thoughts where they constantly catastrophize even basic human interaction. ("I waved at her. Oh no! She didn't wave back. She hates me Q_Q" not a real quote but nevertheless representative.) I think this is a "YA-ism" for whatever reason: one of the weird points of THRONE OF GLASS was how wildly the (world's greatest assassin!) protagonist whipsawed between emotions.
Let it not be said that I absolutely must have high stakes epic edgy fantasy. I was open to "slice of life" where nothing big happens, but maybe I overestimated how much would happen.
A low-magic travelogue would have been lovely, but the book is inconsistent with giving us even the names of places, and doesn't seem to care much about the different towns and villages along the way.
A low-magic medical drama would have been interesting - no world crisis to stop, just everyday diseases and traumas - but there's very little medical action beyond "and they saw some patients." Agna, the magical healer, gets the most "screen time" here, and I think that's only two scenes.
A low-magic psychological novel would have been fine, but our characters' inner lives are mostly stipulated rather than illustrated. Weirdly, I would have been fine with melodrama, just not the kind of melodrama I got.
From a genre perspective, the worldbuilding is rather weak. The implied historical analogy is to 18th or 19th c. Europe as far as I can tell (with Yanwei being Asia, sort of), but anachronisms stand out and don't seem justified: they aren't necessarily to the story, so I would like them to "fit" into the background.
There's also some unexamined implications in Agna's healing magic that point to nightmare fuel, but the book is incurious about it.
For all the above grumpiness on my end, the writing is fine, though the overuse of typography ("I-I don't... I don't know my own feelings!" e.g.) and Keifon's weird Tom Hardy-esque noises ("Mmn" "Mngh" etc) grated a bit. It's a self published first novel, so a lot of this I would chalk up to the lack of an editor, but it's also a style preference. Nobody complained about the overuse of typography in THE BROKEN EARTH, so I guess I'm weird
That's it. Two stars. Oh well.
So this book is called THE HEALERS' ROAD. It certainly features two healer-type protagonists, on a road, but the healing and the road are both very peripheral to the story, which is roughly "two disagreeable people with chaotic emotional states eventually become agreeable to each other."
It wasn't enough for me. Agna and Keifon were each annoying to read about for roughly half the book (almost all of Part 1), only to perform rapid face-turns and then become differently annoying, though to a lesser degree. I can only read so many lines of their stuttering, stumbling, halting, blubbering conversations, or brief inner thoughts where they constantly catastrophize even basic human interaction. ("I waved at her. Oh no! She didn't wave back. She hates me Q_Q" not a real quote but nevertheless representative.) I think this is a "YA-ism" for whatever reason: one of the weird points of THRONE OF GLASS was how wildly the (world's greatest assassin!) protagonist whipsawed between emotions.
Let it not be said that I absolutely must have high stakes epic edgy fantasy. I was open to "slice of life" where nothing big happens, but maybe I overestimated how much would happen.
A low-magic travelogue would have been lovely, but the book is inconsistent with giving us even the names of places, and doesn't seem to care much about the different towns and villages along the way.
A low-magic medical drama would have been interesting - no world crisis to stop, just everyday diseases and traumas - but there's very little medical action beyond "and they saw some patients." Agna, the magical healer, gets the most "screen time" here, and I think that's only two scenes.
A low-magic psychological novel would have been fine, but our characters' inner lives are mostly stipulated rather than illustrated. Weirdly, I would have been fine with melodrama, just not the kind of melodrama I got.
From a genre perspective, the worldbuilding is rather weak. The implied historical analogy is to 18th or 19th c. Europe as far as I can tell (with Yanwei being Asia, sort of), but anachronisms stand out and don't seem justified: they aren't necessarily to the story, so I would like them to "fit" into the background.
There's also some unexamined implications in Agna's healing magic that point to nightmare fuel, but the book is incurious about it.
For all the above grumpiness on my end, the writing is fine, though the overuse of typography ("I-I don't... I don't know my own feelings!" e.g.) and Keifon's weird Tom Hardy-esque noises ("Mmn" "Mngh" etc) grated a bit. It's a self published first novel, so a lot of this I would chalk up to the lack of an editor, but it's also a style preference. Nobody complained about the overuse of typography in THE BROKEN EARTH, so I guess I'm weird
That's it. Two stars. Oh well.
October 13, 2021
I really adored this story. Despite the mellow pacing, I tore right through it and did not want to put it down!
It's very much an in-depth character-driven story, written with such thoughtful complexity to the personalities and backstories that made me love the characters and want to see what they'd decide to do next.
When I learned about this book, it was described as being plotless, and on that I must disagree: the main plot that holds it all together, in my opinion, is the relationship arc between the two leads.
It is true that there's no external plot, merely an external circumstance that keeps things moving along, and I thought it worked perfectly for the story. It gave the characters things to do, tasks to accomplish and people to interact with, without any need for "action" per se.
All in all it was very sweet and it's definitely earned a spot on my reread list for the future.
It's very much an in-depth character-driven story, written with such thoughtful complexity to the personalities and backstories that made me love the characters and want to see what they'd decide to do next.
When I learned about this book, it was described as being plotless, and on that I must disagree: the main plot that holds it all together, in my opinion, is the relationship arc between the two leads.
It is true that there's no external plot, merely an external circumstance that keeps things moving along, and I thought it worked perfectly for the story. It gave the characters things to do, tasks to accomplish and people to interact with, without any need for "action" per se.
All in all it was very sweet and it's definitely earned a spot on my reread list for the future.
July 17, 2023
I'm surprised this book doesn't have more ratings, it's a lovely read!
So what is it about?
Agna is a young healer who decides to serve the 'Benevolent Union', a kind of Docters without Borders type institution. In this service she meets Keifan, a troubled army trained medic. Agna finds Keifan irritating and rude, Keifan thinks Agna is uptight and arrogant. Surely but slowly they befriend each other and travel practice their healing art.
And that's it . Technically that's the whole story. Things happen but nothing much exciting, no big adventures, no untimely deaths, no war, no famine, no heroes, nothing of the sort.
But why do I rate it then? Well because of the good :
- It's the cosiest book, it's almost like a meditative read. Nothing happens and that's so liberating, never will your heart beat out of its chest because the suspense is almost too much to bear.
- Agna and Keifan are real flesh and blood people, they have a wholly formed personality, the good, bad and the ugly.
- The gender diversity is top tier.
- The medieval setting is well thought out and detailed
Why not five stars then? Well there's also the bad :
- Sometimes I just couldn't follow the story line and didn't understand how things came about.
- For a book that's called the healer's road there's very little about the actual healing in the book.
This is definitely for you if you enjoy slow paced slice of life books. I think skip it if you're a big romance reader or want action (there really is none).
So what is it about?
Agna is a young healer who decides to serve the 'Benevolent Union', a kind of Docters without Borders type institution. In this service she meets Keifan, a troubled army trained medic. Agna finds Keifan irritating and rude, Keifan thinks Agna is uptight and arrogant. Surely but slowly they befriend each other and travel practice their healing art.
And that's it . Technically that's the whole story. Things happen but nothing much exciting, no big adventures, no untimely deaths, no war, no famine, no heroes, nothing of the sort.
But why do I rate it then? Well because of the good :
- It's the cosiest book, it's almost like a meditative read. Nothing happens and that's so liberating, never will your heart beat out of its chest because the suspense is almost too much to bear.
- Agna and Keifan are real flesh and blood people, they have a wholly formed personality, the good, bad and the ugly.
- The gender diversity is top tier.
- The medieval setting is well thought out and detailed
Why not five stars then? Well there's also the bad :
- Sometimes I just couldn't follow the story line and didn't understand how things came about.
- For a book that's called the healer's road there's very little about the actual healing in the book.
This is definitely for you if you enjoy slow paced slice of life books. I think skip it if you're a big romance reader or want action (there really is none).
August 5, 2019
3.5* rounded up
I like slice of life stories, so this was a rather enjoyable read for me, and I think the slice-of-life feeling is done quite well here.
The Healers' Road follows two very different individuals who are paired together for a sort of mobile medical clinic: Agna, a sheltered rich girl, and Keifon, an army medic with a boatload of personal problems. They start off hating one another, and the story follows their gradual personal growth and burgeoning friendship.
For the most part, I think Robertson does a decent job of creating characters who are realistic and flawed; I did think sometimes that the misunderstandings between Agna and Keifon were a bit unbelievable (they had to go out of their way to interpret things in certain lights, in my opinion), but I still managed to like them both for the most part. I don't think the flip from loathing to liking was well done, however; there wasn't enough there to make me believe that either of them would be willing to let bygones be bygones at that point.
The pacing is slow and winding, rather like a caravan journey I suppose, and it meanders all over the place. There are little threads being picked up here and there, slowly woven into the story. Although Agna and Keifon both find resolution with regard to their personal issues, I don't know that it's possible to be satisfied with the conclusion without picking up the second book. There's just a little too much left hanging.
I like slice of life stories, so this was a rather enjoyable read for me, and I think the slice-of-life feeling is done quite well here.
The Healers' Road follows two very different individuals who are paired together for a sort of mobile medical clinic: Agna, a sheltered rich girl, and Keifon, an army medic with a boatload of personal problems. They start off hating one another, and the story follows their gradual personal growth and burgeoning friendship.
For the most part, I think Robertson does a decent job of creating characters who are realistic and flawed; I did think sometimes that the misunderstandings between Agna and Keifon were a bit unbelievable (they had to go out of their way to interpret things in certain lights, in my opinion), but I still managed to like them both for the most part. I don't think the flip from loathing to liking was well done, however; there wasn't enough there to make me believe that either of them would be willing to let bygones be bygones at that point.
The pacing is slow and winding, rather like a caravan journey I suppose, and it meanders all over the place. There are little threads being picked up here and there, slowly woven into the story. Although Agna and Keifon both find resolution with regard to their personal issues, I don't know that it's possible to be satisfied with the conclusion without picking up the second book. There's just a little too much left hanging.
March 17, 2025
What this book does, it does well, though it's not necessarily my exact cup of tea. More emotions happen than I knew were possible. It feels like a therapy manual disguised as a novel to get students to read it. That's not necessarily an insult. If you are like some people I know, drowning in more emotions than you know what to do with, you might find it relatable. Personally I have always related to snarky, apathetic protagonists, so this was a little much for me. Still, you may notice I gave it four stars, because it is well done. There's nothing wrong with it. It hits a certain niche.
Side note: I read this at a snail's pace for some reason. Many books of equivalent length I can zoom through. I think there is a high density of meaningful content detailing the exact fine intricacies of emotional developments and not so much of the old joke about epic fantasy writers needing six pages to describe a random tree. I had to focus on every line to get through it all. That is not a bad thing at all, only a thing to note.
Side note: I read this at a snail's pace for some reason. Many books of equivalent length I can zoom through. I think there is a high density of meaningful content detailing the exact fine intricacies of emotional developments and not so much of the old joke about epic fantasy writers needing six pages to describe a random tree. I had to focus on every line to get through it all. That is not a bad thing at all, only a thing to note.
Read
October 11, 2021The premise of "The Healers' Road" is a lovely one--two young healers starting out in the world--one more physical, the other more magic-based, and the job they are assigned with a traveling caravan as it crosses the country. For better of worse, not much time is spent on the medical day-to-day events of the two protagonists, nor what the caravan gets up to; instead the book focuses more on the growth of the characters learning to like one another despite their differences and how their relationship grows together over time. Anga who is naive and haughty and a bit spoiled, and Keifon who is perhaps too world weary and won't let anyone in after past hurts.
The book takes place in an original fantasy setting, with its own countries, ethnicities, and languages that play heavily into the contents of each chapter and how the characters learn to like one another "despite" this. On the whole, it reads rather as a "coming of age" type story, geared at an adult audience.
The book takes place in an original fantasy setting, with its own countries, ethnicities, and languages that play heavily into the contents of each chapter and how the characters learn to like one another "despite" this. On the whole, it reads rather as a "coming of age" type story, geared at an adult audience.
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