Enemy

On the Bones of Gods #1

by K. Eason

The Illhari Republic rests on the bones of gods, telling tales of conquest and forgetting its once-bloody devotion to its most powerful goddess. Snowdenaelikk, half-blood conjuror and smuggler, cares less about history than the silver she can win with sharp metal and sharper wits. But when the local legion blames her for burning a village, an outlander with a sense of honor intervenes, and Snow finds herself tangled in politics and an unwelcome partnership.

Snow and her new partner, Veiko, together with the legion scout Dekklis, uncover a conspiracy that will destroy the Republic from within. It seems that the goddess is back from wherever dead gods go. She has not forgotten the Republic, and she wants revenge.

Loyal Dekklis will do anything to save the Republic, and Snow reluctantly agrees to help—until she realizes that “anything” means sacrificing Veiko. Now Snow must decide whether her partner’s life is worth betraying her allies and damning the Republic to war.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Amazon, Ebooks, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Magic

347 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2016

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've already preordered book two, which comes out in mid-July. I will probably drop whatever else I'm reading to get to that as soon as it's on my kindle.

Let's just talk about the main protagonist of a fantasy novel being a woman of color. That's amazing! The main culture we see throughout the story are people of color in a matriarchal society. That's unbelievable!!

I really loved the flavor of this story. So many scenes take place in the winter or during snowfalls. There's a viking sort of character and a telepathic snake-bat. We get to see some of the death and god mythology, which seemed to be really well thought out if not exactly original. The death river reminded me of the Abhorsen trilogy, which is double brownie points. There are ghosts in here, done in a not cheesy way. I loved that. There are some pretty violent/gruesome parts in here, so if you hate that, stay away.

The writing style took a bit to get used to. Because of the telepathic nature of Briel, sentences were interrupted by italicized text. At first this was jarring, but later the same technique was used for sarcastic interior thoughts of the characters. It ended up flowing really nicely and I learned to love that aspect of the narrative's form.

My only complaint was the pacing. The whole novel spans about a month's time, but the first half of the read takes place over the course of a few hours. I loved that slow pace at the beginning - there was enough action for it still to be a fast read. But I found the pacing sped up exponentially to where the climax was almost too condensed. Suddenly everything was happening all at once. I didn't have time to absorb the build up to the climax. But apart from that, this was so incredibly enjoyable.

I will say there's something I'm not sure about. At one point a character is raped off stage. We never get any graphic details, for which I was thankful. But I'm not sure if it was necessary. Either it was to show the bond built between this character and another character OR to show how awful the horrible god was. Not sure if either of those reasons are good enough for me. And I don't think the aftermath of the rape - though touched on a few times - was explored enough for me to think the author put it in there to talk about it. Not sure if it needed to be in there, but I wasn't offended by it.

[Jason H · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went back and forth on one or two stars for this book, and settled on two. Eason's novel has a phenomenal story inside it, but it's buried under hackneyed writing tricks and a teenager's need for attention. There were moments when I was reading that I felt this was one of the best books I've read this year, and then she'd ruin it with another broken-line-italicized-thoughtword thing.

You would think Eason was
channeling
writing a book she hoped would be loved as edgy and hipster by forcing fancy line breaks into her paragraphs.

It was distracting and terrible and unnecessary. Imagine an entire book full of stuff like that, so that a great narrative section would just implode when the author forces you to remember yet again that you are just reading a book. Eason makes sure you never get to lose yourself in her world.

The world itself was a bit too Skyrim for me. Some boilerplate stuff that could have been more original. The characters are great, although Eason did her best to make me hate them by overusing words in their speech, like "savvy" and "yeah" over and over. She also loves fragments instead of sentences. Probably. For effect. But mostly. Well. It gets. Annoying.

So, a great story I wanted to hear, great characters I wanted to care about, and an okay new world I wanted to explore. All held back by weak and cliched writing from what I suspect is an author lacking confidence. Hopefully as this book finds success, her future novels won't be so restricted.

[Stephanie SJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the real stuff- characters driven by interior lives that somehow manage to spring from something more than gonads and the weighty concerns of permanently-teenaged angst; a fully-realized world in which those characters move, and a compelling ambivalence about binary notions like "right vs. wrong" and "living vs. dead." Like the fantasy books that absorbed us and transported us when we first encountered High Genre, Enemy asks us to invest fully in its rhythms and terrain, and rewards us--richly--for doing so.

[Wench · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, shit. I think this is the first genuinely *good* book I've gotten via Kindle First.

Also most of the main characters are Black. And women. Whaaaaaaat.

Content notes: violence, human sacrifice, rape (not narrated; we find out after the fact), animal torture as back story, racism, sexism

[Michael Mammay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best debut fantasy I've read since...since I don't even know when. A few years, at least. It's got the rich world building of Kameron Hurley crossed with something grittier -- like maybe a Mark Lawrence. It's written in a big, complex world with competing cultures and a great backstory, but the author doesn't overwhelm you with it. It comes out naturally as the story moves forward. The pace is outstanding. Not breakneck, can't put it down, but constantly pulling you forward, making you want to read more, ensuring that you always want to pick it back up.

The book has a unique voice. It's told in several points of view, and each of the POVs have some quirks that take a minute to get used to. I'd say it took me about 15 pages before I got comfortable with it and it started to flow for me. But that's part of what makes it great. It's not 'just like everything else.' Far from it. It's unique, while still maintaining a solid tie to traditional fantasy. A great combination.

If this book was a movie, it would be rated R, mostly for language, and a bit for violence and adult themes.

[CZero · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm always on the hunt for breakout first novels and this was a fantastic start! Very rarely do I think of the words intelligent, complex and readable all coming together in a first novel. The style took a few pages to get into, but each character has a unique cultural voice. Speaking of cultures, it's refreshing to read a fantasy novel with such solid world building. One of the main characters comes from a hunter-gatherer society that communes with ghosts. Another character uses magic and wields a sword - and she is so very interesting. There's a strong matrilineal society that avoids most of the tropes. I love the animals in it: fierce dogs and a clever dragonette familiar (think of Anne McCaffry's little dragons but much wilder). The book reminded me a bit of Richard Morgan's books with a real world feeling, where cuts bleed and people swear.

I was pulled into the story and finished it within days.
And I just bought the second book!

[Sarah D · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up on Kindle First and liked it a lot. It might not be the best fantasy fiction ever written, but it was a solid showing. I will definitely pick up Book 2 when it's available. I'm looking forward to continuing the adventure.

It takes a minute to warm up to the characters and to the author's writing style. The book is action-packed, with the story tumbling from one misadventure to the next without any break. There's never a dull moment. So much so, that I was wondering if these characters were the unluckiest people ever to exist, given how often they were in some kind of trouble.

A lot of character development happens through internal dialogue, which was formatted and written a little jarringly. You get used to it, though.

[Borderstar · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Not bad - really enjoyed some elements, others not so much. There was definitely something that kept me reading this straight through - the storyline in general was pretty interesting and I liked learning about the world and the characters, but I wasn't so keen on the "rival gods" part. Something that really bugged me all the way through too was the way the characters spoke sometimes, it seemed out of keeping with the world, especially as there was one phrase all of them kept saying despite different upbringings and cultures.

I do want to know what happens next, but at the same time I am not certain I want to read the next in the series until the final in the trilogy comes out...so will probably leave it til the future.

[Chira · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best offerings I've gotten from Kindle First, for sure. However, it's definitely a book handled best in a long sit-down: the style tends towards stream-of-consciousness, with alternate interpretations of a situation or observation cutting into sentences. It works, but it's definitely something best handled by getting into a rhythm. It makes events and motivations a little harder to follow in short readings.

The world built here is similar: it's a cold, disjointed society that straddles the line between the mortal and the immortal that is about to learn that just because the ruling power has disavowed the gods doesn't mean they're gone. Or happy about it.

The gods are only out for themselves, and kind of refreshingly, so are the characters. Snow and Veiko, our protagonists, mostly just want to stay alive and not be indebted to anyone, god or mortal. In that quest, they end up thoroughly grey, neither supporting the Republic nor either god who seems to want to see it destroyed (though each in their own way). They're looking out for themselves and each other, not looking to save the world.

There's a lot of politics here that are very slowly revealed. It works, but only because the main plot of Enemy is a more supernatural one; the politics haven't come fully into play yet, but we can be sure they will next time.

There's also a lot of neat worldbuilding here. The main society has a lot of parallels to the Roman Empire from the political and military system that has been revealed so far. The key difference here being that it's now a matriarchal society instead - it's a little lazily done, and the society seems to have always been this way while previously having a God who is outspokenly favoring men over women, which is odd, also while being surrounded by neighbors who have more "traditional" societies. Though the magic system, the differences between conjuring, shadow-weaving, and godmagic, is intriguing. I want to know more about the Academy!

Some things are a little weird - the aforementioned mismatch between societal structures and the types of gods they used to worship being one. I'm also fairly sure no one on the production team knows how skin coloration on palms goes - even on ebony skin, palms won't be black enough that black tattoos would be hidden. Snow and Veiko deeply attach themselves to each other oddly quickly, but I'm willing to roll with it. There's also referenced-to and subsequently shrugged-off rape, which I'm still trying to parse how I feel about, because the affected character is the one who does the shrugging-off.

It's intriguing, and I'm eager to see what the next installment brings.

[Jennisse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book a year or so ago and loved it. In between, I read some reviews on the book that were less than complimentary. I started to wonder if I had read the same book or perhaps was just (wrongly) overly enthusiastic about the series. The author just came out with the third book in the series and while I rarely read books twice, I thought it would be a good excuse to reread the first two, refresh my memory, before diving back into the third. The most negative review I read referenced the author’s clipped narrative style. It has a sentence fragment, stream of consciousness, almost poetic rhythm to it. Although poetic is not a term I would use for this author’s style, I see why the reviewer didn’t like this style of writing. But for what it is worth, I believe that review is a problem of expectation. That reviewer expected writing just like every other book. This book is not like every other female protagonist book. I really enjoy the unique, almost dialect like conversations and thoughts. One word thoughts are often used to convey more information than would normally be in a paragraph. I love books with good character development and believable dialogue. The book is written like people talk and most importantly, like people think. The images are vivid and convey meaning with one word, where other books struggle to form a whole sentence. When I read a fiction book, a movie plays in my head. This series of books has had one of the most enjoyable movies as I read since I read Sword of Shannarah when I was a kid or watched Lord of the Rings. The characters especially the women, are savvy, street-wise and strong. I suggest you give this book a try. Read it fast, like a movie, and enjoy the nuances of a language you may not speak but enjoy listening to, like a sexy Australian accent. Enjoy eavesdropping on the salty East London pub crowd equivalent. Don’t make this book what it isn’t. If you want literary prose, go read H for Hawk. That is about grieving and birds. This book is about female assassins and men who respect them. Don’t expect them to read the same way. Just enjoy them both for what they are.

[Chance · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this wonderful book from amazon's prime free reads list.
It has an interesting background for the world. Which is based on a reversed gender role kind of society. Meaning it is entirely Matriarchal. For example women are generals and typically the officers in armies. Of course that means they will be the leaders in the government too, which has a Roman Republic/Senate kind of thing going on.

Don't think that means the book is trying to send some kind of message about sexism though, that's not the point of it. It is still a 100% fantasy novel, just with a unique society compared to many other books.

Even the magic is has its own uniqueness, and an aura of mysteriousness about it. There's a conflict between different types of magic in the story, each having their own strengths. Magic can be derived from gods, which has been turned into an illegal practice by this Matriarch Roman Republic. Or it is derived from something man-made, its reliability depending on how close to civilization it is. I do not want to spoil things here, but I enjoyed originality of this book after reading many Farmboy-Coming-of-Age & Wizardry stories.

Another point in its favor is that it's a bit of an adult-oriented story. The main characters are real, and aren't really your typical morally-perfect heroes.


There are two downsides of the book. One is the constant repetition of the phrase "Savvy?". Literally being said every one or two pages. Especially in the chapters with soldiers. As if this landlocked Roman Republic is entirely made up of Caribbean pirates.

Second one is, the beginning can be confusing. There is A LOT of special vocabulary being thrown at you. The first few chapters may have to be reread for them to make sense.

[JustSomeGuy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a different kind of fantasy novel - thankfully. It wasn't an easy one, either. The multiple POVs the story was initially told from were difficult for me to track at first, and the early death toll had me wondering who were actually going to be the protagonists the story would follow. It all makes sense in the end though. Admittedly, it also took me a bit to become acclimated to this world as there were many early references to things not yet known or explained. Referenced events such as the Purge and the Revolution that unfolded years before this story begins are critically important, and I can only assume more light will be shed on these events as the series moves forward. What I did enjoy is the practicality of the Laughing God and Tal'Shik interacting and more importantly, making deals with mortals. Snow was also the most powerful female character I can remember reading, combined with the unique Briel, and the love and loyalty of Veiko's dogs. Veiko himself is a man of few words, but those he does choose to share were always powerful and with heartfelt meaning. But most of all, this book succeeds because of the evolving relationship between Veiko and Snow - how their life debts turned to loyalty, and how that loyalty turned to partnership and that partnership turned to something more. As the introductory story ends, the heroic pack consisting of a ghost-conjuring viking outlaw, a badass surgeon witch, a mindmelding mini-dragon, a hunting dog and two legion soldiers, head off to the capital city to try to warn them of the plan of an angry God. Like I said, it's a different kind of fantasy novel.

[Andy Coleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A SIMPLE MAN'S REVIEW:

I usually don't read fantasy because often in an attempt to differentiate the fantasy world from our own, the author uses strange names for people, places, and everyday items. I understand why they do this, but it can also act as a barrier to the reader getting engrossed in the story because there is a whole new level of information to keep track of.

This book starts out in that fashion, and it takes a bit of time for the story to fall into a main group of characters with a well-defined purpose. But once that happens, the story becomes far more interesting and the characters turn out to be very endearing. And there are dogs!

The best thing about this book is the alternative mythology. I love the stories of the gods and witches. I love the journeys into dreamland and the Norse-based view of the afterlife. And if my spirit guide isn't a dog, I'm not sure I want to be a part of that afterlife!

This is clearly part one of the series but there is enough closure at the end to not feel like you wasted your time on a cliffhanger. The next book has a clear direction laid out for it but you'll be satisfied with each character's personal journey. Plus, the half-blood, Snow, will crack you up.

If you enjoy fantasy and mythology, read this book. The second one is coming out soon so you won't have to wait much longer to complete the saga.

[Okcrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark, without a doubt.

Excellent writing. Not easy, I read it twice but found it worthwhile, especially the second time. Oppressed people, loyalty. Magic. Gods and dragons. No easy answers. Will read the next one.

[Carl Timms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very original and intriguing BME-led fantasy

How refreshing to read a fantasy novel with such a diverse range of characters and such a focus on a female dominated society. The more the history revealed itself the more enthralled I became. The use of street style slang, drugs and other familiar concepts from our own world made this fantasy mixing off Romans, Celts and Vikings if they were majority black a real treat to get lost in.

Only complaints would be the overuse of 'yeah' in dialogue which borders on the ridiculous and gets swiftly irritating and the first half which is a little slow to get going focusing as it does on almost one day or so before the world really opens up in the second section.

Ultimately though it builds to an interesting conclusion and I'm certainly looking forward to reading the next volume!

[Michel · Rating 3 out of 5]

very easy read with the colloquial writing style, which I typically don't like. I think it's something you have to commit to 100% or it doesn't work, and in this case it really keeps the place moving very fast . not a lot of background, you are dropped into a world that you learn about via characters various opinions of their surroundings. I can't say I loved the world itself, seemed a rather bleak place to live. I did love the pets and the incorporation of Gods. I feel it would be difficult to incorporate believable Gods in a story since they have to be powerful but they can't be invincible. I suppose I would have to read further into the series to figure that part out.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every once in a while you run across a fantasy which rates higher than the five star system allows. This is one of those books.

The characters are well developed, both major and supporting. The characters are split evenly between male and female. You get to see both their strengths and their weaknesses, their loyalties and idiosyncrasies.

What happens when you mix a budding noidghe (necromancer) with midlevel conjurer, up against a mortal empire of humanity, and a couple of banished gods? This wonderfully creative mix by K. Eason goes full throttle from the first turn of the page to the last.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is good. The writing is great.

Okay, this genre is not one of my usual stomping grounds, but I was looking for something new and this author definitely delivered that. The story was interesting and the characters engaging, but it was the writing style that carried me through and made me want to read every word. The style was unique, in my experience. It didn't feel like I was reading prose. It felt like ......descriptive poetry: quick, sharp, precise, perfect. Looking forward to seeing more from K. Eason.

[Suzie Quint · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot to like about this. Good characters. Good story. The writing itself was just different enough to add to the flavor of things. I was relieved that, even though the story continues in a second book, there was a sense of closure to the major story line here. (Been seeing way too many books that don't have that.)

The one serious drawback for me are the names. They don't store well in my memory because they're simply too foreign. If you make me work at something like that, well, I just won't. Which means some things didn't have the impact they should have because I brushed past things that the author wanted to have significance. Too bad.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fantasy novel. Cool world and unique characters. Fast and enjoyable read.

[Milady · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly good book (I have been less impressed with other Kindle First Picks). I truly enjoyed it's uniqueness and found it a refreshing (and very welcome) break from the pile of near carbon copy books I have encountered recently. The writing style of Enemy is slightly atypical, which I loved, but the story itself is not so varied from other fantasy novels as to be unrecognizable. On the contrary, it tells of a small group of characters who are thrown together by circumstance and tackle a big bad against odds that seem insurmountable in a land where magic exists. From that perspective, one might think it almost boringly mainstream. And yet, it is not... quite.

What I like best about this book is the way the characters are presented. There is no boy who suddenly finds out he is a long lost such and such of whoever and now must save something or other. Instead, Eason offers distinct characters who are all adults and have solidified their own opinions about the world long before the story begins. As the story unfolds, each one is thrust out of their individual comfort zones and into situations they could have never predicted and have no idea how to handle. In this way, it is not the overarching drama that prompts character growth. The situations of merit are the unexpected interactions between people who reluctantly come to rely on each other and the inner battles those situations bring to bear.

Each character learns something about themselves as they face their own prejudices and belief systems and see how they match up with reality. It turns out that the world might not be as simple as they want to believe, something hard to do when you have spent years only with like-minded individuals. Now the characters must face other perspectives and see their own through those lenses. Everyone has very selfish interests, yet a select few come to realize the need they have for one another, whether they want that tie or not. This is a story of how respect and trust earned is more valuable than what society expects to be given. These are flawed people in a flawed world, stuck in a cycle of cause and effect that few recognize the problems with and less seek a path to break. In other words, magic and writing quirks aside, it could be anywhere in the world at any given time, where people struggle to survive the world they have inherited by making different choices based on the tools they have to work with.

I thought it was well-done, especially as a debut novel. I loved the tiny contradictions between subconscious and conscious thought, the way we try to tell ourselves one thing while understanding there is another truth beneath the surface we try not to look too close at. It may take readers a while to get the flow of the author's writing style for this story, but it is worth the small effort. The speech/thought patterns of the characters are consistent and varied, meaning readers can easily determine which viewpoint they are reading at any given point once the characters are set in their mind. Sadly, it seems that many are too distracted by certain aspects of the read to fully embrace it.

To be clear, if you want a standard read that flows exactly as every other book you have read, you may find better luck elsewhere. If you want your death neat, clean, and expected, this might not be for you. If you are looking for conventional romance, polite company, or a lack of gray area in your characters... well, you get the idea.

Perhaps I found a depth to this story that will seem less interesting to others, but I am very glad I picked this book up. I was immediately pulled in, challenged to keep up, and rewarded with a good tale in which the big pale guy is the rarity, not the norm, and the women face regular battles both internally and externally, yet they still manage to kick ass. Oh yeah, and gods are neither all-knowing or all-powerful. Yep, I will definitely snag the next release of this series.

[Judd Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting bit of world building. Manages to get the background in without exposition.
Nice little fantasy. Edging toward romance but seems to avoid it.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kat Eason's "Enemy" is a first novel in her "On the Bones of Gods" series, with a focused prose, excellent characterization, and particularly strong world building. The cultures in the book have historical precedent which I won't spoil, save to say it lays down a familiarity with the world that allows her to play with its culture and magic while giving it a gritty, realistic feel.

This world's a matriarchal society. The novel is a familiar read, aligned with others in the fantasy genre where gender means power, however the roles in this world are very much reversed. In the military, the academy, and the criminal worlds, women have power. However the art of the novel is this is treated in a very matter-of-fact way. This is not gender switching for gender-switching's sake -- it's just this world. And power is held, used and abused in all the routine and familiar ways. So familiar, in fact, that the reader becomes used to this aspect of the world rather easily -- fantasy with brothels, soldiers, aristocracy, grunts, magic users -- we've seen this before. The difference in gender isn't written differently - so it stops feeling different. The suspension of belief necessary to the genre takes hold despite the dissonance with our own world.

Animal familiars play a key role, and often bring much needed feeling, interest, and at times, humor to the narrative.

The author explains, but does not spoon feed, the magical rules of the world. There is an interesting divide in how magical power is sourced that is a central -and at times gruesome -- theme of the book.

Some take issue with the terse writing style and italicized thoughts -- I am not one of them. The beats of the narrative become familiar very quickly, and I'll take it thousand times over before, for example, a certain writer's penchant for repeating house slogans over and over and over again (hint - even his name needs and editor). The prose fits the world, and fits it better as it unfolds. Having finished the book and halfway into her second, the time invested in getting to know Snow, Veiko, Dek, Briel, Logi, Helgi, and the rest is well worth the time, and Ms. Eason's writing just improves with each chapter.

[PJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather good fantasy story buried beneath extremely alienating writing. Glancing through the other reviews I see that I am not alone in this opinion.

I am all for characters having a unique voice when they come from different backgrounds/cultures. But when that voice takes a form I would more readily associate with a whiny teenager, it becomes distracting, yeah? Takes me out of the flow of the story, yeah? Makes me want to put the book down if a character says "Yeah" again, yeah?

Were it just one quirk I could probably overlook it, but there were at least four or five repeatedly used devices which, for me, did nothing but harm to the overall impact of the narrative. Another significant offender was the insertion of a word seemingly intended to be an internal monologue contradicting/correcting a thought. Initially I thought this was going to tie into one character's ability to speak to the dead. But no. No. They all do it. It's almost as though the author thought
hoped
this would give the dialogue some sort of edge. It does not. It is, again, distracting.

My other frustration was the way the narrative ground to a halt partway through. It wasn't that things weren't happening. They were. The pacing was just a little misguided.

Here's the thing though: I actually rather liked a lot of the story. In fact, I've gone back and forth on whether to give this 2 or 3 stars. Because it's a 3 or 4 star book hidden beneath some truly irritating stylistic quirks.

Ultimately I've gone for three. Because some of them started to grow on me by the end, yeah? Even the asides, yeah? It's just all about moderation, yeah? At their best they put me in mind of Joe Abercrombie's world-building through dialogue. The author is definitely talented, and I am inclined to put some of the overused dialogue quirks down to inexperience - or even simply insecurity. There were a few points - around a third of the way through the book in particular - that I thought I'd found my new favourite fantasy series. By the end I wasn't sure if I'd continue the series.

I expect I will. I just hope the style is a little more... restrained.

[Mary Soon Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the opening book in a fantasy trilogy. I am not certain that this is a good book, in the sense that literature teachers would mean, but I am quite, quite certain that I enjoyed it very much. Spoilers ahead. The story contains magic, gods, plots, battles, dogs, a fantastical companion creature, all of which are familiar fantasy fare, and all of which appealed to me in this rendition. Better than that, it contains a handful of highly likable characters who get caught up in each other's stories. I lost my ability to assess the book critically because I got caught up by the characters. The interaction between two of them in particular (Snowdenaelikk and Veiko) riveted me. Let it be known that, partway through this, I ordered books two and three to be delivered ASAP, and I plan to start book two as soon as I receive it.

10/29/2019 update: I re-read this, and liked it at least as much as the first time around.

About my book reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much.

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

Enemy was a book that divided me. On the one hand I was liking it, even though the story was not that special and fits very well in the well established fantasy genre. On the other hand, the writing was, for want of a better word, quirky and it didn't always work for me. So much so, that I still am undecided on this book.

But, my interest has been sparked and I might give the second book a try as well.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really tried to give this a go,but found it was quite hard to get into.I could not seem to get used to the writing style.

It had a good premise,but not for me.

[Sean McCoy, LMT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the authors writing style!
Took a while to get used to the structure and meter. But after I got used to it - I think it really opened the doors for some great creative expression.

[Karl Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather original story.

Rather well written book with a rather original story to tell.
I recommend this book to fans of high fantasy.

[Alexandria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unique world-building novel, a complicated cast of characters; might want to read again.