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The Arbiter
[Alternate cover edition for ASIN: B005J0274S]
Death lurks in every shadow of the Untamed, yet it is the only escape for mages from the bondage they are born into. For those mages unable to flee the nobles that enslave them, their only hope lies with a class of slave that is now all but extinct; the Arbiters.
When Drystan woke to find he had blood on his hands, he knew he had gone too far. The crime he committed normally punished by death, Drystan’s only hope is pleading his case to an Arbiter, mages bred to judge their peers through powers they alone can tap. Cold and emotionless, Prue must determine Drystan’s fate, but not before they find themselves entangled in a mage uprising the likes of which has never been seen before.
Death lurks in every shadow of the Untamed, yet it is the only escape for mages from the bondage they are born into. For those mages unable to flee the nobles that enslave them, their only hope lies with a class of slave that is now all but extinct; the Arbiters.
When Drystan woke to find he had blood on his hands, he knew he had gone too far. The crime he committed normally punished by death, Drystan’s only hope is pleading his case to an Arbiter, mages bred to judge their peers through powers they alone can tap. Cold and emotionless, Prue must determine Drystan’s fate, but not before they find themselves entangled in a mage uprising the likes of which has never been seen before.
- GenresFantasy
333 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 23, 2011
46 people are currently reading
148 people want to read
About the author
M.M. Perry
10 books34 followersM.M. Perry has written and published thirteen books. By day, she is an expert cat and dog wrangler, a nacho connoisseur, and writer of fantasy, science fiction and horror. By night… she does the same things. She is hard at work getting her first science fiction series edited and published. She’s equally busy teaching her pug to sing along to the Muppets. She is known for saying, “No task involving a pug is impossible, just highly improbable.”
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 31, 2017
Interesting
It was an oddly interesting story, I wasn't so immersed in it that I couldn't put it down, but when I wasn't reading, I was thinking about the events and what they would mean for the end.
It was an oddly interesting story, I wasn't so immersed in it that I couldn't put it down, but when I wasn't reading, I was thinking about the events and what they would mean for the end.
July 5, 2012
Wonderfully written fantasy book. I am not sure if this is a first novel for Perry but I hope not. There were a few small errors and some slight sequencing confusion on a couple occasions but nothing too bad. I found that I couldn't put the book down. It has a unique world and wonderful characters.
General summing up of the story....
Throughout the years mages and others have become slaves to others who call themselves nobles. They are bonded while babies with a special mineral and a brand on their cheek. The nobles began breeding programs to develop certain traits to make better use of their slaves. Slaves were bred to make better trackers, war mages, healers, etc. During this process they developed a line to become "judges" called Arbiters. These Arbiters were able to repress all emotion and logically determine an unbiased judgment of any conflict or situation. Eventually these Arbiters judged that some of the nobles were in the wrong, judged them and sentenced them to death, which they immediately carried out. This earned the Arbiters a death sentence. All Arbiters were killed or escaped the Civilized areas of the world and went to live in the Untamed areas.
However one young Arbiter, Prue, was raised in secret to be bred to another slave program in process to create a perfect killing slave. At 9 years old and with the help of her mentor, she escaped into the Untamed. Here her story pauses and you meet Drystan. Drystan is a mage born about the same time as Prue in the Untamed where there are no nobles. At 16 he leaves home to get training for his magic in a city of freeborn mages. Here he learns how dangerous "spirit bonding" can be. Spirits can be called upon to give a mage more power but is very dangerous and mages are warned against it. Spirits are not emotional beings but can seize upon a single emotion from their bonded mage and become corrupted by it.
When Drystan is older he called a spirit, to help him, thinking he could free the slaves and punish the nobles. The spirit took his anger towards the nobles and transferred it into rage and Drystan became responsible for killing several innocent peasants. His old teacher called upon an Arbiter, Prue, who he helped to escape when she was younger, to help Drystan free himself of the spirit.
You follow Drystan and Prue through the Untamed and through the process of her judgment of him and his actions. During this time, Drystan finds he has fallen in love with Prue but as an Arbiter Prue cannot allow emotions in her life. At this point Prue is asked to help in a plot to free the slaves from her birth place. She agrees and Drystan comes along because of his feelings toward her.
I expected a little more conflict in the process of freeing the slaves and breaking the bondage to the nobles but it seems a little too easy. Prue frees the slaves from their bonds and it all ends quite happily.
There isn't a lot of the usual drama and typical conflict in this book. It reads quickly and you are entertained, wondering how the story will end, but you are never really emotionally attracted to the characters. It is lacking that emotional pull you usually get from the best stories. It is a great read though and has a unique storyline and elements.
General summing up of the story....
Throughout the years mages and others have become slaves to others who call themselves nobles. They are bonded while babies with a special mineral and a brand on their cheek. The nobles began breeding programs to develop certain traits to make better use of their slaves. Slaves were bred to make better trackers, war mages, healers, etc. During this process they developed a line to become "judges" called Arbiters. These Arbiters were able to repress all emotion and logically determine an unbiased judgment of any conflict or situation. Eventually these Arbiters judged that some of the nobles were in the wrong, judged them and sentenced them to death, which they immediately carried out. This earned the Arbiters a death sentence. All Arbiters were killed or escaped the Civilized areas of the world and went to live in the Untamed areas.
However one young Arbiter, Prue, was raised in secret to be bred to another slave program in process to create a perfect killing slave. At 9 years old and with the help of her mentor, she escaped into the Untamed. Here her story pauses and you meet Drystan. Drystan is a mage born about the same time as Prue in the Untamed where there are no nobles. At 16 he leaves home to get training for his magic in a city of freeborn mages. Here he learns how dangerous "spirit bonding" can be. Spirits can be called upon to give a mage more power but is very dangerous and mages are warned against it. Spirits are not emotional beings but can seize upon a single emotion from their bonded mage and become corrupted by it.
When Drystan is older he called a spirit, to help him, thinking he could free the slaves and punish the nobles. The spirit took his anger towards the nobles and transferred it into rage and Drystan became responsible for killing several innocent peasants. His old teacher called upon an Arbiter, Prue, who he helped to escape when she was younger, to help Drystan free himself of the spirit.
You follow Drystan and Prue through the Untamed and through the process of her judgment of him and his actions. During this time, Drystan finds he has fallen in love with Prue but as an Arbiter Prue cannot allow emotions in her life. At this point Prue is asked to help in a plot to free the slaves from her birth place. She agrees and Drystan comes along because of his feelings toward her.
I expected a little more conflict in the process of freeing the slaves and breaking the bondage to the nobles but it seems a little too easy. Prue frees the slaves from their bonds and it all ends quite happily.
There isn't a lot of the usual drama and typical conflict in this book. It reads quickly and you are entertained, wondering how the story will end, but you are never really emotionally attracted to the characters. It is lacking that emotional pull you usually get from the best stories. It is a great read though and has a unique storyline and elements.
January 3, 2018
DNF.
The building romance between the man, with cheesy pickup lines, and an arbiter who was raised and bred without many emotions is awful. The magic system has great potential so why do you need the awkward falling in love? The book started strong but quickly went flat and boring, even ignoring the romance which is hard to do, they go to a cabin in the middle of nowhere....cause that's where things are happening....or the author tried to make it seem like it. Maybe something would've happened but to me, it just crashed and I didn't want to know how it ended.
The building romance between the man, with cheesy pickup lines, and an arbiter who was raised and bred without many emotions is awful. The magic system has great potential so why do you need the awkward falling in love? The book started strong but quickly went flat and boring, even ignoring the romance which is hard to do, they go to a cabin in the middle of nowhere....cause that's where things are happening....or the author tried to make it seem like it. Maybe something would've happened but to me, it just crashed and I didn't want to know how it ended.
December 20, 2017
What a hell of a good read
Wonderful entertainment, wonderful world building, the only reason that i didnt give this five stars was that i read almost all sci-fi military style, space combat etc. this was an outstanding change of pace, if magic, Paranormal etc gets your fancy this book is mandatory reading keep up the good work Ms. M M Perry Ill be watching for more from you.
Wonderful entertainment, wonderful world building, the only reason that i didnt give this five stars was that i read almost all sci-fi military style, space combat etc. this was an outstanding change of pace, if magic, Paranormal etc gets your fancy this book is mandatory reading keep up the good work Ms. M M Perry Ill be watching for more from you.
December 8, 2017
OVERVIEW – The Arbiter was an interestingly dark story and the way the author streamlined that darkness was fun to read. I got a strong Terry Brooks vibe in the way the author set up the story and the characters as well. This story touches upon racism & slavery in a very quick way and while this seems to be a standalone story, I wish the author writes more in this milieu.
April 2, 2017
A Descriptive Title
I loved this book because it was a thrill a page. I liked the characters especially Prue. I liked the story lines that kept me guessing at times. It was well written and I would love to read more about what happened next.
I loved this book because it was a thrill a page. I liked the characters especially Prue. I liked the story lines that kept me guessing at times. It was well written and I would love to read more about what happened next.
April 4, 2017
Plenty of action and engaging story lines. Mages are bound, but can and do escape. Crimes committed are or can be judged by arbiters, other mages. Interesting story.
April 7, 2017
A totally original story!!
This is one of the first books I read in the sword and sorcery genre that didnt have at least one Tolkien species in it lol.
A totally unique and original concept that turned out to be a great book
This is one of the first books I read in the sword and sorcery genre that didnt have at least one Tolkien species in it lol.
A totally unique and original concept that turned out to be a great book
April 30, 2017
Este libro me generó sentimientos encontrados. Maneja con maestría la estructura, tiene personajes muy bien desarrollados y una historia que considero bastante sólida (si bien se beneficiaría, y bastante, de un buen editor), solamente me hubiera gustado un poco más de esfuerzo con el lenguaje. Los finales abiertos no son de mi agrado, pero sigue siendo lo mejor que leí este año.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews