James Gawley

In a northern part of the Republic of Arcadia, the enemies are getting bolder by the day. There is much unrest and fear is being instilled in the locals. Lilith, a young woman who has experienced terribly cruelty, is left in charge by her father when he heads out to fight the enemy. She is you fog, and although has dome experience, she is not always certain of what to do. Combined with a cruel stepmother, and feeling betrayed by her father, she nonetheless does her best to keep thing in order. Unfortunately, there are many who would see her fail. Her uncle is the dictator Tiberius hundreds of miles to away, and does not seem to be helping in any way.

This book is well written and edited, which made it easy to read and hard to put down. The story is both tense and exciting, in a world of political intrigue and clandestine plotting. There is certainly plenty of action that is well paced and well presented to the reader.

Lilith is the heroine, and she is a complicated woman who is well fleshed out and one feels easily able to relate to her. Her life only gets more complicated as more twists and turns and betrayals are introduced throughout the book. Well worth the read! Looking forward to the rest of the series!… (mehr)

This book was a bit of a slow starter, but at the same time, this was spent building up characters and getting to know them all. After that, the book took off and some mystery surrounding the journey the men undertook and why certain choices were made kept one guessing. As this is the first book in this series, I certainly expect future books to only be better and look forward to reading them. Do not be put off by the slow start. It is important to all that follows. The book was well written and although some parts might have seemed confusing, they all play a part in telling a growing story. The author no doubt has many future novels in this series in mind, and each one is bound to improve and clarify. Look forward to the next one. I will certainly be following this saga carefully!… (mehr)

Lively Story!

My thanks to the author for this free copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

My first impression was Spartacus meets Game of Thrones with a hefty dash of The 300; that impression stayed with me throughout the novel. Primus Seneca hungers for acceptance and belonging in a harsh, almost male-only society of warriors. The more he learns about himself from interacting with fellow soldiers, the more conflict he stumbles into, ultimately facing harsh lessons and staggering losses in too short a time for such a young man. The characterization was well-developed. Gawley maintained a nice pace to sustain interest as we follow Primus along the bleak winter landscape. Where will the author take us next?… (mehr)

This review contains spoilers

I was a bit reluctant to start reading this book I admit, I liked the synopsis -- but I am guilty of judging books by their covers and this one didn't really inspire confidence. I'm glad to report however that upon finally reading it I could not put it down! I was up until 5AM in the morning reading this book non-stop while in bed.

The book has a solid start, rich with political intrigue and hinting at what is to come, displaying the unrest in the land of Arcadia before moving to the rebel group that was exiled and the story of a young legionnaire - Primus, a general's son. The story is rich with flashbacks that add to the characterization of Primus quite nicely although at times the transition from present to past was a bit jarring -- but nothing too bad.

What impressed me the most was the amount of world building that went into the creation of this book. It was very detailed at times although there are a group of what I assume are a barbarian people called the Woade that were present that weren't ever truly explained and I wish they were. There are lots of characters that are described as being Woade or part Woade and are distrusted for it. Although the confusion and curiosity didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of the book.

The fight scenes in this book were very well done and the descriptions of what goes on are particularly brutal. What I enjoyed most about this book however is that the characters had real consequences for their actions. There was one point where Primus had to hold down his friend as the foreman of the lumber mill hacked off his legs with an axe in attempt to save his life -- as they were stuck under a gargantuan felled tree. This experience haunts Primus and other characters even judge him for it.

I really enjoyed the author's flowing prose, and how the history of the world was told in a way that also revealed interesting things about the characters that were explaining it. I loved that it wasn't just an info dump. Each chapter also includes a little quotation from some of his characters, or bits of worldly lore that really help set the tone of the piece and even adds more intrigue to the plot in some cases.

The character development of Primus was excellent, he is an honorable solider in a world of lies would desperately wants to be seen as brave to gain approval from his father, and you can see the changes this want has on him throughout the novel. I appricated the fact that the Primus at the end of the novel wasn't the man he at the beginning. I look forward to seeing more of him in future books.

Rating: 7/10 stars. (See the Review Policy on my blog (http://fictioholic.blogspot.ca/) for more details on star ratings)… (mehr)