Warning not appropriate for all ages - scenes of violence, torture and rape.

The main character Bethany is a slave. Unbeknownst to her owner, a Prince, she is also a rival kingdom's Princess. She deals with beatings and punishments for her actions, but remains strong - that is until bad news from her homeland reaches her ears. In a moment of weakness, her true identity is revealed. That changes everything.

This is a dark, high fantasy tale in every way. I thoroughly enjoyed the story! ( )

Torn, The Dothan Chronicles Book 1, by Charissa Dufour takes you on an epic fantasy journey. Bethany Kavadh is a princess, youngest daughter to King Kavadh, and is returning from visiting her aged uncle when her caravan is attacked. Fleeing the fight, Bethany is captured by slavers and sold to Prince Federic Eberhand, heir apparent to King Wolfric Eberhand, and the mortal enemy of Bethany’s father. Bethany – taking on the name of Ann to hide her lineage – struggles to adjust to being a slave, and secretly vows to cause as much harm as she can to King Eberhand, risking punishment and death doing so. But Bethany’s attempts to cause mischief are checked by the knight, Sir Erin Caldry, a large, uncaring man who is loyal only to the King.

Torn is an amazing low-fantasy epic set in a world of knights and warring kingdoms. Bethany is the quintessential fish out of water, the pampered princess who is forced into a world of harsh realities as a slave. How she reacts and deals with these challenges, which include repeated beatings, solitary confinement, and attempted rapes, while also trying to further her own secret war against King Eberhand keeps the reader wanting to turn the next page (or listen for just one more minute). The counterpoint to Bethany is Sir Caldry, who on the surface is a cruel, loyal follower of the King, but has his own depths and many layers. The dynamics and interactions between Bethany and Caldry drive the story and makes Torn stand out among similar titles. My one quibble is a small side-storyline around Pelor – a former knight turned mercenary and guard. Pelor is the only other POV character in the book, though he only pops up occasionally and his story only seems to tangentially touch on the main story of Bethany and Caldry. Maybe later books in the series will show the interaction and important of Pelor with the other main characters, but in this first book I found his storyline not relevant to the drama playing out between Bethany, Caldry, and the Eberhand royal family. Beyond the character development, which was superb, Charissa also does a wonderful job of world-building. Castle life is vividly detailed from both the slave and royal perspectives, and the everyday aspects of castle life add wonderful details. I especially liked the inclusion of the herbs and herbal remedies to the storyline, and I could tell that Charissa had done her homework to make sure these details were accurate.

The audio version was narrated by Jim Harbourne, and he does an excellent job of bringing the world that Charissa has crafted to life. His inflections are subtle enough that each character is distinct and given their own personality, including internal thoughts being slightly different from spoken words – showing how the characters truly think and act versus the face they show to those around them. There were no problems with the production and Jim makes Torn an enjoyable book to listen to.

Overall, I recommend Torn for anybody who loves epic, low-fantasy. Bethany and Sir Caldry are wonderfully developed characters with many depths and layers, and how they change and react as the story evolves makes Torn stand out for me. Charissa Dufour does a wonderful job of making characters that are real and that the reader cares about. ( )