MY ⭐️ RATING: 4/5
Format: Kindle Whispersync
BOOK DESCRIPTION
They took his daughter, so Micah comes to take their kingdom. Fifty thousand gun-toting paladins march behind him, all baptized in angel blood, thirsty to burn unbelievers.
Only the janissaries can stand against them. Their living legend, Kevah, once beheaded a magus amid a hail of ice daggers. But ever since his wife disappeared, he spends his days in a haze of hashish and poetry. To save the kingdom, Kevah must conquer his grief and become the legend he once was. But Micah writes his own legend in blood, and his righteous conquest will stop at nothing. When the gods choose sides, a legend will be etched upon the stars.
MY REVIEW
A semi-finalist in the SPFBO-7 and one that I wanted to read the moment I saw the gorgeous cover, and it rightfully won the cover contest! This was a great read, lots of action, great pace and great fleshed out characters who were not safe from harm, world building wasn’t super detailed but it was enough to understand the surroundings. A story of conquest dealing with scheming and political manipulations from both sides as well as internal conflict mixed in with some divine intervention. This is a great start to a Middle Eastern inspired, GrimDark fantasy series! Picture, the movie Kingdom of Heaven… but with magic.
“We’re all good men until we’re pushed to the edge. Then you either die a good man, or the good man in you dies.”
Knowing that Zamil was introduced to the fantasy and Sci-fi world through his brother with Star Wars. I appreciate the subtle and not so subtle influences that are scattered within the story. Once I knew about that I was catching small things here and there that may or may not be influences but definitely felt like it. One I thought was a pretty glaring homage and when you get there, you will agree with me!
I did enjoy this a lot, but why 4 stars instead of 5? Unfortunately, since I used Kindle Whispersync to read and listen, I have to grade it with that in mind. Peter Noble did a pretty good job narrating, but the issue I had was with the main character voices. The voices were far too similar, almost as if they were the same person, but they obviously are not. I got confused several times listening to the story because I thought I was still listening to the other character, forgetting that the chapter ended and it moved to the next POV. This is a big problem if you’re an audio listener and it’s the only reason it did not get 5 stars from me. No disrespect to the narrator, but I would suggest reading this over listening to the audio for a better experience.
Wolfmantula.com 