MY ⭐️ RATING: 4/5
Format: Kindle eBook
BOOK DESCRIPTION
Life used to be good. I had money. I had fame. I had respect. The same thrill during work every day. A different woman in my bed every night. Best fighter to hire for dangerous jobs. Most famous thief in the Nineteen Kingdoms. Half the world sought my services when they needed the impossible done. The other half wanted to sleep with me.
Then one day this strange guy showed up with his even stranger pet, the latter a bit of a gift horse by all accounts, and turned it all upside down. They claimed to have come to save my life, and while they were at it, I got them to help out with the most important quest of my existence: finding the Supreme Key of the Dragon. Needless to say, none of it turned out quite how I expected. But we had fun, even if it was hell sometimes. In the end, what we found was worth it all.
My name is Conor Drew, the Gods destined me for great things.
But I turned them down.
MY REVIEW
I was lucky enough to be given a signed hardback copy of this by the author as a review request, to which, that did not affect my opinion in any way. I have to say that this was such a unique and quite ambitious debut by Mitriel that mixes portal fantasy and sci-fi together. It has a ton of high-stakes action along with some great political intrigue, but what wowed me the most was the world-building that I got lost in, which is definitely Mitriel’s bread and butter.
I thought the story was amazing, and I absolutely love the idea of using portals to other worlds, because it always reminds me of one of my favorite tv shows and it’s many spin-offs, and the movie they are based on, Stargate. What I really enjoyed most was all the different types of ideas that it reminded me of. It had a historical element to it because one of the worlds they visited was set in the late 1500’s and felt very much like that same time in our own world. Some of this also takes place on Earth in London, in the not so distant future. Which gives off some urban fantasy, but this is where we get a lot of our sci-fi (technology) element in the story from which has some very Star Wars like elements like laser swords and droids. The other thing that I got is that it had a little bit of Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider type of vibe which gave off some more flair and excitement. I also got a smidge of a Marvel character, because of a name, and Firefly/Serenity while reading this, I can’t go into too much detail on that, because it could be a little spoilery. There is some romance, that I’m not really a fan of, but if you like that, you’ll enjoy it.
“We spend life chasing after an impossible moment. A mirage. Rushing around, trying to change our world until it’s perfect. Then one day, the idiot whose life you’re trying to save drugs you and two things happen: you turn into a god, stop time and carve your name into the flawlessness of eternity. Then you sigh, release your grip and let it flow again, just so you can go and kick his arse.”
I also thought Mitriel did a great job with the characters, Conor Drew, who’s name makes me think of the Nancy Drew of the Nancy Drew mystery novels, Kristian and Laro are the main characters of the story. I wasn’t too sure about them early on, but as the story progressed, I started getting into them a lot more, and with this being a character driven story, it was important to find that. It was very interesting to see how she was able to weave the character arcs together as the story progressed, with new and more exciting information that made everything even more impactful.
Mitriel also has a way with words, there were so many great quotes dropped in, it reminded me of how Mark Lawrence and Rob J Hayes writes. I feel like I saved at least fifty quotes by those two, and Mitriel falls right in line with that, as I saved at least 10 amazing quotes that I’ll likely use in real life. With all that said, the second half of this was much stronger than the first, and though I did kinda guess what was going to happen with a few things a little early on. It was enjoyable for me to see how the story broke down and to see if my assumptions were correct, and as it progressed and I was, I may have did a “I KNEW IT!” point and yell. This was a good start to what could be a very interesting series, and I definitely would recommend this to all fantasy readers!
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