If you are looking for a new epic fantasy series to sink your reading teeth into, and where you can get in at the very beginning without having to read through a huge pile of doorstop-sized books, Halls of Law is definitely a winner.

It’s also an epic fantasy for the 21st century, where we have an absolutely marvelous heroine’s journey from the outset, as well as a hero’s journey that looks like it will take us to some fascinating places.

Our point of view character is Kerida Nast. All her life she’s wanted to be a soldier, just like everyone else in her family since pretty much the dawn of time. But unfortunately for Kerida, and it looks like fortunately for the rest of Faraman Polity, Ker is a Talent, definitely with that capital T, and Talents are special.

Ker turns out to be a lot more special than most.

Talents in the Faraman Polity are psychics, born with a gift that seems to be a lot like psychometry. When a Talent touches an object, they can read the entire history of that object, AND, most importantly AND, they can read the current status and even whereabouts of all the people who have been involved with that object. And they can read people the same way.

No one can hide the truth from a Talent. Which has made the Talents, over time, the instruments and enforcers of the rule of law. They are the law.

But in order to be impartial enforcers of the law, Talents are separated from the rest of the Polity. Once their gift is discovered they are taken from their families, not just for training, but for life, and forced to cut all ties to the rest of the world and renounce all titles and inheritances.

Ker finds it a cage, sometimes gilded, sometimes lined with shit. Or at least with encrusted oatmeal. But just as she realizes that she can make a new and good life for herself within the ranks of the Talented, disaster strikes, and she is forced to combine her new abilities with her old skills as a soldier.

And that’s where this utterly marvelous story truly takes wing. On the back of a griffin.

Escape Rating A-: This is a terrific story, but I have to say that it isn’t really anything truly new in the realms of epic fantasy. For those who have read a fair bit in the genre, there are plenty of recognizable tropes. However, those tropes are put together in some unusual ways.

Throwing more than a bit of The Handmaid’s Tale into a completely epic fantasy setting gives the story many of its chills, and makes the evil that our good Kerida fights particularly malevolent. Her enemies, the Halia, seem to embody the worst of everything that makes Men’s Rights Activists so foul, while embodying their deep misogyny into an epic fantasy setting and adding a few additional twists to make things that much scarier, and the stakes that much higher for our heroes.

But in the best heroine’s journey tradition, the story follows Kerida as she discovers who she is and what she is capable of. She finds herself at the center of events that will not just hopefully drive out the enemy, but also re-shape her world for the better. If she survives – and succeeds.

An outcome that is never certain. When Halls of Law ends, Ker has merely completed the opening stages of the prophecy that she and her companions must fulfill. And the odds are firmly stacked against them.

I can’t wait to find out happens next!

Reviewer’s Note: V.M. Escalada was billed as a debut author in the material I received for my Library Journal Science Fiction and Fantasy article, Galaxy Quests. I chose to read Halls of Law because the information provided about the book sounded so good, and the book certainly was good. I’m glad I read it. But, and for me this feels like a very big but, V.M. Escalada is not, after all, a debut author. Rather, this is a new pen name for author Violette Malan. I loved her Dhulyn and Parno series, which begins with The Sleeping God. I’m thrilled to have something new by her, I wondered where she went. But a new pen name does not a debut author make, and I feel like I was misled in the materials for that article, and that I, in turn, misled the readers of the article. Next time I’ll do more research.

Halls of Law by V. M. Escalada

Pros: excellent world-building, great characters, interesting plot

Cons: a few points drag

Kerida Nast was born into a powerful military family, so she’s not happy when it’s discovered that she has the Talent and must leave her family and join the Halls of Law. Flashing objects and people allows Talents to know truth in matters of judgement. Just as she comes to terms with her fate, a foreign invasion takes place, upending her life and forcing her to flee or die. She joins up with some defending soldiers and along the way uncovers a prophecy and a people long believed to be myths.

The world-building is excellent. I loved how the Talent and jewels work. It’s very creepy how the jewels can be used to twist people’s beliefs, emphasizing certain truths at the expense of others. There are a fair number of terms to learn, but you come to them organically and they make the world feel expansive. I loved that women were so prominent in the power structure of the Faraman Polity. Seeing the invading force’s attempts to subjugate the native customs to fit their own belief system was terrifying.

Kerida’s a great protagonist. I loved that she learns a lot through the book. She’s practical and makes hard decisions about her own survival, leaving her feeling ashamed by her lack of heroism. She has a lot of responsibility placed on her and does a remarkable job, despite not being fully trained. I thought the supporting cast was great, especially the archer Wynn. Seeing some of them jeweled was tough because I liked all of them.

The story’s pretty interesting, with a lot of unanswered questions to take up in the next book. I’m hoping the griffin has a larger role.

There are a few points where the story drags a bit as the characters travel a lot over the same territory.

On the whole I really enjoyed this and eagerly await the sequel.

I loved Kerida the reluctant magic user who is destined to try and save her world. Cant wait for the next book!

When I pick up a new fantasy novel, I really want it to stand out. With this book, it was good, but nothing I hadn't read before. I loved the whole Halls of Law vibe. It reminded me of Robert Jordan's A New Spring, with all the classes of magic and how they have to learn to wield their power. I also enjoyed the characters. They showed a lot of depth and class through the whole story. I gave the book three stars because I was entertained through the whole book, but I was hoping for something more.

I received this eARC from Netgalley and the publisher.
In this start to a new epic fantasy series we find a country that is ruled with the help of the Halls of Law, which are a sort of guild of magicians. The magic they wield allows them to "flash" or read objects and people to find out the truth of things. At the beginning of the book we are introduced to Kerida, who was being a raised a warrior but whose magic has manifested thereby forcing her to go to the Halls of Law for training. Shortly after her training begins there is an invasion that is targeting the Halls of Law led by red gem wielding Shakaryian. These other magic users are bent on removing women from any positions of power and obliterating the Halls of Law's "body magic".
So from there we get a standard fantasy novel about Ker's flight from the bad guys, hooking up with the right people, finding out about a prophecy and learning to control her magic. Some interesting little bits about different magics but nothing new. It was an enjoyable read although it didn't break any new ground. I would recommend it to fans of fantasy and those looking for a strong-ish heroine.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was full of adventure, interesting characters, magic, peril, friendship, and excitement. I really wanted to know more about the characters, their journey, and their world--which meant I had a very hard time putting the book down. The plot, character development, and world-building was all very good and caused me to stay up too late reading more than once.
Ker, the main character, was a strong female and it was very easy to relate to her journey. As she moved from soldier to Talent to something more, I stayed engaged and wanted to follow along. Tel was a great character as well, and I really enjoyed the secondary characters. The world she lived in was a bit confusing at the beginning but then I was able to slip right in and felt like I had a good understanding of the conflicts, culture, and issues facing Ker and her friends. The storyline was exciting, and I kept checking my progress to see how far along I was in the book because I did not want it to end.
My only issue with the story was that Ker's relationship with Tel felt a little one-sided. I had a sense of Tel's feelings for her growing, but not really much from Kerida's point-of-view. Even once they had been caught by their enemies and Ker realized how Tel truly felt about her, it almost seemed like she didn't care or found it to be a hindrance. I really wanted to see more of how her feelings for him grew and changed, even if she didn't realize it was more than friendship until she was faced with losing him. That would have made their captivity and all that happened after even more poignant. I knew she cared, but it almost felt like she was taking him for granted, or helping him out of duty. I just needed a little bit more out Kerida in regard to Tel.
Overall, I think this was a great book and cannot wait to return to their world. I am very interested to see what happens to Kerida, Tel, and all of their friends. I would definitely recommend this book to others.