The scope of this book (number 1 in a series) is both wide and deep. As a young fella I swallowed great gobs of fantasy and science fiction sagas. Not so much in recent years but I have learned that I still enjoy great science fiction (The Expanse) but I struggle to connect with fantasy. So can I recommend “A Touch of Light” without enjoying the book personally? Well….yes I can. For those that enjoy dense world building you will love this saga.

A world built in contrasts. Light and dark, life and death, strength and weakness, sanity and madness. The community and characters take awhile to develop but when the story takes off.....it's a wonderful ride.

Thiago Abdalla's debut novel, "A Touch of Light," is a remarkable entry into the epic fantasy genre. Set in the richly detailed world of Avarin, this book introduces readers to a place where death is shunned and immortality is revered, creating a unique backdrop for the intertwining tales of three protagonists: Adrian, Lynn, and Nasha.

The world-building in "A Touch of Light" is both intricate and immersive. Abdalla skillfully avoids overwhelming info-dumps, instead allowing the world to unfold naturally through the characters' experiences and perspectives. This approach makes the complex political and religious structures of Avarin both engaging and accessible.

The three main characters each bring their own depth and struggles to the narrative. Adrian, a prince grappling with forbidden grief and a quest for resurrection; Lynn, a rogue elite warrior haunted by her past; and Nasha, a hunter cursed and fighting for acceptance in her clan. Their stories, while separate, are united by a looming threat that adds tension and cohesion to the plot. Lynn's storyline, in particular, stands out with its thrilling action sequences and the fascinating culture of the Sentinels.

Themes of death and grief are central to the novel, explored in thought-provoking ways that challenge both the characters and the readers to reconsider their own views on these subjects. The novel's pacing ramps up significantly in the final act, delivering a compelling and action-packed conclusion that leaves you eager for the next installment in the series.

While some readers may find the multiple points of view and the abstract nature of Nasha's magic a bit challenging to follow, the overall experience is undeniably captivating. Abdalla's prose is confident and engaging, making "A Touch of Light" a must-read for fans of epic fantasy.

Overall, "A Touch of Light" is a strong debut that promises great things for the series to come. Highly recommended for those who enjoy intricate world-building, complex characters, and deep thematic exploration.

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**Review Summary:**
- **Pros:** Rich world-building, complex characters, thought-provoking themes, exciting finale.
- **Cons:** Multiple POVs and abstract magic can be challenging for some readers.
- **Recommendation:** A must-read for epic fantasy enthusiasts looking for a fresh and immersive new series.

A Touch of Light: The Ashes of Avarin – Book 1 by Thiago Abdalla

456 Pages
Publisher: The Alterian Press
Release Date: March 1, 2022

Fiction (Adult), General Fiction (Adult), Sci Fi, Fantasy

Madness is spreading throughout The Domain. Prince Adrian, Kind Iridan’s youngest son, cannot live up to Jovu, his dead brother. Now his beloved Myrra is dead. He is trying to protect her body from creation in hops The Seraph can resurrect her. He has his sister, Elanna, a high priestess helping him.

Lynn is in a prison, but she is not really a prisoner. She has been using her power to save those deemed worthy. Her secret comes to light; she is a sentinel. She is removed from jail and sent away. Nasha was originally a Sloper but remade herself into a Ronar hunter. Other Ronars do not accept her and think of her as something less than them.

The book has a steady but long pace. The characters are developed, and it is written in the third person point of view from three different perspectives. The three each must fight their way through and stay alive. They each have something to prove. Although they are in the same realm, their stories have little to no interaction.

I spent so much of this book confused about the world and what was going on - and maybe that's my fault, as I didn't realize there was a prequel novella that I should have read first. Maybe if I had, it would have felt a bit easier for me at the beginning, as there's not much exposition. And while getting bogged down in exposition at the opening is definitely something to avoid, the absence of it also left me scratching my head. I had a hard time connecting with the story because I felt so out of my depth.

But! So impressive in terms of scope. I don't think I'll continue on with the series, but I feel confident that this will find a readership with die-hard fantasy fans.

this self-published book is full of intricate worldbuilding, vast expanses, and lushly descriptive writing. .It was a little bit difficult to get into at first, there is just so much to absorb. I would recommend reading the prequel novella first, as an easier entry to this world.
There is so much of interest in this book, the religious aspects, the politics, the views of life and death are intriguing. The three different POV for the characters was great.

This will be an interesting series to get into if you like big books with lots going on

Stars: 2 out of 5.

I grant it to the author, he is trying to tell an ambitious story here, so that necessitates a lot of set up and worldbuilding. Unfortunately, that also means that most of these 700 some pages are exactly that - setup.

The story is very slow going and broken into three distinct POVs that don't even converge until the very end of this book. And even then, only two of them somewhat converge, I don't think Nasha ever made it to where Lunn and Adrian were. So we slowly get three different stories developing simultaneously, and up until the end, there was no indication at to how they were connected. Heck, even having finished the book, I'm not sure I understand fully what's going on.

I wouldn't have minded this too much if the characters were engaging, but as it stands, I couldn't connect with none of them. Yes, the author did a good job explaining their motivations, but there was some spark missing with the characters. They felt more like a set of characteristics than real people. So in the end I didn't particularly care for any of them, which made this story very difficult to commit to.

That lack of fleshed out characters compounded with a slow moving stories that were only loosely tied together made it for a very long read. I thought about DNFing it several times, but but then I had already committed so much time that I wanted to at least see what it was all about.

And that brings me to the final problem I have with this book. There is no conclusion to this story. Nothing is resolved, nothing is explained. These 700 pages are just introduction to the world and setup for the series, I guess. Where did the madness come from? We have no answer. Why some people loose their minds and other seem to still function normally when infected? No clue. What does that have to do with the clan lands and the sickness that kills the land? Your guess is as good as mine. All this book did was set up the pieces on the board for the bigger story.

I know that first books in a series have the thankless job of introducing the reader to a brand new world and characters as well as planting the seeds for the arching story for the whole series, but there also needs to be a completed storyline for that book. Readers need an emotional payoff after sticking around for so many pages.

This book didn't give me that. And since I didn't get an emotional payoff for reading this book, and I frankly don't care about any of the characters, I will not be continuing with this series.

PS: I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book so much, but I just couldn't get into it. It seems like it has such an amazing fantasy world, but I couldn't get into the story. It felt convoluted and confusing, and I couldn't keep track of what was going on in the plot. It felt like I was dropped into the story in the middle of things, and I was never able to catch back up to what was going on. I don't know if the starting in the middle was confusing, or if there were too many characters, but I just had a really hard time with this, and ended up giving up about 30% through the book. Don't let this this dissuade you from trying this one, because you might like it better than me.

*Review based on an ARC from NetGalley* Thanks to the author for providing me with a copy of this book!

Up front I will say the writing in this book was a little difficult to adjust to and not my favorite style. It was very matter-of-fact and a bit dry for my tastes. The characters did not show a lot of emotion so this wasn't the kind of book that could make me smile or laugh or tear up, though I did feel satisfaction when something worked out for them after they endured so many hardships. Most things were described only by their colors (moss-green, gray streaked with white, gold-leaf, green and gray, sky-blue, gray and black, deep-blue, jade and gold-woven... these were just a few instances that I highlighted in the e-book), and only a couple times were the colors relevant (black for mourning, red for a house's colors). There were some occasionally awkward turns of phrase (someone had a "puffy voice"), and the word "anxiousness" appeared 16 times, all from the same character's POV, which kind of drove me nuts. Sometimes, particularly in the beginning, the author didn't tell you who was speaking so when it kept saying "she said," I thought a group of women were in a party together, and it turned out there was one woman with a group of men. In the beginning of the book the story was a bit confusing because of things like that. As it went on, there was the odd misspelling or missing word or incorrect "its/it's" usage, but overall this book was well-written. Once I got into the rhythm I enjoyed it more. I can just be picky about these kinds of things.

There were also some odd gaps that made me feel that I had missed something and I had to go back and reread, or sections that made me think pages were missing from my copy of the book. For example, there was a line about "the smell of rotting fish from the market that had been set up for the execution." Why had rotting fish been set up for an execution? To throw at the prisoners? Had it been fresh fish intended to feed the spectators? What's that even about? There's also a section where a character suggests to a council that they need to appoint someone to lead a holy army and everyone just agrees that's a good idea, then he gets upset that he's the chosen one. Buddy, nobody said you were. lol When did that happen? There's a chapter where the characters are in a church and it's never mentioned that they left, and right in the middle of their dialogue they're suddenly pulling a horse and cart. When did they even leave the building? It just felt to me like several times in this book there were whole paragraphs or pages missing. This was the most distracting issue for me, but maybe the final product is a little more polished.

Despite a few technical issues, I really loved the plot of this book. I honestly thought I was going to DNF it for the first 30 percent or so, but I pushed through and I'm glad I did. I've already purchased the second book in the series so I can continue the story. It's just so good. The plot is complex and so well-charted. You can tell a lot of planning went into it because there are so many shocking things that happen that you just can't see coming, but they make perfect sense when the story is taken as a whole.

The book follows three protagonists. Adrian is my favorite. He is a prince and a soldier, forever living in his brother's shadow. He strives to earn his father's respect. He struggles to reconcile his grief for lost loved ones with strict religious teachings that say the dead have no place in the hearts of the living. He wants to save his people and resorts to terrible things to that end. He has a couple romantic subplots and they were both amazing but I wish they had been fleshed out a little more. Just a personal preference; I love romance and even if marriages are arranged for royalty, I like to see more interaction and emotion between the betrothed. On the whole I felt Adrian's story was the easiest to understand. His chapters felt short to me, but maybe that's because I was enjoying them the most and read them faster.

Lynne was my second favorite character. She is an amazing warrior and her history resonated with me, as it slowly unfolds throughout the book. I was confused about a lot of things, though. She hears voices inside her head, the voices of the people whose lives she has taken. They mock, ridicule, and torment her throughout the story, but it was never clear to me whether she was imagining them or if they truly possessed her. I also don't understand how she is "bonded" with Vedyr, whom I believed to be a god up until it is revealed who and what he is. I don't understand how a stone can let her channel his strength and speed. It must have gone over my head how these stones work. There were a lot of details in this book I felt were vague, and that's one of them. I liked her redemption arc, how she fights to redeem herself for her own sake, but in the end is fighting to redeem herself in the eyes of her kindred, as well.

Nasha is the final protagonist. For a long time I thought she was a werewolf. lol Her struggle is to control her reaction to the emotions of those around her. She feeds off them and they make her rage or berserk, to put it in video game terms. You watch her fight to prove herself to her new clan and struggle to make herself look worthy in the eyes of the members of her former clan. I was kind of shaky on the two-clans concept. They live like across a bridge from each other, but one clan is looked down upon by the other unless they are individually selected to compete in a tournament to prove themselves worthy to join the "better" clan or something. That was super vague to me, too. I didn't really understand it. And there was a big gap in Nasha's story where she had a whole betrayal-upon-betrayal plan. I think it was intentional, a plot twist for the reader, but it honestly left me wondering how she had the time to put the whole thing into motion because there were too many moving pieces, too many other characters involved. I liked reading her sections of the story the least but I think with some fleshing-out they would make more sense to me and make me more interested in her.

The battle sequences took up a decent volume of this book, and they are excellent. They were described in a way that let you easily visualize the action taking place. Some books bore me with battle scenes because they're convoluted and I just mentally tune out, but that is absolutely not the case here.

I cannot overstate how amazing the plot of this book is. You really can't see what's happening next, but it's obvious the writer has a plan that is well-executed. I had so many favorite parts, I was highlighting entire pages of the text. I do highly recommend reading an e-copy of this book, because there are a ton of side characters, and I occasionally would for get who was who, and using the Kindle app search feature to look up someone's name to remind myself was a big help.

Thanks again to the author for an advance copy of this book! I'm eager to read more and see where the story takes us.

Thiago Abdalla https://www.tabdalla.com is the author of two novels. A Touch of Light was published in 2022 and is the first in his Ashes of Avarin series.

Due to scenes of violence, I categorize this novel as R. The story is set in the world of Avarin. There are two dominant groups, each with a radically different view on death. In the Domain in the north lives are long and death is seen as the ultimate sin. The bodies of those who die can be preserved, then brought back by the Seraph when she returns to Avarin. In the South are the clans. They embrace death to prevent the return of Zara the goddess of death.

A madness is spreading throughout the land without regard to religious views. There are three primary characters. In the North are Lynn and Adrian. Lynn is a rogue Sentinel warrior who is in hiding. She can call upon special powers when engaged in combat. Adrian is a Domain Prince who is leading an army. Nasha lives in the South. She is a cursed hunter and lifelong outcast. The story revolves around these three.

Adrian uses his army to confront the crazed who are attacking everyone. Lynn believes she may have the answer to combating the madness. Nasha is just trying to fit in with her people.

I enjoyed the 14.5+ hours I spent reading this 456-page fantasy. The book seems to be three relatively unconnected stories. There is plenty of action, intrigue, and political maneuvering. I give this novel a rating of 3.5 (rounded up to 4) out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

A deeply satisfying high-epic fantasy that engrosses the reader in its pages and will have you hatching theories long into the night as Thiago Abdalla pulls no punches with his debut: A Touch of Light.

Having read A Prelude to Ashes in advance of this SPFBO 8 entry, it feels like I was let in through a secret back-door into the world of A Touch of Light with little snippets of knowledge other readers didn’t have. Abdalla has stated that the novella can be read before or after the main novel - there’s no right way around - and while I can see how that works, I’m still pleased I read the prequel first. Diving into A Touch of Light, there is a lot to think about, and I have so many theories and so many questions now I’ve finished. These are good things, in this case. Some books leave more questions than answers and it’s frustrating but Thiago Abdalla seems to have found the perfect balance to get you hooked in and fully engaged with the story.

Within the novel we follow Adrian, again, along with Nasha and Lynn as our three P.O.V.s and they cover off a lot of action in different parts of Avarin. All three have some similar themes of mental illness and some form of family or parental drama: Adrian’s father is an overbearing King who only uses his son as a pawn in his political games, Lynn left her family long ago to protect them from the aspect of Death that follows her, and Nasha doesn’t remember a life before the clanlands. In addition, all three have some form of magic but it seems, in this world, very few people truly understand the magic that exists or how to use it, so in some respects our protagonists are in the dark. As a reader, I find this immensely enjoyable to try and figure it out myself and have theories aplenty!

Other themes we see in the novel include; micro and macro politics, religion, death and scheming. Lots of scheming. Not necessarily by our MCs either. There is action and battles, grand plans and huge mistakes. And, yes, there are griffins. A Touch of Light has been beautifully written and expertly pieced together and, while I try to avoid spoilers, I feel as though my words are not sufficient to convey everything there is to say about this book. I will eagerly be awaiting the next entry in The Ashes of Avarin and thoroughly recommend you pick up this series.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review
I enjoyed this book. I liked the characters in had a good time reading through the story and the development of the characters.
I will be watching to see what comes next.

Picking up an epic fantasy can be daunting, because they tend to be, well, epic. Lots of people, places and things. A lot of new names to try to pronounce and magic systems to learn. How an epic fantasy chooses to introduce all of these new things can make the difference between something being dazzling and dizzy. In the case of Thiago Abdalla's A Touch of Light, I found myself basically dazzled by the adventure through the land of Avarin, although I do have questions.

A Touch of Light spins between the points of view from Adrian, prince of Othonea; Lynn, a Sentinel of the Holy Church of the Seraph who hasn't been using her elite and holy magic for all the right reasons; and Nasha, a hunter for the Ronar people who continuously has to prove that she has risen above her humble beginnings—and keep the curse boiling in her blood in check. And, in fact, all of our characters have to overcome the perception of others to rise to their potential. How well they do it really depends on the character.

There are some seriously cool concepts running through A Touch of Light. Lynn's magic taps into her anger, and she gains additional power through her connection to the griffin she rides, but she risks "hollowing out" if she expends too much power without having enough runestones on hand to keep her from this consuming exhaustion. Magic is best when it doesn't actually come out of thin air, when there is a tangible cost to doing the seemingly impossible. The cost here is well defined, giving credible stakes to Lynn's use of magic. That Nesha's curse, which I deeply suspect to also be some great magic, isn't well defined didn't bother me; I assume that will be elaborated on in a future book. Regardless, whatever power she holds also seems to tax her severely, demonstrating some cost for even undefined magic.

As with most epic stories, A Touch of Light shows us how great violence or change affects different groups of people. Adrian and Lynn's stories, though starting in very disparate places, converge close enough as both try to fight the battle in their own ways. Their goals, or the goals that were being thrust upon them, as the case may be, were close enough that I felt like both were giving me insight into the same great threat. I didn't get that sense with Nesha's story. Although I was interested in her story, I wasn't quite sure where it fit into the broader picture. (For a while, I thought both she and Adrian were antagonized by the same character, but it turned out to be weirdly similar names: Addo vexing Adrian and Adda causing problems for Nesha. No relation, apparently.)That might be a question answered plainly in a future book, but it seemed odd to have her seemingly so disconnected from the main narrative. Which is too bad because I was interested in her story and am very curious how it fits into the bigger picture. War is coming to the Southern Clans that make up Nesha's home but is limited to fighting between the clans. War is raging up north but that has little bearing on her piece of the world. She's a complex character made up of a lot of spit and vinegar, and her circumstances are described clearly enough that you can't blame her for it.

Another thing about epic stories that involve multiple points of view is that, as a reader, you tend to pick favorites, and least favorites. Lynn was my personal fav, though it was a slow burn for me. Her conviction to do what was right by herself, even though it wasn't the easiest path to take, was consistent and nuanced, and I didn't feel she suffered from an excess of plot armor. Nesha, too, was right up there. Adrian...well, Adrian got himself into plenty of pickles by the end and I wasn't sad about it. There's just something nice about seeing the blonde-haired, broad-chested prince-hero screw up pretty royally (pun intended), even if his intentions are good. Okay, pretty good. Okay, sort of good.

A Touch of Light has a lot of elements of a solid fantasy, though there were a few plot holes that could have either been stitched up better or had better explanation for why they weren't plot holes. Abdalla writes about growing up immersed in and enthralled by classic fantasy stories and role- and card-playing games, and you can see many of those influences here. A Touch of Light is a great love letter to the genre, and although I'm not sure it will become a pillar like its influences, it's a fun romp through a new epic fantasy world.

A Touch of Light is the first book in a series, and this appears to be the start of an epic fantasy series. And that factor may have a big impact on how you view this novel.

There are multiple nations at play in this story. There are also a lot of characters. I usually keep a reference list I make as I read to keep track of primary characters because I’m not always great at remembering names. I gave up early on with this one. Characters who aren’t in the story for a single percent of the novel have names and details presented, and it can be overwhelming. At the same time, I didn’t feel we got a lot of visual details about the main protagonists. Readers are thrown into these worlds, left to piece them together as the story progresses, and while this can sometimes be effective, it can also cause confusion and frustration. Understanding the distinctions between Slopers and Ronar becomes evident in the first half of the book, but it wasn’t clear how one becomes a one-, two-, or three-striper. The religion is complex and Adrian’s father—the king—seems determined to be cryptic and distant, even if it threatens his family and his kingdom. I found him frustrating because he’d say clever things like, “You focus on the lambs when you could stand with the wolves,” but I was as confused as Adrian was about what he meant. Plus, with the sheer volume of people, you have new characters show up when terms of surrender are going to be signed and get in a heated argument with Adrian, but it lacks punch because we don’t know these people. We don’t have an established history. And we aren’t given enough of the king’s motives and his perspective to have a clue what he’s up to. Plus, looming threats from Dakhra at the start of the novel are quickly replaced by a different focus.

Having multiple protagonists can be great for giving a larger world view, but in this case, we’re never anchored anywhere before we’re thrown into another nation and another set of problems. People more invested in worldbuilding than plot may enjoy this aspect of the work. Others will struggle to see where this is going and make sense of the events and their significance.

Although the POV chapters rotate, and chapters follow one of the three main characters throughout its entirety, there are moments when the narration steps outside their POV to tell us something the character couldn’t have seen or known. There’s also a lack of foreshadowing with some events, which undermines the tension and intrigue. It would have been something to see Lynn’s bonding in real time, when she became a Sentinel, wondering if she was doing the right thing. Getting pieces of it as a flashback waters it down because we already know the outcome.

Overall, I was interested in the three main characters, and there’s enough there to invest in the story if you’re committed to reading the series. However, this book would have benefited from a solid developmental edit. Action can show the reader plenty about a character. It was clear Addo was a spineless jellyfish long before a full paragraph was dedicated to telling readers he was a coward. In parts, it feels more like this is a situation where the creator loves spending time in the world so much, they’ve prioritized that aspect of the story over plot construction and character arcs. My takeaway is that there’s a lot of potential here, not quite realized in this novel, and that’s unfortunate because it’s hard to get people to come back for book 2 if they aren’t wowed by book 1. The key to success here will be finding the right readers who are willing to commit to the series, not just this book.

**Thank you, Netgalley and publisher, for giving me an electronic ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

I loved the premise of this book, where the dead are not mourned or remembered. There is a quote in chapter nine that caputered the bleak religion "Death does not deserve our tears. We do not value its work with our mourning or wasted breath." It's hard to think of such a concept, but it was very well written. Ehile there is a lot of beautiful descriptions and lore be prepared for people to be hit in the head and knocked out a lot. My favorite character was Nasha and her story.

I have a couple of my favorite quotes and discriptions, in chapter two "The normally vivid green of the citrus leaves had turned brownish yellow— most of them fallen— the characteristic aroma replaced by a sour decay that brought the back of her hand to her mouth." This was such a vivid description and reaction that made my nose wrinkle.

I have two quotes in chapter seven, "The House of the Seraph stood watchful over the city of Alteria , its towers casting claw-like shadows that raked the faithful into a smothering embrace." I liked the word smothering here, it's not a word I'd think of as comfortable, its oppressive and heavy which made me think of the premise of the book about the dead not being remembered. It made me wonder what would happen if the faithful talked about the dead. Is it just like prayer where it's devotion or is there something more magic going on. I found my answer in chapter fifteen "Lynn had lived almost one hundred and sixty years herself, and she’d half expected to start withering away after leaving the Sentinels, but it seemed the Seraph still had Her eye on Lynn, even if it had been too long since she’d received a proper blessing by a priest." It seems to me if you are faithful then you can live forever but that doesn't mean you can't die. Another quote in chapter seven is about the Ever-Tree, which is one of my favorite things in this book. "Beams of light cut through its boughs, highlighting its yellows and reds and oranges and reflecting off the pool of sap that surrounded the tree." It was a beautiful setting for this tree, that I could immediately picture it.

In the beginning of the chapters there is snippets of lore and history. Which is grabbed my attention, there is one in chapter thirteen "The expansion of Her Domain is what will spread the Faith. It is the only thing that can keep our world safe from the heathens whose ignorance would tear it down. — The Book of the Blood" that quote made me think of how fragile the church must be.

I loved the history and different cultures in the story, it was wellrounded and wonderfully written. I'd definitely read it again.

I could not read this book. It made little sense to me and I could not keep the characters straight. Interesting world building, but there were no characters I had any affinity for.

The cover art is very beautiful and the story is entertaining. It’s just a little bit hard to follow with so many characters and so much going on. The plot was interesting, and it made for an interesting read. This isn’t my usual genre, but I did find it enjoyable.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and to Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I am torn as to how to review this fantasy novel and its world of MANY characters and idioms. It was well written, as far as plot and descriptive phrasing. But it there are so many threads and inhabitants and plot lines to try and follow, it was exhausting.

First the prologue, introducing us to Prince Adrian, his father the king, his fiancée Princess Myrra and a few others. Then Chapter One, suddenly Prince Adrian is in a completely different setting, and we are told without preamble or explanation that Princess Myrra has been killed. We learn he has a sister who is a High Priestess living in a convent. Lots of talking, still not sure what's what or who's who but figured more would be explained in the next few chapters.

Chapter Two, and we are thrust unceremoniously into another world, inhabited by Nasha and her three clansmen companions. Who are they? Where are they? What is their mission? Few answers are given, but that's ok because by the end of this chapter only Nasha is still alive.

Chapter Three, (don't worry, I'm only going to cover one more chapter after this one) we meet Lynn, who is in a prison cell. We aren't told why, or where she came from. Suddenly four more folks appear without much introduction or explanation, but again, that's ok because, as in the earlier chapter, Lynn is the only character who survives by the end.

Finally, in Chapter Four Prince Adrian is again in the spotlight. We learn there are Sentinels, that Prince Adrian hopes to resurrect his dead fiancée, and that there is a strange illness taking over the populace, turning them into savage, attacking beasts. Sounds exciting, but again, it was mostly descriptive thoughts and a lot of filler.

I finished the novel but it was a hard slog. This book is long, took me several days to get through it, where I can usually finish a book in a day or two. I think the writing is good, just not the best execution. I am both curious to see what the next installment brings (because nothing is tied up in a bow in the end), but at the same time, reluctant to invest anymore of my time in this rambling storyline.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
The story started out a little slow, but soon grabbed my attention. There were some slow parts throughout the book, but it’s well-written. I’m intrigued and want to know more about the world. I think that the characters are developed pretty well, and I would like to know more about them.

Overall, I really liked the story and the author’s writing style. I look forward to more.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The initial description caught my attention, especially this last part, "Dive into this sweeping epic fantasy saga of a world where religion and politics are one, magic brings terror into the hearts of men, and a looming blight threatens to tear everything down." The idea of intertwined religion and politics, a religion and values life and where the dead are not remembered, and a sickness that threatens everything appealed to me. However, I did not really enjoy how this story was presented. The novel follows multiple POVs, and the story unfolds as you read. What this means is that I had lots of questions at the beginning and was a little confused at certain points and had to reread what was happening, but as the story progressed, more details were given (the character reveals the information because that's what they're thinking or focusing on at the time rather than there being a narrative at the beginning that explains it). This was something that I had to get used to and there were a few times where the information was so sudden and matter of fact that it was jarring and I had to stop and think about how it related to the rest of what I knew. Also, I had a hard time connecting with the characters. This all led to me taking longer to get through the story than what is typical for me.