Even soldiers can get weary of warfare. Such is the case of Talon, second in line for the Dragon throne, and Darling Seabrake, the adopted daughter of Leonetti Seabrake of the House Kraken.
The novel has many houses tangled up in a war started as a vendetta for a murdered consort. House Sphinx is blamed and the head of House Dragon launches an attack that decimates the House Sphinx and reignites war after 20 years of peace.
Early on, we realize the truth of the murdered consort. It’s frustrating to know it and wonder how it has escaped other people’s knowledge. This whole war could have been avoided if people had asked obvious questions: Cui bono? Who had the greatest access to the Dragon king’s consort? Who moved into power after her death? Who spoke of continuing the war even after Talon wanted to end it?
We don’t get questions like that. Instead, we come into this novel where most stories would end: the throes of an interminable conflict and its abrupt end. The story embroils us in the tale of people struggling with conflicting instructions even as they strive for a unification of their war-torn provinces. Talon proves to have a heart, albeit a crushing innocence. Darling, who has her title restored to her, must juggle the unwanted intricacies of policy. She longs for the simplicity of battle and chafes at court policies. Yet, she too wants warfare to end. In fact, she’s desperate for it, since it has brought famine, poverty, indentured servitude, abandoned farmlands and forced her to become an assassin when she was hoping to put down her blades.
The authors immerse us in a thrilling world, where psychic talents are called “boons”, legendary animals once roamed the planet and ancient gods once granted mortal prayers…albeit not exactly as the mortals wanted. While we are invested in the growing romance between Talon and Darling, we’re even more swept up by Talon’s frustrated attempts to connect with his older brother, Caspian.
Talon is told time and again that Caspian is neither ill nor mad. But Caspian’s fits, cryptic messages, haunted paintings, mood swings and enigmatic public outbursts strain Talon’s patience and nearly drive him to despair. Talon can’t bear his brother’s behavior yet his love for his elder sibling is genuine and without question.
The fraternal love between these two is fraught with pain, half-truths, hidden prophecies and visions that Caspian clearly can’t share with Talon. Caspian also longs for peace and has trod a lonely path to ensure it. Something about his visions can’t be shown to Talon lest the warfaring brother attempt to stop it and ruin everything Caspian has fought to obtain.
It’s clear in one passage that Caspian doesn’t expect to live long. He moodily tells Talon that he’ll never grow old or lose his looks to time. Talon chides him that he’s not going to be immortal; Caspian replies that there are other ways to remain youthful.
We feel a chill at these words. We realize that something isn’t quite right and that Caspian has a vision of the future that will involve his untimely death. But the truth is even more shocking than anybody could expect.
The final denouement is an astonishing, jaw-dropping scene of metamorphosis, yet, like the consort’s murder, all the signs are there if you read the story. Will this stop the war, as Caspian, Talon and Darling hoped? Will it bring the Houses together or drive them apart? The authors leave us with a tantalizing cliffhanger as Talon is left with the reins of power in his hands.
I know it will be months before I see the sequel. I will be on the lookout.
The novel has many houses tangled up in a war started as a vendetta for a murdered consort. House Sphinx is blamed and the head of House Dragon launches an attack that decimates the House Sphinx and reignites war after 20 years of peace.
Early on, we realize the truth of the murdered consort. It’s frustrating to know it and wonder how it has escaped other people’s knowledge. This whole war could have been avoided if people had asked obvious questions: Cui bono? Who had the greatest access to the Dragon king’s consort? Who moved into power after her death? Who spoke of continuing the war even after Talon wanted to end it?
We don’t get questions like that. Instead, we come into this novel where most stories would end: the throes of an interminable conflict and its abrupt end. The story embroils us in the tale of people struggling with conflicting instructions even as they strive for a unification of their war-torn provinces. Talon proves to have a heart, albeit a crushing innocence. Darling, who has her title restored to her, must juggle the unwanted intricacies of policy. She longs for the simplicity of battle and chafes at court policies. Yet, she too wants warfare to end. In fact, she’s desperate for it, since it has brought famine, poverty, indentured servitude, abandoned farmlands and forced her to become an assassin when she was hoping to put down her blades.
The authors immerse us in a thrilling world, where psychic talents are called “boons”, legendary animals once roamed the planet and ancient gods once granted mortal prayers…albeit not exactly as the mortals wanted. While we are invested in the growing romance between Talon and Darling, we’re even more swept up by Talon’s frustrated attempts to connect with his older brother, Caspian.
Talon is told time and again that Caspian is neither ill nor mad. But Caspian’s fits, cryptic messages, haunted paintings, mood swings and enigmatic public outbursts strain Talon’s patience and nearly drive him to despair. Talon can’t bear his brother’s behavior yet his love for his elder sibling is genuine and without question.
The fraternal love between these two is fraught with pain, half-truths, hidden prophecies and visions that Caspian clearly can’t share with Talon. Caspian also longs for peace and has trod a lonely path to ensure it. Something about his visions can’t be shown to Talon lest the warfaring brother attempt to stop it and ruin everything Caspian has fought to obtain.
It’s clear in one passage that Caspian doesn’t expect to live long. He moodily tells Talon that he’ll never grow old or lose his looks to time. Talon chides him that he’s not going to be immortal; Caspian replies that there are other ways to remain youthful.
We feel a chill at these words. We realize that something isn’t quite right and that Caspian has a vision of the future that will involve his untimely death. But the truth is even more shocking than anybody could expect.
The final denouement is an astonishing, jaw-dropping scene of metamorphosis, yet, like the consort’s murder, all the signs are there if you read the story. Will this stop the war, as Caspian, Talon and Darling hoped? Will it bring the Houses together or drive them apart? The authors leave us with a tantalizing cliffhanger as Talon is left with the reins of power in his hands.
I know it will be months before I see the sequel. I will be on the lookout.