SYNOPSIS

Sirscha Ashwyn has no family which means she has no title. She’s worked closely with the Queen’s shadow (right hand), Kendara, training in the hopes of becoming Kendara’s chosen protege to eventually take her place. A mission Sirscha intercepts goes awry resulting in the death of her best friend, Saengo. Sirscha saw Saengo die and for reasons she doesn’t understand, she was able to bring her back to life.

What could happen?

RECAP AND REVIEW

This is the first fantasy book in a series, told in the first person of Sirscha. There are three books right now. I’m not sure if the third is the last. There’s no romance in this book.

This book explores a world where family lineage and titles matter. From my understanding, there are different races: shaman, shadow blessed, and humans. Each region has different practices, but where Sirscha lives is ruled by a Queen who despises shamanborn. She attempted to wipe them out, and now imprisons anyone who is a shaman and lives in her jurisdiction. Shaman (and maybe shadow blessed) have different colored eyes and different ears.

The Spider King is the intermediary between the different regions, maintaining the peace. However, he also instills fear in everyone because of how powerful he is. He’s lived for hundreds of years and keeps the Dead Wood, a mystical forest that devours souls, in check. Except at this point, it’s growing and hard for him to maintain.

This book is all setup for what’s to come in the series. It’s fast-paced, which I appreciated, however I feel like I was missing something, maybe because we’re quickly thrown in to the situation. We’re introduced to the world and characters as concepts become relevant. There’s a glossary in the front that can help keep track.

Sirscha is a badass female lead who can wield a sword and is observant enough to connect the dots. She is also impulsive as hell. I question some of the decisions she makes because she understandably becomes one track minded. She doesn’t take information at face value, which I’d say is her strength, but I feel like she makes things black and white and doesn’t ask the right questions in some contexts. To me, this is the reason the book ends the way it does.

Sirscha’s internal motivations don’t become clear until the end, and while it fit for her character, there was no point of real self-reflection to come to that conclusion, to me.

Still, I enjoyed her enough to follow her story. Theyen and his unimpressed, sarcastic self is my favorite. I love banter and he delivered, though he is only in the book a little bit. Prince Meilek was also lovable to me. Saengo isn’t featured as much as you think, but Sirscha’s love for her isn’t in doubt. Also, Phaut was so loyal, and I liked her and Sirscha’s working relationship.

OVERALL

Overall, I give this book 4 out of 5 stars, based on vibes. I like the world and I’m interested to see how Sirscha gets out of this predicament she created at the end of this book.