Fiona Patton

Ignore what the book blurb says, this is really a story about Prince Demnor's personal journey from being a curious and sensitive child to a teenager dealing with between him and his mother to a country's proud ruler. All that stuff about Heathland and rebellion is really only a small part of the book. The plot moves slowly with lots of focus on the characters' inner thoughts and motivations, and plenty of flashbacks to give us the background on how Demnor became who he is now. The multiple POVs the story was told through meant we got to see different perspectives on the same scene, and I really like the fact that we were shown the villain's perspective as well. Overall, I enjoyed this book although I did at times wish the plot had a little more action.… (more)

When I purchased this book, I did not notice the date it was published. I thought it was maybe 5-10 years old based on the amount books in the series (not sure how I thought that considering the cover design, but I did). Once I started reading it, I quickly realized it was older than I thought. That is not meant to be derogatory in any way. The theme, scope and world building of this novel simply has an older feel to it. It's definitely a sword and sorcery novel, draws heavily on British history in the world building, particularly the tensions between the scots and the brits and the protestants and the catholics. I'm not going to expose my lack of British history by attempting to point to any particular years, battles or monarchs that are used as a jumping off point. There is, unsurprisingly, glorification of battle and several characters clearly think violence is foreplay (think "honorable" violence like a duel or watching a fight not abuse). There is a high emphasis on honor, loyalty, and fealty.

The writing, plot and characterizations are quite solid and generally fall in line with what you might expect from a fantasy book of it's era with two notable exceptions that allows this book to stand out even today. Gender equality. This is a world where for the most part, gender discrimination does not seem to exist. People are treated the same regardless of gender. The same titles are used (expect in one case where a cleric is referred to as Sister), a Prince is a prince whether male or female, a priest is a priest. There is also a form of free love. One of the ways the society prevents unwanted pregnancies (if you are going to have gender equality in women going to war, this is key), the nobility have contracts with same gender courtesans (called companions). Some are in love with their companions, some simply use them for sex, and some companions are also contracted and nurses and nannies. There is in general quite a positive attitude to sex and love. This is not however, a steamy, sexy read. Any and all sex is fade to black (which personally I am ok with)

What keeps this from being five stars is that it definitely is pre Sanderson's law and there is some religious/sorcerous shannigans happening during some of the battle scenes that felt unsatisfactory to me due to being heavy on the symbolism and mysticism and light on the mythology and logic behind it. It's definitely the style of the time it was published, if this book was a recent novel, there might be more of an explanation on the mechanics of the sorcery or more focus on characters with sorcerous powers.

All in all, this was a solid 4 stars. Definitely recommend for readers looking for some fantasy with gay sub plot and not a gay romance set in a fantasy world (the second seems much easier to find). Also, for fans of sword and sorcery fantasy and for readers tired of patriarchal fantasy and interested in a different perspective on gender norms.… (more)

This book was intense. There was political intrigue, war, romance. Everything. My mind is still swimming. I was expecting an interesting read but I wasn't expecting a new book for my favourites list.

The writing is good. The story flows very well and the language isn't too much or lacking. The characters are all pretty fresh and interesting. I fell in INSTANT love with Kelahnus. He was literally everything in this book for me. My enjoyment of the book was literally hinging on how his story progressed. I cried a few times because of him. Everyone else was pretty awesome too. Even the evil guys. I love how Patton shows so many POVs. Normally, I hate that with a passion but she does a really great job. Sometimes it goes into omniscient narrator but that never takes away from the book; only adds.

I described this book as "recklessly cute" as I was reading it. (Cute is my umbrella term for everything awesome, cool and badass.) Like, people do some really irresponsible stuff in this book but it all flies. Patton is magical in her character portrayal that way. I was even feeling for the bad guys. I mean, they kinda make sense a bit, you know?

I definitely recommend this book. Though, I would say steel yourself for the ride, if you're prone to emotional overwhelming like I am.… (more)