Emily B. (LibraryEm42) reviewed on 7/31/2010 + 26 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Acacia has a large, prosperous empire in which many people live pretty well - but there's a serious dark side: the secret trade of slaves for drugs the empire conducts with a distant, largely mysterious nation. The king abhors the trade, but is himself addicted to the imported drug; he endeavors at least to try to clean up some of these problems before his children come to power, for their sake. All Acacian plans go out the window when the Mein arrive on their quest for vengeance and conquest.

The story has some familiar epic fantasy elements - I could compare it to A Song of Ice and Fire - but Durham puts enough twists in that it feels fresh and exciting again. One bit I particularly loved is what he did with the old trope, "Oh, our ancestors want us to take vengeance, so what can you do?" When the Mein say this, they mean it literally: their ancestors are all stored up in a big sacred warehouse, and they are most definitely capable of giving their descendants orders. I also liked that for the conflict near the end (trying to be vague here), I honestly could not guess who was going to win.

I just got the second book in the series and am very much looking forward to finding out what happens after the major shake-up at the end of the first.

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