But a little more time for the characters to grow and form a relationship would have been welcome.Īnd to be sure, the characters are the highlight of this book. The book felt snappy and lean, excellent traits in a novel. To be sure it doesn’t need those extra pages. I would have liked if the story had another 50-100 pages to flesh out the character development. I don’t say this very often, but in this case I think this book could have been longer. I felt as though Seyonne’s and Aleksander’s character arcs were slightly too sped up. I would have liked it better if it were a slower burn towards the end. I liked the slow-but-steady pacing the book began with, but slightly disliked how it sped up greatly at the 2/3’s mark. The pacing was good overall, but a bit unstable. At moments quite beautiful, the prose was a delight to read. Seyonne must make a choice: allow the evil demons to have their victory and thereby revenge himself upon his wicked master, or fulfill his oaths as a spiritual Warden to defeat demons and save the life of the man who regularly beats Seyonne. Seyonne has given up on life, so he doesn’t care about anything.īut then demons begin attacking Aleksander. Aleksander murders his enemies when it’s convenient. Seyonne survives by living in the moment, never thinking more than a few minutes into the future, crushed by the weight of his misery.įinally he finds his way into the household of Prince Aleksander of the Derzhi.Īleksander is an asshole. He’s traded from master to matter, beaten and tortured and raped and starved. He no longer tries to escape, because he’s been so tainted by his slavery that his family will no longer take him back. He lost his innocence, his dignity, his self respect. Seyonne was enslaved for sixteen years, breaking him in body and soul, stripping him of magic. But the Derzhi empire conquered his people, and Seyonne was captured. Seyonne fought demons as a Warden, wielding potent magics in the defense of mankind. Before, he was a warrior from a tribe of demon hunters. Seyonne has been a slave for half his life.
This novel follows a slave as he transforms from being a broken husk of a man to a powerful (if still a bit broken) spiritual warrior. ‘Curse’ is one of my favorite books, and probably one of the best Fantasy novels of all time, so this similarity is an excellent thing. This book reminded me of ‘The Curse of Chalion’ in all the best ways. This is a great way to start a year of reviews! ‘Transformation’ by Carol Berg is an excellent book. Previous books by the author/in the series I’ve reviewed: Personal Rating: Satisfying Authorial Voice, Great Characters, Enjoyed it Greatly Overall Rating: Highly Recommended ( How I Rate Books )
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