This was a nice short read for a lazy Saturday. It's basic plot centers around a young girl sold into slavery by her father and bought, through a series of events, by the retired captain of the king's army. Without giving too much away, here is what I liked about the novel:
1. I liked the pacing of the novel. There was always a bit of action happening, but not too much to be overwhelming, and a good bit of action happens towards the end there, which is nice.
2. I liked the novel's take on magic. No special tool is needed. In fact, some might say that tools hinder the flow or working of magic, which is very interesting.
3. I liked the building of the central relationship. Perhaps it was the writing, but the building was believable. I began to hinge my hopes on their "happily ever after".
Here is what I would have liked to see more of:
1. What the reasoning was behind the buying and selling of slaves, especially family. The idea that a father would sell his own daughter for two horses and a bit of gold strikes me as farfetched even in this frigid world. And where was the mother?
2. More about the main character's culture. It seems rather flat. We as the reader only see it through the character's eyes, and even then it is very brief. I would have liked to see her engage a bit with the family, get an idea of what her place was from another perspective before being thrown into the meat of the story.
2. More about how magic works. Training begins in earnest without a full understanding of how things work. The main character just knows how to do it from one page to the next. I would have liked to see her struggle the first few times with the elementary parts.
3. More information on the main adversary. What was the reason for the war? I struggled to sympathize or empathize with them and I wanted to. In this book, they are very obviously bad, but a good villain has a few redeeming qualities that allow for the reader to identify with their struggle.
4. A fuller world that sticks with the reader. Perhaps I'm a bit biased by Harry Potter, but the wizarding world in those books was almost tangible. One experienced it with their senses. One dreamt about it, placed themselves within it. I've come to expect that of other stories. I was disappointed when this one did not deliver on this front. By comparison, this world felt like the cardboard on which one would play a table-top game. There are details, but they don't come alive.
This was the first book I had read cover to cover in a long time. All in all, it was decent reading. I ranked it highly because it read well enough to keep my attention. My points of criticism are more for me as an author than for Mr. Hengst as I know he has several books related to this world that expand on the points I brought up. Perhaps the greatest gift Mr. Hengst has given me is the desire to write again. Thank you, Mr. Hengst.
