by Zamil Akhtar
October 15, 2020
Genre: Epic Fantasy, Middle Eastern fiction, historical,
Pages: 500
CW: Graphic Violence, Gore, Torture, Rape
They took his daughter, so Micah comes to take their kingdom. Fifty thousand gun-toting paladins march behind him, all baptized in angel blood, thirsty to burn unbelievers.
Only the janissaries can stand against them. Their living legend, Kevah, once beheaded a magus amid a hail of ice daggers. But ever since his wife disappeared, he spends his days in a haze of hashish and poetry.
To save the kingdom, Kevah must conquer his grief and become the legend he once was. But Micah writes his own legend in blood, and his righteous conquest will stop at nothing.
When the gods choose sides, a legend will be etched upon the stars.
Epic battles, grey characters, heroic women, and shady deities, this book has got it all. The world-building is pretty decent too and the book contained a good amount of violence as befits its grimdark status. The book has suitable tropes too, i.e., the believer-who-loses-his-way and the old-hero-who-comes-back-to-fight. Loved the decidedly Ottoman flavor that one of the empires in this book had.
I don't know exactly what turned me off but I do have some ideas, which I'll mention below:
If you like grimdark and epic fantasies, this book may be more to your liking than it was to mine.
2 sheep.
October 15, 2020
Genre: Epic Fantasy, Middle Eastern fiction, historical,
Pages: 500
CW: Graphic Violence, Gore, Torture, Rape
They took his daughter, so Micah comes to take their kingdom. Fifty thousand gun-toting paladins march behind him, all baptized in angel blood, thirsty to burn unbelievers.
Only the janissaries can stand against them. Their living legend, Kevah, once beheaded a magus amid a hail of ice daggers. But ever since his wife disappeared, he spends his days in a haze of hashish and poetry.
To save the kingdom, Kevah must conquer his grief and become the legend he once was. But Micah writes his own legend in blood, and his righteous conquest will stop at nothing.
When the gods choose sides, a legend will be etched upon the stars.
I don't know exactly what turned me off but I do have some ideas, which I'll mention below:
- Could not connect with any of the characters. I felt like I was viewing them from afar, which is why whatever happened to them didn't affect me.
- Micah's on-screen entry was as a devout believer. While he didn't go all-in when it came to believing in all divine decree, he did have his own set of principles. His fall from grace and the rapey, incestuous reason for it made no sense at all!
- One of the king's bastard princesses was dropped into the story very suddenly and became the rallying cause for one of the parties involved. Another thing that didn't work for me.
- The descriptions of the hidden and dark all-powerful goddess seemed overtly sexual rather than horrifying.
If you like grimdark and epic fantasies, this book may be more to your liking than it was to mine.
2 sheep.
Reviewer: Midu Reads
Most of my go-to series are 3 starrers
*No rating - wasn't my genre/dnf'd so rating it would be unfair
1 sheep - won't be picking up another book in a series again
2 sheep - average read with overused tropes and cliches. Will give the author another try/only continuing because of OCD, so must finish a series
2.5 sheep - liked the book but was put off because it was overly long/illtreatment of a character the author had me invest in and so on.
3 sheep - enjoyed the book but have reservations because I expected to be wowed and wasn't
4 sheep - was unputdownable
5 sheep - formed an emotional connection, will read the heck outta this series
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When Zamil was fourteen, he moved from the dry, dune-spotted Arabian peninsula to the hilly, arctic wasteland that is Western Massachusetts. He despises the cold, isn’t very fond of the sun, and prefers spending all day indoors mashing the keyboard in the hopes something great will come of it. When not dreaming up dark and fantastical journeys, he enjoys binging horror movies, wasting precious time arguing about international relations on Reddit, and occasionally traveling somewhere exotic. He currently lives in Dubai with his loving wife and his badly-behaved pet rabbit.