4 STARS
One banished and wanting to return
The other enslaved and wanting to run free
Surial, exiled by his family to a trading outpost as a youth has built a loyal household and found a place within Azize society. He brought Rowani, his devoted bodyguard and childhood friend and his fiery tempered horse, Mon'keur. A small bit of home away from home.
He has friends and diversions in the city. Dining, theater, and gambling is how Surial amuses himself when not buried under the family business paperwork. And one evening his luck is particularly fine.
Kade is one of the pot winnings from a race. A barbarian slave who sings, a horse whisperer, and his presence in the Helan's house changes. Though Surial's people do not condone slavery and he has never owned one it is commonplace in Azize. After one look, Surial refuses to send him back to the auction house.
This is a story of friendship that grows out of sacrifice and faith that Surial and Kade show to each other. It is a slow, gentle tale that is filled with learning about their histories and cultures. As it turns out they share more than they expected and that is what bonds them.
As evil moves across the land taking and leaving trophies of the lost behind there is a growing unrest. Violence and torture, a common form are always close, but never this malevolent before, and it makes its way to Surial's house. There is magic and a demonization of chthonic religions as one, the gravest, antagonist manifests.
Naik are bonded with horses. Kade's people have an oral history, furs for beds and tents, and ethnically appear to be a mashup of nomadic peoples with tribal structure and reverence for nature and gifted roles within it. I loved the organic nature of his belief system and the rituals entailed within it. Even the detail of singing them was a nice touch to expressing the importance of it not being written, but carried on the wind. Plus it added some rather beautiful lyricism.
If you've read other Sean Michael stories this is unlike them. I have read thirty, and this is completely different in tone and content. It is beautiful to read.
It has no sex. And while that might be shocking, it has an erotic aesthetic to the language and senses, the fetishization of things from fabrics to eyes to the play of light to sounds. It is alluring without being sexual. And thus it avoids the dubious consent of master and slave in its institutionalized form.
I enjoyed this story greatly and look forward to reading the sequel. It was an unexpected surprise, and I love the setting and the characters. If there is one I gripe I have, it is the cliffhanger ending. It is in the style of fantasy epics where the journey takes the next leg, so I am somewhat forgiving. I'm just glad since there is another edition that is being redone that I trust it won't take too long. I hope. This is a review for the 2016 second edition. I have not read the first, so I cannot compare the two.
Kade saves Surial when there is no one else.
The other enslaved and wanting to run free
Surial, exiled by his family to a trading outpost as a youth has built a loyal household and found a place within Azize society. He brought Rowani, his devoted bodyguard and childhood friend and his fiery tempered horse, Mon'keur. A small bit of home away from home.
He has friends and diversions in the city. Dining, theater, and gambling is how Surial amuses himself when not buried under the family business paperwork. And one evening his luck is particularly fine.
Kade is one of the pot winnings from a race. A barbarian slave who sings, a horse whisperer, and his presence in the Helan's house changes. Though Surial's people do not condone slavery and he has never owned one it is commonplace in Azize. After one look, Surial refuses to send him back to the auction house.
The scent of Madrise’s soap was sweet in his braids from the night before. Too long since he’d regularly honored his family, his clan, and the warriors who taught him; it had ached. To whisper those names, to sing their deeds, their lineage, their deaths, it had ached, but the ritual had loosened the anger, eased the impatience.
This is a story of friendship that grows out of sacrifice and faith that Surial and Kade show to each other. It is a slow, gentle tale that is filled with learning about their histories and cultures. As it turns out they share more than they expected and that is what bonds them.
As evil moves across the land taking and leaving trophies of the lost behind there is a growing unrest. Violence and torture, a common form are always close, but never this malevolent before, and it makes its way to Surial's house. There is magic and a demonization of chthonic religions as one, the gravest, antagonist manifests.
Naik are bonded with horses. Kade's people have an oral history, furs for beds and tents, and ethnically appear to be a mashup of nomadic peoples with tribal structure and reverence for nature and gifted roles within it. I loved the organic nature of his belief system and the rituals entailed within it. Even the detail of singing them was a nice touch to expressing the importance of it not being written, but carried on the wind. Plus it added some rather beautiful lyricism.
“One day, Lik’ta, I know you will run through the tall grasses, dance upon the snow, eat the tiny spring apples from the trees. You will feel the Winds in your mane, and your songs will be sung over many fires, the drummers chanting your name.”
If you've read other Sean Michael stories this is unlike them. I have read thirty, and this is completely different in tone and content. It is beautiful to read.
One long braid fell over his shoulder, laced with a single dark green stone and tied with a red silk. Long enough to just kiss the pages of the beloved book, it seemed almost metallic in the lamplight—copper wire plaited together.
It has no sex. And while that might be shocking, it has an erotic aesthetic to the language and senses, the fetishization of things from fabrics to eyes to the play of light to sounds. It is alluring without being sexual. And thus it avoids the dubious consent of master and slave in its institutionalized form.
I enjoyed this story greatly and look forward to reading the sequel. It was an unexpected surprise, and I love the setting and the characters. If there is one I gripe I have, it is the cliffhanger ending. It is in the style of fantasy epics where the journey takes the next leg, so I am somewhat forgiving. I'm just glad since there is another edition that is being redone that I trust it won't take too long. I hope. This is a review for the 2016 second edition. I have not read the first, so I cannot compare the two.
Kade saves Surial when there is no one else.
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