Hey folks! I’m migrating my reviews from Banned Bitches that were originally on thisiswickedfierce.com here, so they aren’t in any sort of uniform format or…
Well, basically this is all just a mess.
Apologies and all my wicked fierce love,
Ginny Lurcock
Thomas Rymour, the prophet who cannot lie, spent years as a captive in Faerie before he was released against his will. Now he finds himself in the midst of a war. An invasion force from the Western Kingdom marches with enslaved dragons at its head. Everyone hopes Tom’s prophesies can help their war efforts. But Tom isn’t interested in dragons and wars.
The Eastern elfs think an ancient blade can stop the dragons and the quest might be the chance Tom has been waiting for. He’ll have to lie to the elfs and to his friends. He’ll have to escape from those who want his powers for themselves. And he’ll have to face the dragons of the west. If he can survive that, he might just make back it to Faerie.
Assuming the fay let him come back; after all, they have their own plans.
Ginny’s Review: Thomas Rymour is an asshole.
That’s it, that’s basically the plot of the entire book. He’s a total self-absorbed asshole who cares about nothing except getting back to Faerie because he’s hopelessly addicted to the Queen. While he cannot lie, he can manipulate the truth and he does at every available opportunity as he pushes himself closer and closer to his goal. Who cares about the woman who found and saved him? Who cares that Tir is about to perish in flames?
He’s getting back to Faerie by hook or by crook.
If only you could hate him for it …
But, of course, you can’t. How could you expect anything else from a mortal who’d spend years as pet to the immortal? And how can you really stay mad at him when he behaves just like an addict, knowing what he’s doing is wrong and yet not being able to stop himself.
In fact, he’s so captivating a character that I can barely spare a moment to mention that James T. Kelly is a phenomenal writer and also a terrible sadist, leaving me hanging like that. I woke up this morning pumped to read more, only to remember that I’d run out of more. There was no more. I’d hit the cliff hanger of an epilogue and now I have to wait.
And it wasn’t until hours later that I remembered one of the events towards the end of the book that sucker punched me. I must have blocked it out when I originally read it. It was traumatic enough, after all, as it brought another tear to my eye just remembering it.
God it was … Well can you read the book already, so I can just talk about it with you? Please? I mean, if you’re a fan of epic fantasy, you’re basically guaranteed to love this book. Kelly has a way with words I could never even dream of having and has crafted a masterpiece.
And I’m not just saying that in the hopes that I’ll get an early edition of the second book.
(I should also point out the supporting characters are also fantastic. Especially Six, Draig, and Glastyn. They are my favorite. And not even conditionally like Rymour is.)
5 stars, a must read for fans of epic fantasy.
Ginny Lurcock 