Too many fantasy books rely on the same tired tropes to get their story across. Author Patrick Carr avoids that trap admirably by creating a world of bold ideas and characters. Yet poor plotting and writing mar an otherwise worthy premise, leading to a rough story needing just that bit more polish to rate as high as it aims.
Many of the story elements would be spoilers to reveal, so I'll stick to the most general description. Errol Stone is a young man, orphaned and usually drunk, trying to scrape out a miserable existence in his small town. When he is nearly killed while delivering a message to the local priest, he learns there's far more to his home than meets the eye. Practically everyone he knows has a secret past, even himself, and all will play a pivotal role in choosing who will succeed the aging, childless king.
There were plenty of twists built into a fairly linear story, but these came across as jarring rather than inventive. Character reveals and plot devices sometimes came out of nowhere and caused the the story to drag rather than help it progress. While it began as a fairly standard quest to save the kingdom, the band of travelers is quickly broken and not reunited until the very end. The ensuing subplot was far more engaging, but came to an abrupt halt without resolution once the "A" plot resumed. The big reveal for one of the first mysteries introduced left me underwhelmed, wondering why it was such a secret to begin with.
The uneven actiont might have been forgiven had the writing presented more flourish. It's passable prose on the whole, simply written, but prone to an overabundance of adjectives and adverbs. Little of the description is of interest or furthers the narrative. Knowing the color of every secondary character's hair, eyes, and/or clothes serves little purpose but to fill pages.
Errol himself is a surprising protagonist, and the author doesn't flinch in portraying the struggles an admitted drunkard must endure merely to survive. His personal journey propelled much of the story forward as he grew into a plucky, resourceful hero with quite the unique set of skills. The other characters, while not given nearly as much time for development, were nevertheless well-conceived and executed. However, the lead villain was introduced far too late for me to have any dread of him, weakening the final climax and diluting the stakes established by previous battles.
I rather liked the concept of a triplet theopolitical structure, with the monarchy, the church, and a third institution imitating the three persons of the divine Trinity, with all the ensuing complications such a system might develop. Unfortunately this motif only became clear in the latter third of the book, robbing the story of much of its meaning. It nonetheless gives me high hopes for the sequel.
Its heart is certainly in the right place, and by the end I felt the book had finally settled into the story it wanted to be. Would that it had known the same from the start to make a truly great read. As it is, the book's mildly entertaining journey lacks the emotional payoff needed to make it truly worth the trip.
This review is also posted on Goodreads, Amazon, and Speculative Faith. I did not receive anything from the publisher or author for this review. The cover was designed by Lookout Design, Inc. The book is currently available from Bethany House as a Paperback ($14.99) and eBook ($6.99).
