Where magic is dark and gritty, characters troubled and twisted, and victory comes at a heavy price.
Deep under the City of Glass in the frozen southern land, an age-old machine called the Heart of the City radiates a power which locals call icefire. Most citizens are immune to it, but a few, always born with physical disabilities, can bend it to their will. For fifty years, the ruling Eagle … ruling Eagle Knights, who fly on the back of giant birds, have killed these Imperfects, fearing the return of the old royal family, who used icefire to cut out people’s hearts, turning them into ghostly servitors.
The old king’s grandson Tandor only sees the good things icefire brought: power and technology now forgotten while the people of the south live in dire poverty. He’s had enough of seeing his fellow kinsfolk slaughtered by ignorant Knights, of Imperfect babies being abandoned on the ice floes to be eaten by wild animals. His grandfather’s diary tells him how to increase the beat of the Heart the first step to making the land glorious once more. Arrogant as he is, he sets the machine in motion. All he needs is an army of Imperfect servitors to control the resulting power.
Isandor is Imperfect, an ex-Knight apprentice, betrayed by his best friend and running for his life.
The queen Jevaithi is Imperfect, living like a prisoner amidst leering Knights, surviving only because the common people would rebel if their beloved queen were harmed.
Both are young and desperate and should be grateful that Tandor wants to rescue them from their hopeless situations. Or so he thinks. The youngsters, however, have no inclination to become heartless ghosts, but while they defy Tandor, the Heart beats, and he alone cannot control its power.
Unless someone stops him.
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Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over: https://margaretmcgaffeyfisk.com/category/reviews/
I’ve read other books by Patty Jansen, and like her science fiction, so I picked up one of her fantasies to try. This world is complex with many layers running through it. There are few simple answers or clear villains and heroes. The one constant is …
Great characters I was hooked from the beginning
Interesting story with real imperfect characters trying to do the right thing. Found the world development interesting. Maybe a little dark but probably more realistic that way. I like the book and would recommend it to an adult reader (It is a little dark for a young reader).
This book ended up less being about a fantasy story, and more about pushing fringe sexual themes. Not only was the story line difficult to follow, the constant insertion of unnecessary graphic scenes was tiring. From writing about “normal” practice of young girls celebrating their first period, so they can then have sex with as many people as …
Difficult read, too many characters to keep up with. Can’t believe there are sequels.
It was a little hard to get into the story at first, but later I had trouble putting it down. I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I will have to look for the next book in the series to see how two of the characters resolve their differences.
Oh look. Endorsed by Kevin J Anderson. That explains the bad writing and just … ugh.
Barely a paragraph in and I can already spot editing errors from the beginning. Questionable word choices as well. Somehow, not sure this is going to trend well.
What the …? What’s with the scene break to show a memory and back, but doing it as an actual …
Can’t wait to read the sequel!
Tremendous
Awful. Read a fourth of it and down. Deleted it from my library.
Thought it was a bit slow in the beginning, but then it got going and I really liked it. Want to get the sequels to find out how the story progresses.
M
Try to find a hero in hear, each person thinks thy are.
A little hard to follow…
Tedious. Did not complete the book.
Eh, world creating pretty decent, but character development and quality of writing underwhelming. Read this one for free, not going to read any more in the series, certainly wouldn’t pay to do so.
I didn’t get too far into this book. The premise just didn’t grab me.
This book is statisfying a warped authors appetite for abuse and rape. I’ll not be finishing this OR reading Ms. Jansen’s material in the future.
Should carry warning of content intending to be gross and repulsive.
Once you get all the characters down this book is fantastic! But be prepared for the unexpected because it fallows it’s own tune and nothing is to be expected.