Patrick Carr Launches a New Suspense-filled Fantasy Epic
When one man is brutally murdered and the priest he works for mortally wounded on the streets of Bunard, Willet Dura is called to investigate. Yet the clues to the crime lead to contradictions and questions without answers. As Willet begins to question the dying priest, the man pulls Willet close and screams in a foreign tongue. Then he dies without another word.
Willet returns to the city, no closer to answers than before, but his senses are skewed. People he touches appear to have a subtle shift, a twist seen at the edge of his vision, and it’s as though he can see their deepest thoughts. In a world divided between haves and have-nots, gifted and common, Willet soon learns he’s been passed the rarest gift of all: a gift that’s not supposed to exist.
Now Willet must pursue the murderer still on the loose in Bunard even as he’s pulled into a much more dangerous and epic conflict that threatens not only his city, but his entire world–a conflict that will force him to come to terms with his own tortured past if he wants to survive.
Review
Patrick Carr writes wonderful, in depth, fantasy novels that give you a feel that the world he creates is ever-lasting. My thoughts:
What I liked:
The world-building. I really liked the idea of a world where people have gifts and can pass them on in death. It adds quite the fantastical element to the book. Also, most fantasy novels are building towards a war. In this one, the war happened ten years ago, and people have to learn to live with the results.
The romance. It’s actually a small part of this book and most of it is in the novella (free and online), but the relationship is built upon friendship and respect…on both sides. I loved every scene in which Willet was with his fiance.
The unreliable narrator. Willet is an unreliable narrator. For reasons I’m not going to go into, there are times you as the reader will wonder if you can trust him. And I loved every minute of it.
Willet. He’s a detective who misses nothing and yet is incredibly vulnerable at times. In spite of the novel being fantasy, there was something very real about him.
The mystery. There is a lot going on. Willet’s personal mysteries are somehow linked with these random murders that are going on and it makes for some complex storytelling. What happened to Willet ten years ago???
Spiritually, the novel is an allegory and appears to match Christianity, merely having different names. Willet, though a believer, has a fascination with death and what’s on the other side.
What I didn’t like:
Around the 50% mark of the novel, things changed a bit. Other characters besides Willet began to get more facetime and honestly, they failed to really capture my interest as much. I will admit to skimming their parts of the story. I just wasn’t invested in them.
Romantic scale: 6
Overall, a very good start to a new series!
**I received a copy from Netgalley. My opinion was not affected in anyway.**
remaininhislove 