T. A. Miles

Firstly, before I start the review, have you ever watched a somewhat unknown 90's anime called Nightwalker? That series and this book carry some similarities. The protagonist in both stories is handsome, pretty much immortal (although both can be killed by a sufficiently formidable enemy), have had at one time or another a male lover and both hunt a sort of demonic parasitic beast that infects vulnerable humans or animals that eventually possess their bodies and take on grotesque forms. In Nightwalker the enemy is called a Bleed and in this book series they are called Vadryn.

I haven't read any fantasy tales yet that feature these kinds of heinous beasts so I was indeed expecting my fair share of horror when stronger Vadryn that have possessed humans with magic skills were going to give the heroes some trouble. The enchanting main character of this series is a redhead man named Korsten that was apparently rescued from near death several decades ago by The Order, an ancient society of powerful immortal priests that fight Vadryn and maintain the peace in their nation.

Korsten was born with a magical draw towards red and his blood seems to attract the attention of Vadryn. He seems to have a long history with a powerful archdemon that everyone calls Renmyr. Korsten has been assigned to visit a small city called Feidor's Crest where rumors of a strange disease have attracted the attention of the Order. Korsten like usual has gone with his teammate (and lover), a more pragmatic priest named Merran whose body has never taken any otherworldly change of effect from consuming the immortality granting blood lilies like he did.

The good?
Korsten is a fascinating character and I was surprised he was born as an ordinary human that began to manifest magic at a young age and trained to become a priest of all things. I always assumed he was a hybrid demon or vampire or whatnot. It seems like most priests suffer from strange effects in their bodies if they consume blood lilies long enough and he seems to be a work in progress. I also liked Merran's character that tries to snap Korsten out of his frequent daydreams and gets the job done.

Is there bromance? The book mentions they are a couple out of the closet among their peers and nobody seems to have any issue with it. They could even get married in a formal ceremony. However you won't see much action in this department. Merran saves Korsten from drowning when he falls asleep in his bathtub when he has another one of his frequent nightmares and always keep his back for him. They hold hands at one point of the story. Aaaaand... yeah, they seem to have reached 1st base.

Now, here comes the bad. I like the main characters and really enjoyed the plot. The 2 main enemies Renmyr and Leolyd were formidable because they get into Korsten's head to try to allure him. However, the book is painfully slow. Flowery writing can either make you seem like a sophisticated writer or it can alienate readers that spend half of the story skimming paragraphs.

When there is action and you already got to know the characters, the huge description is great. When you're barely getting to know the humans in Feidor's Crest that end up only appearing in 10 pages, it becomes confusing and tiresome to read. I just think that if I had been the editor of this novel, I would have used a yellow marker and use it where the flowery script bogs the story to a painful halt and just kill those darlings.

While I liked to read a little bit about Korsten's backstory, it just felt like an infodump that cripples the speed of the story. I would have left unanswered questions in the first novel about Korsten's past; I didn't need or care about his strained relationship with his father or the hair color of his sisters. Leave those little extras for the sequel. This book sadly has countless infodumps of backstory of random characters that could have been reserved for the sequels. I just want to get a feel for the two priests and their dangerous demon hunting job. I thought the backstory of magic color tuning and the reason why Korsten seems to unconsciously lure demons was rather interesting.

A flawed novel with a really good cast of characters and plot premise, I might give the sequel a chance but I have a hunch that the flowery description will continue. I need to rest for a while before I take it on.… (plus d'informations)