I have to admit that I'm still getting used to reading e-books. I don't have a reader yet, and so read on my laptop. Some books, like Candlemark & Gleam's own Broken, are an easy laptop read.

Erekos, though, was a struggle, and it was difficult to keep returning to my laptop screen to continue reading. However, I recently won a hard copy paperback of the book and found myself immediately immersed in A.M. Tuomala's world. The language used is dense and beautiful. Tuomala knows how to write a sentence that makes me happy to read it. The story told is compelling and reveals itself at a luxurious pace. I like authors who can take their time and still keep me interested. The characters are intriguing and all sympathetic in their way.

My only criticism is that I found the ending a little unsatisfying. To be honest, I was hoping for more "zombis." Beyond that, though, I found it to be a fine fantasy read to curl up with away from any electronics. Can't wait for Tuomala's next one. ( )

I liked Erekos, but I had some problems with it as well. It has a serious case of first-novel syndrome: there’s a lot of explaining going on in these first chapters, as though the book is terribly afraid you won’t follow what’s going on. That goes away, but unfortunately my other big problem with it sticks around: the point of view shifts. Sometimes it seems like we get a slice of the point of view of every character we meet, including the ratsnake that Achane uses to send a message home. I’m not sure if I got more used to the POV shifting as the book went on or if there were fewer shifts overall, but I did find this less annoying as I progressed through Erekos.

And once I got into it, I fell in love with it. This is an amazing world, drawn with all kinds of complexity. I’m always thrilled to see second-world fantasy which actually acknowledges the variety of human culture, not just between nations but within them as well, and Erekos does a great job of this. You get the swamp-witches, the riverlanders, the coastal fishermen, the blonde foreign Wiegenlanders and the hillfolk Wigs, the scholars and the kings and the hunters. It’s a huge world, and I’d love to see more of it. I loved, too, how little people understood about one another – how, for instance, the king is wholly impressed with Achane’s ability to raise zombis, where the other priestesses and witches all sigh and remember the time that they tried it, too, because everyone who works magic tries to rescue a loved one from death.

The characters are wonderful, too, even if there are enough of them that I can’t tell who the protagonist is supposed to be. Is it Achane the swamp-witch, or Shabane, the sister she raised from the dead because she couldn’t stand to see her go? The warlike King Milaus with his desperation to stand up to his father’s memory, or the scholar Erlen who went to the mountains to write his thesis and ended up joining the war against the Erekoi?

I also want to give a shout-out to Erlen and Jaiger’s relationship. I loved the pair of them as soon as we met them – and you know there’s something special about the two of them when the scholar will put his companion’s name down as co-author on his book – but it was this passage that really grabbed me:

There were talks that the two of them had not had, and probably would never have; they did not need to discuss whether this was love or what it meant that they slept beside one another, whether it meant that they were comrades or brothers or lovers. On that first morning, when the sun had risen on their new freedom and the two of them had sat on the mountaintop with their hands touching, Erlen had opened his mouth as if to speak, but the way that Jeiger had looked over the plains halted any words that he might have thought were important.

By taking him to the top of the mountain and granting him the gift of the sunrise, Jeiger had said without words, You make me feel this way. Like light coming into the world.

They are asexual life-partners, and I love them for it. In fact, there are no primary romantic relationships in this book (unless you count the mother and father gods, who do spend a little time walking around among men), which is a delightful change, and I really appreciated it.

As much as I wanted to love Erekos, though, there was always something distancing about it. It seemed like every time I started to get deep into the story, something yanked me back. I want to call it another symptom of first-novel syndrome; the narrator is a little too present, which adds another layer between the reader and the story. There’s a line from the climactic battle that seems to sum up both what I loved about Erekos and also the problems I had with it:

It was hell, but the Erekoi have no word for hell, so they called it war instead.

It’s that little reminder that I’m reading a story about a world that is not my own that shoves a wedge in between me and the characters. Still, despite the occasional attempts of the novel to the contrary, I enjoyed Erekos and would recommend it to anyone else looking for some original new fantasy. ( )

I'm simply at a loss of words over this masterpiece of fantasy that A.M. Tuomala has created. The creation and time put into the world that this revolves around instantly pulled me in and caused me to turn the pages reading each as if it might be the last and leave me longing. I enjoyed that in the beginning of the story the time was taken to break down the linguistics of this story and the correct pronouncement of terms and words. I loved the pull from so many cultures that were influence into this story. To say I was impressed is the only words that I can find to express myself.

It's not often fantasy gets a rush of new blood and breath blown into it and I myself at times will say that I fall prey to sticking to the norm and being a little timid at times to step outside of a certain box but I was so glad that with this book I was not. I almost want to repeatedly thank Candlemark and Gleam for accepting Great Minds Think Aloud Literary Community to their reviewers and allowing us this chance to read the wonderful work that has been before me.

I do wish there was more about Shabane and Gamela but, I know there is only so much one can cover. The views of each characters being shown and how things unfold. Of course I'm also a fan of Zombies so I can say I was a little bias there be them the flesh eating I'm going to take your brains kind or the ones that just want to be whole again I have a little space in my heart for them all. There isn't much more I can say than to grab the readers by the shoulders and shake a little as I thrust the ebook into their view and tell them to give it a good read, try it and you may not just like it but fall completely in love. ( )

This is a book that I'm not really sure about still. I like the story line and the characters, it just didn't draw me in like I was expecting. Many times I will pick up a book and read it front to back in one day, but this one took me a while to get through. I can't pinpoint exactly why that is and it's kind of driving me crazy. The imagery is beautiful and considering it's a fantasy, the situations of thecharacters seemed natural. I may go back and try to read this one again and see if maybe it was just me, but I'm sure that will be a while from now. If my opinion changes, I will definitely come back and adjust this review. ( )

Erekos takes place in a swamp with two nations at war, where witches and wizards practice magic. The swamp witch, Achane, has resurrected her sister, Shabane, as zombie in hopes of coping with her grief. In doing so she has inspired King Milaus to make a new kind of army.

There are not a lot of action and battle scenes in here that many consider a staple in fantasy, but it makes up for that with wonderful imagery. There's enough of it to leave you lingering in a dream, only this is a gloomier one that questions the meaning of life and death in elegant, often poetic descriptions and from different character perspectives.

It has been a while since I teetered between stars on rating a book, but ultimately where my rating came down was on account of personal taste. A.M. Tuomala is a writer I will be watching for future works. ( )