This was a surprising read and what initially seemed like a really successful heist and promised riches for three petty thieves in a prosperous city, it turned into a nonstop series of unfortunate events that befell all three of the odd heros of sorts.

The book starts in a rather inconspicious note. A merchant that owes money to a troublesome gangster due to poor financial decisions has successfully obtained 40 gold coins from the government as a loan. Knowing that his silk shipment was due to arrive, he was certain that he could easily repay the king. It was the gangster that he was worried about. And his poor luck was not on his side today. Three clever teenage orphans managed to steal his booty without realizing the series of unfortunate events that would happen afterwards.

Assuming they were only going to get a handful of bronze coins, the teenagers were initially elated with the heist. And then dread dawned on their defacto leader Dearn that they had to flee the city immediately because of the sheer amount of stolen money. After some convincing, Savia an attractive young woman with a good heart and the cheerful Petrius grudgingly accept Dearn's insane decision. However, they first had to visit a certain gangster to pay an extortion fee to afoid getting into unwanted problems named Mordray (who just happens to be the man that loan sharked gold to the merchant). They manage to fool the man by giving him a smaller fraction of the loot, but the man's sex slave Marissa gives Dearn a secret message to flee on a boat called "The Black Rose". The hero shrugs it off assuming it was going to be a trap.

After purchasing urgent supplies, fate has it that the only boat leaving to a regional capital called Baz that day happened to be the aformentioned boat. It is here that they meet a strange young woman (it seems like the book hints she's in her 20's) named Apria who is secretly a magician apprentice. After being attacked by pirates, the four characters and a shipmate named Khale barely escape unscathed and are forced to flee on foot through the vast wilderness. When things seemed to turn in their favor, they are attacked by three humanoid beasts that are physically stronger than humans named Lex and Khale is killed during an initial ambush. The group kill two of them but a third one who is determined to at least capture one alive manages to capture Petrius and both were presumed to have died when the raft the Lex built falls off a waterfall. Mourning the death of their friend and inadvertedly discovering that Dearn comes from a powerful merchant family without ever realizing it, they continue their quest to reach Baz presuming their friend was killed.

And Petrius probably would have preferred that but this dark story had a worse fate in store for him. Captured and enslaved by the Lex, he is humilliated, exhausted, starving and wounded. After a fruitless attempt to attack his captor, the Lex chuckled as he easily subdued the poor sap and forces him to carry his travel sack occasionally pulling on his crude restraints to enjoy seeing him fall during the grueling month trip to the Lex village. Tossed in a prison cage with no hopes of escape, Petrius encounters and eventually befriends a dazed female prisoner named Devout that is a practicing nun that has lived in captivity for 5 years. Awed at her mental fortitude and dazed by her beauty, he struggles to avoid falling in love with her due to her religious vows while at the same time trying to convince her to flee with him.

Meanwhile, Mordray discovers something that causes him fury. The merchant stumbles into his presence and confesses that his gold was stolen. After showing him a reciept from the government, the gangster forcibly coerces the poor man to accompany him and his servants to Baz to locate the thieves at all costs.

The other group manages to find a friend of Apria named Zelma. She confesses to Dearn that he is a magician as well even though he had never realized it before and tries to coax him into allowing her to train him.

After reading a few chapters, there were several things that stroke me about this novel. For starters, it reminds me a lot of The Thieves of Stonewood. You have orphaned characters that lived their whole lives in a large city comitting petty theft that forcibly pay tribute and respect the gangsters that run the place. The characters are common criminals but they are good natured people that do it out of necessity. You then have a bunch of wackos that follow a demonic worshipping cult causing havoc whose purpose is to resurrect a powerful demon that will destroy the world. Both books are on later thought sufficiently different to stand on their own, but I was massively surprised by the similarities.

The other thing is that this is not a book for younger readers. Sex slavery is rampant in the story. Marissa isn't who she seems to be at first sight but she voluntarily allows Mordray to abuse her and keeps her imprisoned in his estate under constant vigilance by his goons. The things that Petrius endures during his capture was pretty gritty. The S*** word is used in a chapter. I usually don't like swearing too much in books that at least attempt to be for teenagers but the word was used with so much humor that it was arguably my favorite one liner of the book.

As an Epic Fantasy tale, the chapters are divided by the POVs of a handful of recurring characters. We meet most of the cast fairly early in the story so it's very easy to get close to them and ultimately like them, but I didn't enjoy the chapters featuring Prince Aspen as much. I just feel like his character was introduced in the story very late and it doesn't allow you to get to know and like him. I will give a lot of credit to the author for the great and clear descriptions during the military battles.

The book was longer than I thought, but overall it was a very entertaining read and it seems like we'll be forcibly hanging with a lot of unanswered questions because the second novel hasn't been released yet. ( )

This was a surprising read and what initially seemed like a really successful heist and promised riches for three petty thieves in a prosperous city, it turned into a nonstop series of unfortunate events that befell all three of the odd heros of sorts.

The book starts in a rather inconspicious note. A merchant that owes money to a troublesome gangster due to poor financial decisions has successfully obtained 40 gold coins from the government as a loan. Knowing that his silk shipment was due to arrive, he was certain that he could easily repay the king. It was the gangster that he was worried about. And his poor luck was not on his side today. Three clever teenage orphans managed to steal his booty without realizing the series of unfortunate events that would happen afterwards.

Assuming they were only going to get a handful of bronze coins, the teenagers were initially elated with the heist. And then dread dawned on their defacto leader Dearn that they had to flee the city immediately because of the sheer amount of stolen money. After some convincing, Savia an attractive young woman with a good heart and the cheerful Petrius grudgingly accept Dearn's insane decision. However, they first had to visit a certain gangster to pay an extortion fee to afoid getting into unwanted problems named Mordray (who just happens to be the man that loan sharked gold to the merchant). They manage to fool the man by giving him a smaller fraction of the loot, but the man's sex slave Marissa gives Dearn a secret message to flee on a boat called "The Black Rose". The hero shrugs it off assuming it was going to be a trap.

After purchasing urgent supplies, fate has it that the only boat leaving to a regional capital called Baz that day happened to be the aformentioned boat. It is here that they meet a strange young woman (it seems like the book hints she's in her 20's) named Apria who is secretly a magician apprentice. After being attacked by pirates, the four characters and a shipmate named Khale barely escape unscathed and are forced to flee on foot through the vast wilderness. When things seemed to turn in their favor, they are attacked by three humanoid beasts that are physically stronger than humans named Lex and Khale is killed during an initial ambush. The group kill two of them but a third one who is determined to at least capture one alive manages to capture Petrius and both were presumed to have died when the raft the Lex built falls off a waterfall. Mourning the death of their friend and inadvertedly discovering that Dearn comes from a powerful merchant family without ever realizing it, they continue their quest to reach Baz presuming their friend was killed.

And Petrius probably would have preferred that but this dark story had a worse fate in store for him. Captured and enslaved by the Lex, he is humilliated, exhausted, starving and wounded. After a fruitless attempt to attack his captor, the Lex chuckled as he easily subdued the poor sap and forces him to carry his travel sack occasionally pulling on his crude restraints to enjoy seeing him fall during the grueling month trip to the Lex village. Tossed in a prison cage with no hopes of escape, Petrius encounters and eventually befriends a dazed female prisoner named Devout that is a practicing nun that has lived in captivity for 5 years. Awed at her mental fortitude and dazed by her beauty, he struggles to avoid falling in love with her due to her religious vows while at the same time trying to convince her to flee with him.

Meanwhile, Mordray discovers something that causes him fury. The merchant stumbles into his presence and confesses that his gold was stolen. After showing him a reciept from the government, the gangster forcibly coerces the poor man to accompany him and his servants to Baz to locate the thieves at all costs.

The other group manages to find a friend of Apria named Zelma. She confesses to Dearn that he is a magician as well even though he had never realized it before and tries to coax him into allowing her to train him.

After reading a few chapters, there were several things that stroke me about this novel. For starters, it reminds me a lot of The Thieves of Stonewood. You have orphaned characters that lived their whole lives in a large city comitting petty theft that forcibly pay tribute and respect the gangsters that run the place. The characters are common criminals but they are good natured people that do it out of necessity. You then have a bunch of wackos that follow a demonic worshipping cult causing havoc whose purpose is to resurrect a powerful demon that will destroy the world. Both books are on later thought sufficiently different to stand on their own, but I was massively surprised by the similarities.

The other thing is that this is not a book for younger readers. Sex slavery is rampant in the story. Marissa isn't who she seems to be at first sight but she voluntarily allows Mordray to abuse her and keeps her imprisoned in his estate under constant vigilance by his goons. The things that Petrius endures during his capture was pretty gritty. The S*** word is used in a chapter. I usually don't like swearing too much in books that at least attempt to be for teenagers but the word was used with so much humor that it was arguably my favorite one liner of the book.

As an Epic Fantasy tale, the chapters are divided by the POVs of a handful of recurring characters. We meet most of the cast fairly early in the story so it's very easy to get close to them and ultimately like them, but I didn't enjoy the chapters featuring Prince Aspen as much. I just feel like his character was introduced in the story very late and it doesn't allow you to get to know and like him. I will give a lot of credit to the author for the great and clear descriptions during the military battles.

The book was longer than I thought, but overall it was a very entertaining read and it seems like we'll be forcibly hanging with a lot of unanswered questions because the second novel hasn't been released yet. ( )