1/5 stars
Synopsis
Warning! This section contains spoilers, if you would like to avoid these spoilers, jump to the review below.
The book started with the main character in the arms of her adoptive mother during a gathering of the Berrat people. The main character, Kit, was hated, because she was a human and the humans frequently attack the Berrat people. The gathering was then attacked by human slavers. Kit helped some of the Berrat young not get captured, and was given a new name by the Berrat leader that was reserved for warriors. This made the Berrat people hate her even more.
Kit was beaten by some of the other children, and she ran to go hide. She fell asleep, and was visited by the trapped god, Titan, in her dreams. He told her it was her destiny to free him. So Kit then travelled to Titan’s Temple.
At the end of her training at the temple, Kit had to do a test of some kind where she had to stay alive on a mountain with nothing but her clothes and a weapon. The test was to make her a full priest.
After the test was supposed to be over, Kit looked down the mountain and saw the priests coming to get her. But she realized something was wrong and that they were there to kill her instead. It was the priests who hated her. Apparently the priests came to kill Kit on the mountain because she wasn’t meant to do as well as she was doing. She was supposed to be freezing and hungry in order to experience what their trapped god feels.
Kit was then given several assignments.
I’m not sure what happened after the 60% mark. The story didn’t really make sense. Kit had to go kill infected wolves, but she eventually started fighting against poachers who were trying kill wolves? I don’t know. This book started off okay, but it quickly devolved into something that didn’t make sense. I wasn’t sure what the plot was.
Review
One thing confused me throughout the entire book. Everyone despised Kit, and I don’t know why. She didn’t give them any reason to hate her. When Kit got to the temple, she was bullied by teachers and students alike. The only reason given was the people thought she thought she was so great and perfect. That was not a believable reason at all…
Also, I don’t know why she was able to do things that others couldn’t. For example, during a class with a teacher who despised her, Kit was attacked by another student who despised her too. The student attacked Kit, the teacher did nothing, and another student was mortally wounded with a weapon that made cuts that never healed. Kit knocked her attacker unconscious, then healed the injured student. His wound was nearly impossible to heal, but Kit could do it. Why? Why could she heal this student? Where did she even learn to heal? The skills that Kit had were not built up to in the book. She just…had them. The book would have been better if the author had shown Kit acquiring those skills.
The characters had to spar against each other at one point in the book. The instructor said no lethal weapons when one character asked if she could use her axe. The instructor said that they could use quarterstaffs. I facepalmed when I read that. Quarterstaffs are lethal. They can shatter bones. Shatter skulls. Earlier in the book, the main character snapped a quarterstaff in two over her knee. That would not work. The diameter of a quarterstaff is 1 1/2 inches, and were specifically made from harder wood types. Too often authors don’t research the weapons they have their characters use. I felt like the author needed to research the different elements he put in the book.
Personally, I felt like the book blurb described a different book than what I read. The book I read felt more like an academy type book, where the character goes somewhere to learn and grow. I was not expecting to read an academy book, so I was disappointed.
Fireheart Books 