5/5 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, Tyron, about to go to his Awakening to get his Class. He got his class, Necromancer, with the subclass Anathema.
Necromancer was a forbidden class, so Tyron immediately knew he needed to hide it. He went to the library to try and find more information on Necromancers but had little luck. Tyron practiced his new spells in secret, racing against the clock to get stronger.
To ensure he had enough magic to cast his spells, Tyron used arcane crystals, but the crystals were extremely toxic and he overdosed on them. After recovering, Tyron ran away before he had to register his class. Three of Tyron’s friends came to stop him leaving. Two of the friends were absolute jerks, while the third one was genuine.
Tyron’s parents, who had been out defeating monsters, returned to the town to find their son gone. The mayor had submitted Tyron’s class to a higher up person, and Tyron’s parents were then given the order to hunt him down. They refused and destroyed the mayor’s farm before leaving.
Tyron made his way to another city, where he started working for a butcher, and tried advancing his class. He got himself on a patrol outside of the city to try and earn gold. He also marked spots on his map where there were bones.
While he was on patrol, another person, a Summoner named Dove, joined the group and said that everyone’s class was being checked when they entered the city. Tyron realized that he couldn’t go back to the city. Dove realized who Tyron was and he decided to help Tyron.
Tyron started trying to get more minions and materials.
A rift in the world started to break, and Tyron wanted to help because he blamed himself for things going wrong, but didn’t know how. He also wasn’t strong enough.
The Slayers who gathered to fight at the rift ran when they got swamped by enemies, and Tyron got caught up in it. He found Dove during this time. Dove was injured, and he passed away shortly after they found shelter.
Review
I really enjoyed this book. I love how the author made the characters seem real, and I love how the book had good tension throughout it. I was worried about the characters, and wanted to know what was going to happen to them.
The relationships between the characters, both good and bad, were fun to read about. They seemed real.
I loved Tyron’s parents. The first impression I had of them was that they were neglectful, and that is true, but it’s very apparent that they still loved their child. My favorite part with the parents was a single line the mother said. “You should have cared for the living.” That line gave me chills. A little backstory: Tyron got a forbidden class of magic, necromancy. He didn’t want it to be burned from him, leaving him crippled for life, so he ran. He raised some skeletons before he ran to aid him on his journey. His parents were famous warriors, known as Slayers, in that area, and they had been gone, but they got back a day after Tyron ran. The mayor of the town reported Tyron’s class to authorities, and he received orders for Tyron’s parents. They were tasked with hunting him down and turning him in for execution. They refused, obviously, and the mayor got mad because it was his grandfather who was raised as an undead by Tyron. Before they left, the mom told the mayor “You should have cared for the living.” The mayor got back to his house to find it utterly destroyed and the words “You should have cared for the living” echoing in his head. I felt like it was a very well done scene. It showed me, as the reader, how much the parents cared for their son, how tyrannical/sadistic the ruling authorities were, and how much fear/respect normal people had for Slayers, and specifically Tyron’s parents.
I also liked the parents because they were fighters, they liked to go against the grain. All Slayers in the land were magically compelled to complete the assignments they were given. When the parents received the assignment to hunt down their son, they fought tooth and nail to resist the compulsion. This once again displayed the love they had for their son. They would rather endure crippling levels of pain for days on end than take the easy way out. I thought it was cool as well how Tyron knew his parents were trying to send him the message that they were going to fight against their orders when they destroyed the mayor’s farm, so Tyron should fight to survive too.
I liked how there were try/fail cycles with Tyron. He had to figure things out on his own, and he stumbled along the way. He had to learn from his mistakes, and he got stronger as a result.
Also, I loved how at the end of the book, when the world was being ripped open and monsters were coming through, Slayers who were running from it saw Tyron standing frozen with some skeletons around him. And instead of killing him to get the bounty from killing the rogue Necromancer, they yelled at him to run, to save himself from the chaos. It showed humanity on their part. It was nice to see that not every character was motivated by greed.
At the end of the book, it was revealed that the current gods of the world were actually Slayers who reached so high of a level that they were able to overthrow the previous gods. It wasn’t explicitly stated, but Tyron was chosen by these old gods, and I think he will be the one to restore them to their original places. The entire ruling structure of the land in the book relies heavily on the new gods. I can’t help but feel like the civilization is going to be shaken up in the next books.
I am super excited to see what happens next.
Fireheart Books 