Eleventh Cycle (1) (Mistland)

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I took my leave from my official duties, passing them to my lieutenant as I wandered most of my day in deep thought. Ardalan does a fantastic job of creating a character torn between worlds and desires, and whose outlet is anger and violence, and captures the essence of one undergoing this while journeying over the cusp into adulthood. There is so much potential in this book, and it has some of the most spectacular worldbuilding, but it turned out not to be the book for me. Perhaps because it was in the first person, but her voice, her sorrow and self-hatred were almost characters in themselves, and seeing where she had come from, and what had pushed and pulled her onto the path she found herself gave it greater impact – and to see how she chose to fight it, even passively at times. We knew why they were feared – and again there is that weight of the past playing out in the future, and how they were dealt with and viewed, and what it cost them to live a life that was deemed acceptable by those holding their chains.

Famished, simply skin on bone, she would sit upon her cathedra of bondage and bleed in a bowl at her feet.It felt like we are watching their lives from a distant, like a play with actors conveying the emotions of the character. Berserk and the Souls franchise were advertised as major influences and as a huge fan of both, I was convinced this would be a surefire winner for me.

Some of the characters really needed the time to develop (Nora in her character development and Delila in the sheer amount of worldbuilding that had to occur around her), while others like Chroma and Erefial were just along for the ride. In fact, I feel the sexual content is handled better here than some romantic fantasies I’ve read recently that dresses up non-consensual sex as somehow desirable, which I find incredibly dishonest. I know I have mentioned in my review this is a grimdark fantasy novel, and as far as graphic content and brutal themes go, it truly belongs in the subgenre.The all-powerful Elder King in Mount Moirnar oversees the world of Minethria with their Elder Beings. It resulted in a book that feels as if a first draft was placed into Google Translate, translated to another language and then back into English. Ardalan's spellbinding and mesmeric debut overflows with a poetic and amazing prose, containing a plot that transports the reader into a fantastic realm of gods, heroes, demigods and humans.

However, fantasy authors need to justify that page length, and I’m not sure that Ardalan really did here. I also love its soft magic system, which is the perfect accompaniment to the novel’s mysterious aesthetic. This is the one and only time that Ardalan kind of toes the line in terms of content; it was not long enough to turn me away from the book, but I am interested to see what the larger perception is. Next is Nora, who escapes abusive parents to become a fierce warrior full of hatred toward the opposing akar race.So there’s a lot of work that has gone into building this world, and it works very well, with everything coming together to give us a vast landscape to explore. I felt as though even though witches were a prominent feature, and some of the most interesting questions raised by characters were in discussions between witches, we never got a firm grasp on them. While this doesn't seem like a pleasant thing to read, it's so refreshingly different, adds immense suspense, and makes the successes/redemptions of the characters all the more glorious. Ardalan builds deep connections to each of the four protagonists through their first-person narration.