Mass Market Paperback
637 pages
Published January 30th 2007 by Solaris
ISBN:1844164683 (ISBN13: 9781844164684)
Source: Borrowed from a friend
The Blurb (www.goodreads.com)
The comfortable world of Martris Drayke, second son of King Bricen of Margolan, is shattered when his older half-brother, Jared, and Jared's dark mage, Foor Arontala, kill the king and seize the throne. Tris is the only surviving member of the royal family aside from Jared the traitor. Tris flees with three friends: Soterius, captain of the guard; Carroway, the court's master bard; and Harrtuck, a member of the royal guard. Tris harbors a deep secret. In a land where spirits walk openly and influence the affairs of the living, he suspects he may be the mage heir to the power of his grandmother, Bava K'aa, once the greatest sorceress of her age. Such magic would make Tris a Summoner, the rarest of magic gifts, capable of arbitrating between the living and the dead.
A friend of mine gave me this book to read after I admitted that not only had I never read it, but I had never even heard of Gail Z Martin. I'm glad she did, because now I am totally hooked!
The story starts by giving a glimpse into Tris' life. We meet his friends, his family, and his enemy, who also happens to be family. It doesn't take long for his perfect happy life to fall apart, however, when he witnesses the murder of his father, mother, and younger sister at the hands of his half-brother. Tris is then forced to flee his home with his closest friends. Together, this band of refugees travel incognito across the country, gathering new allies (and a love interest) when they are needed most, eventually coming to the capital city of a neighboring country under the guise of gathering an army to retake his family's throne.
Honestly, the story is a very typical "journey to oust an evil king" kind of a story, but the characters are real, with all their quirks and faults, and Martin kept the story moving at a quick pace throughout. I'm glad that I knew going into it this book was the first in a trilogy, because I never found myself looking at how much book was left and wondering how they were going to get everything taken care of in so short a time. Especially considering how many new twists were introduced at varying intervals.
One thing I would like to mention: there are quite a few epic fantasy authors that feel the need to outline every second of every day that passes. One of the things I appreciated the most in Martin's writing was the actual passage of time by glossing over the intervening periods of boredom. You know what I mean. The times where your favorite protagonist spends a week waiting to receive a letter, so you get to read a daily account of said protagonist wandering restlessly and picking fights with friends out of frustration. Martin did the reader the favor of simply stating: A week went by. It left a lot more room for action, in my opinion, and is one of the reasons I enjoyed the story so much.
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