Posted by I didn’t know what to expect from this book. I read the review when it was selected as a finalist, but very shortly thereafter my life became chaos and now my brain is mush. I’m trying to press the reset button here in 2024 and unmush my brain.
I think this will appeal to classic fantasy fans who enjoy parent-child relationships — specifically, father and daughter relationships. Kalen is the father, and he has a bit of a tropey background. He has a violent past that he’s trying to leave behind and start over with a family he loves in a backwater area where nothing much happens. He once belonged to a wandering/nomadic people but tragedy struck and he decided to start over a long way away. He had a daughter with his wife, but then his wife died, leaving him alone to raise Sascha.
Sascha is our other POV. She’s 16 and full of herself. Teenager characters often get under my skin and although there were many times where I was annoyed with Sascha, I still mostly liked her. There’s a lot being asked of her and she’s dealing with it better than most would at her age. Shit went down when Sascha started to ‘spirit walk’ and received a “call” from a god. To ignore a calling from a god is to commit suicide. She has about a year to make the journey back to her father’s land or she will die a pretty awful and inevitable death. Sascha is definitely ornery and challenges her dad all the time. He’s trying his best to keep his cool since he’s got anger issues and it’s quite a challenge at points. She often thinks that by not listening she’s actually going to help the situation. Kalen would be all like, “stay here.” Sascha: “I better not do that and prove myself awesome and capable by doing the exact opposite.” Although the narrative prose definitely emphasize that Sascha is not an overpowered character, Sascha still thinks of herself as a badass and having way more skill than she actually possesses. I think this is what I found the most annoying, but it also tracks with the age group. Sascha is also suffering from serious culture shock as she’s introduced to her father’s people as they are way, way different than what she’s used to. She’s butting heads with her father and doesn’t understand his decision making at all.
Aside from Kalen and Sascha there’s another POV from another clan who hates Kalen and wants him dead. He comes in a little later in the story and to talk too much about him could be a little spoilery. I didn’t find I was sinking into his character in the same way I did with the main two characters. I don’t know if that’s because I didn’t have as much page time with him, or if it’s because I wanted a little more depth from what I got — probably a bit of both.
The plot was a little repetitive as I felt for most of the book they were on the run, which kind of created this stop and go cyclic effect. Now, that makes a lot of sense considering what the plot was — get this girl from point A to point B in time. The prose was fast paced and it made up for some of the more repetitive plot points, so I was still able to crush this in a day or two. The writing had more of an old school feel to it rather than a modern tone. As a personal preference, I do tend to enjoy modern over old school, so I didn’t always gel with the prose but it’s not based on quality, just preference.
This is fairly tropey and combines “going on a journey” “a calling” and “coming of age” all wrapped into one book. These are tropes that have stuck to the wall and have a lot of appeal to many folks. My personal preferences clash a little here, too. I don’t tend to reach for these kinds of books, but that said, my submission this year to the SPFBO finals was also a bit of a coming-of-age story.
There is a lot of info dumping through story telling. I understand that she’s 16 years old and she’s been kept in the dark about her heritage and their culture, but there was a LOT of infodumping at points. There’s also a clan that is extra ruthless and I found it a little jarring and made them feel a little flat. For instance, someone’s husband was put to death for coming back alive after a battle, the wife showed absolutely zero trauma, guilt, or pain and thought of him as a coward. I understand cultural differences and whatnot, but wow. It’s hard to imagine hating your spouse for surviving a battle even if it’s frowned upon.
Overall, I had just a couple nitpicks here and there but I mostly enjoyed my time with this and would recommend it to people who want a journey story featuring a father and daughter trying to work out their differences/relationship.
FINAL SPFBO SCORE: 7/10