Here’s another cover that I couldn’t pass by. Crows and flowy hair. What more can you ask for?
What? Plot? Psh. Who needs plot?
The Book I Ended Up Reading. Cuz Cover.
Yeah.
The Plot:
Welp, on the one hand, you have the renegade sorcerer Silhara, reticent avatar of the evil god, Corruption. On the other, you have Martise a young slavewoman-turned-spy who’s been promised her freedom if she is able to find the proof of Silhara’s crimes that would lead to his execution. She’s set up to be his scribe and apprentice. He is all sorts of suspicious.
Inevitably, romance.
Impressions:
So, I loved The Master of Crows, and I really didn’t love The Master of Crows. On the one hand, it has all of the kind of intrigue I love in my fantasy/romance. Powerful, tortured hero meets terrible-past heroine, and slowly, from animosity, we get affection as they both realize that the other is a human being worthy of love and respect. But but but, I’m squeamish when it comes to professor-student, mentor-mentee, and employer-employee romances. As the story goes on, alongside being a spy, Martise becomes Sil’s apprentice, servant, and (no spoiler here, guys, we knew it was coming) lover – sometimes simultaneously. Oh and she has the baggage of a lifetime of slavery to overcome. The story tries, it really does, to make up for the skewed power dynamic. But it never quite got there.
Otherwise, this little indie book scratched the itch – it had the drama of a fantasy world, the romance focus I love, and characters that fired up my imagination. And if the story was more about characters than world or plot, well, I kinda like that.
The Verdict:
(Fun! Minus the grumbles.)
The Book Canaries 