Quick-take: Lacking focus.

Dan's Review

Winter (a young adult elf-like woman) and friend go off on an adventure to find her husband Knot. A priestess and her crew are also off on an adventure. I can't quite remember why they are on a journey either, but I think she had a vision and her religion compelled her. Why Knot is adventuring, I can't remember. He is suffering serious memory loss, so perhaps he does not know why either.

Every character needs a friend. Along the way, Knot meets a vampire. Because, why not? I thought I was reading a fantasy novel. Not horror or paranormal romance as vampire novels seem to go these days.

If you haven't caught on yet, I was not a fan of this novel. The motives are not clear, and the characters complain too much. What little planning they do make gets immediately superseded by whatever event soon occurs. The book seems to want to focus a lot on Knot. He is a man of many skilled talents yet a completely lost identity. He has no idea how he knows and can do the things he does.

Yet, the most interesting character is Winter. She starts to develop an addiction, and the book does a really good job of showing how small failures to control it can lead to a serious outcome. I wish the book focused more on that instead of the very boring other characters.

Buried in three disjoint plots that come together in an uncompelling way are some nuggets that could be interesting. It is just not enough for me to score this higher than a 2/5, and I do not care to pick up the remaining books.