An empire, in the iron grasp of a tyrant, falters alongside a neighboring country on the continent known as Gracyr.
Hydropower systems, once reliable and sustainable here, are failing. A different energy source is needed to bring civilization back from the brink. And great powers do rise to try and fulfill that need.
The keys to one possible solution are held by four unlikely companions. This motley team embarks on an adventure together, and they find themselves entangled in pursuits ranging from bartending to privateering and bounty hunting.
Armando is the tyrant, a colossus of a man who towers over an empire. He possesses formidable allies, some even that have forsaken their humanity to wield shadow magic and summon dragons.
This iron-fisted leader harbors ambitions of drawing from a new energy source. He turns to an otherworldly material from a spacecraft that crashed from the stars long ago. The ship that carried it came with more than just this strange new substance, but such things are secondary to Armando's primary objective.
An empire, in the iron grasp of a tyrant, falters alongside a neighboring country on the continent known as Gracyr.
Hydropower systems, once reliable and sustainable here, are failing. A different energy source is needed to bring civilization back from the brink. And great powers do rise to try and fulfill that need.
The keys to one possible solution are held by four unlikely companions. This motley team embarks on an adventure together, and they find themselves entangled in pursuits ranging from bartending to privateering and bounty hunting.
Armando is the tyrant, a colossus of a man who towers over an empire. He possesses formidable allies, some even that have forsaken their humanity to wield shadow magic and summon dragons.
This iron-fisted leader harbors ambitions of drawing from a new energy source. He turns to an otherworldly material from a spacecraft that crashed from the stars long ago. The ship that carried it came with more than just this strange new substance, but such things are secondary to Armando's primary objective.
âWhat did you come here looking for?â the time-tested titan asked aloud.
He knew the fallen fighter probably couldnât hear him anymore. It was just the usual question he asked.
A state of disappointment ensnared him then, as he looked down at that broken warrior. The large and once powerful man remained unresponsive, and he faded from consciousness on the floor.
âYou had me so expectant, so hopefulâŚâ the titan went on. âPick up your sword, your blaster. Come at me with something, with everything!â he roared as his shouting escalated.
It was to no avail. The weakening man, of such vast notoriety and past promise, lay hopelessly bleeding out and nearly dead. The titan stared hatefully at the man, who now seemed little more than a blood-gurgling heap of shredded flesh and broken bones. He challenged him a final time through clenched teeth. âShow me that some embers still burn in your heart, from that great conflagration I know once set it aflame.â
Still, nothing of consequence.
The duel between the two men had not satiated the battle lust that the victor of this fight continued to harbor, to his great and persisting frustration. That victor was a man known as Armandoâa man who now breathed a great sigh of disappointment. His mind fell back over the years, scouring his memories for someone he had ever faced who had been of the caliber he now knew himself to be. It troubled him greatly that no one was occurring to him.
Then, his mind did land on one man in particular, though it was for reasons not immediately clear to him. He had been an older man, more than twice the age Armando was back then. That was around the time he had come to power in Ezmondia. That old fool had dared to defy him and stand against him. Of course, he had subsequently paid with his life for the transgression.
There had been a certain ⌠uniqueness, a particular rarity about the way that man had carried himself, the way he spoke, the way he fought. A little unnerving at first, perhaps, but not so much that it mattered in the end, as far as was apparent to Armando at the time, anyway.
The manâs son had been there, and he couldnât have been much older than Armando had been. This son had also taken up his sword against him, as his father had. He was more reckless with his wielding of it, though perhaps still fairly skilled. Armando hadnât really gotten much of a sense of that skill, though; he had bashed him over the head with the hilt of his sword after the emotional son overbalanced and missed him with one of his first strikes. He knocked him unconscious and probably rendered him foggy-brained, with a hazy memory of why he woke up later with a pounding headache and a dead father. Armandoâs face creased with a wicked smile at the memory. Perhaps some dormant talent in the man came alive after that encounter, but he doubted it.
Anyway, that son wasnât really crossing his mind for his or even his fatherâs fighting prowess. Why was he thinking of this encounter, then? After considering it for a short while, he finally settled on why: it had been something the son had said to him. What was it? Something odd, something ⌠dramatic.
Armando then thought of a conversation heâd just had earlier that day with his second-in-command, a woman named Mercedes. She was a little like that in conversation, too, he supposed. She did speak in an unusual manner sometimesâat least, as compared to the general citizenry living in his empire, Ezmondia. Not that the citizens of the country that made up the remainder of the continent of Gracyrâa country known as Makevaâspoke anything like her, either. It mostly annoyed him, really, and she had a way of beating around a point, hovering closely but never really getting to it. Armando was a man who generally favored concisely made points in conversations.
He thought of that word she had used earlier when speaking to him. That was why this long-ago encounter was coming to his mind now. That son had used the same word sheâd used earlierâa word he figured in all likelihood hadnât been spoken to him in all these years since. That word from today, and from all those years ago ⌠was âdesiderata.â
How curious it was, the memories that came back to a person with the most random reminders. Armando didnât think further of the matter, though. It was unlikely that the manâs sonâwhatever his name wasâhad gone on to make much of himself, and perhaps he didnât even survive long after that.
Armando left the massive indoor arena and headed upstairs toward one of the main hallways of the grandiose building known as the Castle. He walked past many expensive trinkets displayed in cases, the spoils of wars and battles past, and passed a myriad of fine paintings depicting battles even older and grander. Many were morbid scenes, favoring shades of red and themes grotesque and macabre. Such was commonly the preference of Armando, the emperor who reigned over the empire of Ezmondia, along with some minimal influence from others on what was dubbed the Elite Council.
Armando was a large man, standing at close to seven feet tall, and was a formidable enemy to anyone foolish enough to challenge him. His influence was strong, his grip over his inner circleâand in general, the public of Ezmondiaâunsurpassed. Massive media campaigns were spread out over the ubiquitous vidscreens and other media throughout nearly all residences of Ezmondia. They conditioned the people. It had been going on for a long time: a campaign to bend and guide minds to Armandoâs designs, as the people, usually to a great though gradual extent, all became products of the information they consumed. Indeed, Armando, now some twenty years the emperor of Ezmondia, had unquestionably great if not absolute power and influence here.
And yet he had come to be such a slaveâthough he did not know itâto that very power he thought he could command.
Desiderata by M.P. Desmarais is an exciting adventure that follows multiple characters and crosses the genres of fantasy and science fiction. While the book certainly fits the genre of Epic Fantasy and takes place in an entirely original world, some of the magic technology used in the story certainly screams out influence from other genres. This, while possibly a turn-off for some readers of classic genre use, is an interesting addition to a story for readers with an open mind. However, a reader should remember that some of this brilliant world-building can be particularly thick in places.
The same goes for the fascinating and in-depth characters that Desmarais has presented us with. While each character is interesting and has an amazing storyline, sometimes their histories are thrown at us at times when a reader would prefer to experience more of the story. These character backgrounds cause a forced feeling when introducing character backstories, as the reader wants to rush through the history to find out how it relates to each character and the story. Despite this complication, the characters remain interesting, and their adventures are certainly worth reading about.
The pacing of Desiderata is almost perfect. The story moves steadily and jumps between characters in different locations or, in their opinion, gives the reader a firm feeling of internal dialogue that certainly entertains. However, some character histories are placed in odd places. The reader is removed from the story and given a large amount of background info, only to be thrown back into the story where they left off. This sudden halt in the story hurts the pacing of Desiderata but does not detract from the novel's readability. If you are interested in a highly detailed fantasy novel with bits of other genres sprinkled in, I suggest you pick up this book.