Synopsis
Reyes lost her best friend to a freak accident. When she accidentally enters another world and is asked to find a cure to a deadly purple mist, she accepts, since anything is better than her own world. As she takes on the journey with Anzeru and Ocell, they realize it's easier said than done. Fighting Monsters, Curses and most importantly, Themselves (and each other), they discover the purple mist isn't the only thing posing a threat to the world of Erisseth.
Family secrets, death and cheating fall on their path as they stumble through the realms. Will they manage to find all ingredients of the cure, or will inner and outer distractions sway them from their path? Is earth in danger, too?
Quite tear-jerking at times, having lost someone recently I could identify myself with the character. It is a sound story with a tight plot. I would like to see a prequel or sequel to it. I think there is a lot of potential there. I didn't know about the underlying meaning of grief before going into reading, but I picked up on it rather quickly. I like that there is some sub-plots of friendship, love and loss. It gives the idea of a fantasy novel such as this one something human. We can tell Reyes grew up on earth rather than in Erisseth, but her friends usually include her by telling her things -- which gives us some additional information about it all.
I thought the twist at the end came out of nowhere at first, and I didn't like that that much, but some time later, now that it has had the time to marinate, I do enjoy it. It is quite clever. I think I didn't like it because I had grown close to that specific aspect of the story (no spoilers here) but it makes sense in the context of the story and all that happens in it. I really did not see it coming.
The reason why I gave three stars is because it is not my usual pick because there are some scenes that don't entirely align with my faith, but I'm willing to look past that because the majority of the story is very well written. It is roughly 500 pages so you do have to sit down and truly make some time for it, but I believe it's worth reading. It was a good experience.
All in all I recommend the book to those who enjoy high fantasy. Would read again, good story.
L. O'Neal
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