DESPITE THE GODS

In Burt’s dark fantasy novel, an outcast returns to war in a land ruled by the whims of gods.

As the story opens, narrator Rhekran returns to fight in a long-running conflict after spending the previous nine months recovering from a near-fatal injury. Now she’s back to fulfill her purpose in the land of Jura: to relieve the local tribes of their woes by removing the encroaching Arsoth colonists from their lands. As missions commence, readers come to learn that her fellow soldiers regard her as barbaric, amoral, and inhuman. Rhekran may align herself with the Kireth militia, but she’s also Skaaran, and the well-known adage stands: “Don’t insult a Skaaran.” She’s defied death once, and, according to a local proverb, this has given her a kind of protection: “Refuse Death once, and the gods refuse your death a hundred times over.” Rhekran’s violent instincts come to the fore when Saelihn, the person in Jura about whom she cares the most, is threatened. Rhekran becomes increasingly disillusioned with the war and with her own mission. When the Kireth put her and Saelihn in danger, she promises to deliver retribution. Despite obvious injuries and the concern of her commanders, Rhekran insists on returning to duty. She quickly gains notoriety as a god-killer—and she continues to communicate with the dead; at the same time, the gods are the one thing she truly fears. Battles continue; many die, and Rhekran is honored for her work, but she maintains that she became who she is because it was the only path available to her.

Burt’s storytelling is immediately immersive. The cold Hinterlands setting is compelling, and the war that sweeps through the narrative is well developed. A dialogue-heavy storytelling style keeps the action moving along, and the conflict between cultures and moral systems adds a degree of nuance that is far more compelling than a mere quest to conquer a villain; indeed, Rhekran prepares her crew for battle while also waging one within herself. (Her mantra: “No gods. No history. Burn the path they gave you.”) The ongoing theme of the favor of the gods, and of the danger such favor imposes, matches well with the mythic tone of much of the novel. Such grand stakes, however, sometimes risk clouding the human story at its heart. Rhekran has the makings of a compelling protagonist. She is feared and relied upon in equal measure by those who fight with her, but even she manages to get lost in the folds of the complex story. Over the course of the novel, the reader may find that the large number of characters makes it difficult to root for any single person or side, and the relationship between Rhekran and Saelihn feels too inconsistently developed to be a strong motivating force for the protagonist. A smaller cast and tighter character development might have made it easier for readers to follow Rhekran's developing disillusionment and better understand the magic that guides her world.

A fantasy tale with engaging worldbuilding but uneven characterization.