My latest read was a fantasy book that had quite a slow start but a book I ended up reading in two sittings.

The book starts in a lazy village, focused on Garin, a boy dreaming of adventure, and a local man who seems to be a hermit just taking care of livestock and not really being good at it. But that changes when an elven mage appears and requests the inconspicuous hermit to accompany him to solve a problem. Garin goes along – and learns that the hermit had quite a colorful past. A life full of deeds where the good were embellished and the dubious or wrong faded from the memory of many.

Garin gets some hint of what the hermit has done in life, though it takes some time before he learns his true identity. A warrior with some magical skills, he has seen horrific things and made questionable choices. Now, he needs to help the King with finding a traitor. On their long journey to the capital, they stop at mysterious ruins. It is there where power awakens in Garin – power that will soon give him more trouble than he asked for.

At the palace, Garin meets people from Tal’s (the warrior’s) past and is given an opportunity to train with his blade while Tal and the mage search for clues of the traitor’s identity. Garin befriends (and develops deeper feelings for) a bard’s daughter – a bard who was the source of many glorious ballads about Tal’s past deeds.

The machinations of higher powers, however, won’t wait for Garin to get good with the blade. As the traitor strikes – a creature that’s more than just a human – he gets to play his own part as the aging warrior and elven mage rush to fight a creature that might be beyond their skill, with a fair amount of tricks in its sleeve.

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Read date: 7.-14.7.2024
Published: 1.7.2020
Goodreads/Amazon rating: 4,06/4,4
My rating: 85%
Length: 320 pages
My highlights

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I have, in fact, read the book in two sittings, the first being pretty much two-thirds of the book, despite being initially unconvinced. It has – at least now in the beginning – quite a small cast of characters but shows the making of a sprawling world that will be explored more in the sequels.