Book Review:Master of Sorrows by Justin Call
Author: Justin Call
Publisher: Gollancz
Release Date: 21 February 2018
Synopsis: You have heard the story before - of a young boy, orphaned through tragic circumstances, raised by a wise old man, who comes to a fuller knowledge of his magic and uses it to fight the great evil that threatens his world.
But what if the boy hero and the malevolent, threatening taint were one and the same?
What if the boy slowly came to realize he was the reincarnation of an evil god? Would he save the world . . . or destroy it?
Among the Academy's warrior-thieves, Annev de Breth is an outlier. Unlike his classmates who were stolen as infants from the capital city, Annev was born in the small village of Chaenbalu, was believed to be executed, and then unknowingly raised by his parents' killers.
Seventeen years later, Annev struggles with the burdens of a forbidden magic, a forgotten heritage, and a secret deformity. When he is subsequently caught between the warring ideologies of his priestly mentor and the Academy's masters, he must choose between forfeiting his promising future at the Academy or betraying his closest friends. Each decision leads to a deeper dilemma, until Annev finds himself pressed into a quest he does not wish to fulfil.
Will he finally embrace the doctrine of his tutors, murder a stranger, and abandon his mentor? Or will he accept the more difficult truth of who he is . . . and the darker truth of what he may become
Review: Let us just start by standing and gawping at this beautiful
cover! LOOK AT IT! Not only am I in love with the dark teal goal colours,
there’s a richness to it where the longer I stare at it, it almost feel like
the lines are moving and the phoenix is flying! Even the font…ooft!
This book, in tune with its cover, had a very classic feel
to it, a familiarity that helped you fall in and assimilate yourself as part of
the story. We start on a dramatic high
note full of death destruction and the banishing of evil where we immediately
start to see the vast cracks in the system, and then take a smoother step back
and really start our story…well Annev’ s story! For it rally is his story, his
coming of age, his testing and through his eyes we come to understand the world
we’re a part of.
This understanding is key to the book, because more than
just a strong fantasy this book had a lot of heart, it was about the morality and development of our characters, what they thought, how it affected their actions
and how this was a reflection of others around them. This is one of the
enjoyments of having a school/training institution setting where we can spend
time building the world and getting to know our characters. And as anyone
growing up (even in your 20s) Annev is pulled in multiple direction fighting
between his head, his heart and all the opinions of everyone else around him.
You know the expression too many cooks in the kitchen makes a bad broth…that
but so much more. This made Annev relatable, made him an open character that
you rooted for. It also made you shout at him when you knew he was doing
something stupid, or couldn’t see clearly through the love fog that surrounded
him when he looked at Mijun. But we did this because we were all once him and
know that things aren’t going to end well. Especially in this world where the
secrets Annev is keeping could get him killed!
Though this is a world where Magic exists, it is seen a
negative force, a corruption and tool of only destruction. Anyone with the
ability to use magic is seen to consort with the evil God Keos and will be
killed. As will anyone with a physical deformity, being tarnished with the same
brush anyone with magic is as a son of Keos (which is a whole other kettle of fish and presents a large part of Annev's journey and mindset). Annev as an Acolyte of Faith is training to become an
Avatar where he will be sent on missions to retrieve magical artefacts, bring
then back to the academy to be locked away in the vault of damnation. Because
anything we don’t understand and are scared of should be locked away and marked
as evil right? Makes perfect sense! Does anyone else hear the echo of a man on
his soapbox in the air? BECAUSE THE DOUBLE STANDARDS HERE! I see you Elder
Tossan, I know your game, you can’t hide from us the reader, thou villain!
Tossan is one of those nasty characters who believes his own hype…the adder
spitting demon into the ears of the nearest pray. Like Annev, whose potential
outshines his classmates and who Tossan tries to turn against Annev mentor
Sodar just so he can have another puppet to collect all his magical objects for
him.
But there’s just one small problem… ANNEV HAS MAGIC AND A
DEFORMITY AND AIN’T GONNA TAKE YOUR S*****
Annev has managed to survive this long under the nose of the
Academy with the use of a magical prothesis. His disability is an intrinsic part of the plot without being an in your face focus, and at times it was hard to read about because of the adverse reactions the characters had towards anyone born with a disability. There was a fire in Annev to prove that his disability was not a burden to him and he was still the same person, and I think this is an element that will grow in the books, and bring him closer to a dark side (I'm getting star wars vibes here). But now events are spiralling out of control and we all know that will never end will. For anyone! A darkness is seeping in...what do you do when your hunted by everyone around you!
And then we have the Gods. Give me a world with gods and a
mythology and I’m like putty in your hands. I love the fable like qualities to
their stories, the creational myths and how this lays on and affects our
characters. The beauty in the story of Odar, Lumea and Keos is the balance of
power in their relationship and the effect of their fallout, a theme that echoes
throughout the book. And the
manifestation of a grudge knows no scorn like that of a GOD. And Keos has been
holding this grudge for a millennia. Actions have consequences and you just knoooow the vengeful force thats gonna come bite you in the ass. Something that really got me excited was
the element of blind belief. Here we have the approved version of events, but
wheat happens when, as Sodar did, you start to contest that, adding in new
elements from new translations of texts that show a different perspective, a
wider more open perspective to our staunchly believed version of events. Can
anyone else hear Tossan shouting heresy from the top of a steeple. This continues to widen the cracks and show the gritty negativity that holds for a belief system in
We lived in a
microcosm in this book, we got to learn and see the world from a fixed location
that feels like the tip of an iceberg. We’ve had our knowledge and beliefs challenged
and opened and we’ve seen the darkness come in. This lays the perfect foundations
to grow this series from and I’m excited and scared to see what will happen
next!
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