"Something Different"
It took me a while to figure out what was going on with
this book due to the unusual style of writing. A template
or guide would have made it a whole lot easier so I'll
offer my own. This is written in journal style, however it deals with
more than one journal. It begins with one person, unnamed,
writing the story as he takes it from the journals of two
other people, the future Empress, Portunista, before she
becomes the Empress, and that of a Jaguar, Seifas, who
believes he is the last of his monster-type race once bred
for strength and labor, the perfect hunter/warriors until
their creators feared them and set upon them with mass
cullings. Inserted between the journal entries are segments
of an archeological expedition at the site thirty years
after the fact, speculating and gathering information about
the Empress's rise to power. In the midst of all these entries, is the story of a misfit
band, a brigade just trying to take and hold on to their
piece of territory and power while their world is
recovering from a war that has left the land in turmoil,
where bands of brigands are left all vying for power. In walks Jian, whose good nature utterly confuses each
member of the brigade, yet also brings them hope through
his kindness and bravery. His influence has a lasting
impact on the choices they make as individuals and a group,
especially Portunista (who I personally wanted to slap
upside her thick head on several occasions), as they
understand the value of sacrifice and what really is worth
fighting for and hanging onto. Cry of Justice is a book with large intentions, but the
story itself doesn't provide enough of an impact to carry
it off for the story's sake alone. However, readers of epic
fantasies who place a lot of value in strategy,
intellectual analyses and philosophies, will enjoy the
poetic and unique writing style.
Reviewed by Clover Autrey
Posted October 22, 2008
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Hope And Love - Pride And Honor. Monsters wander the world of Mikon. Caught in the aftermath of a vicious international war, thousands of refugees have fled the Coastal States, bringing their dangers with them into the wilderness near the untamed Middlelands. Castaways from an imploding civilization- fighting to find and to understand the most dangerous of treasures ... Portunista: innovative, ambitious, intemperate; a maga seeking her path to Imperial glory ... Seifas: dark and lethal, alienating, poetic; a hunter whose words are his tears ... Gaekwar: lanky, laconic, sardonic; 'only a cowherd', yet wielding exotic weaponry ... Othon: the Implacable One; a quiet, quick-thinking giant of a man ... Dagon: arrogant, insecure, buffoonish; a miserable commander with a knack for solving puzzles ... Pooralay: ruthless and compassionate, loud and brusque- when he wants to be; a thug on a mystical quest ... Bomas: renegade killer planning a subtle genocide; Artabanus: self-proclaimed Arbiter, drawing every power to himself; Praxiteles: incompetent madman, possessing and possessed by the Roguent Gamin ... In their increasingly desperate struggles- for food, for knowledge, for life itself- what will make the difference between brigades and bands of brigands?
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