The quest for the stolen chalice is a sham - her family's excuse to get rid of Tevi. Exiled in a dangerous and confusing world filled with monsters, bandits, and sorcerers, Tevi battles demons within and without as she searches for her place in the strange new world.
Jemeryl has her future planned out - a future that will involve minimal contact with ordinary folk who do not understand sorcerers. Her ambition is to lead a solitary life within the Coven and to devote herself to the study of magic. It is all very straightforward - until she meets Tevi.
Two unlikely allies join forces to defeat an insidious evil and on the journey find one another.
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For a book I picked up without knowing anything about it, not even a summary, it was quite interesting. The title of the first chapter was “A bad joke”, and I didn’t know what to think. Was that implying something?
I quickly learned that the joke wasn’t on me. It was on the main character, the unfortunate, seriously depressed and zero-confident Tevi. (Yes, Tevi. Though I have seen far worse in the way of names, I was glad that the name was unique and short enough to remember.) The beginning half of the story was an introduction to the world and Tevi’s character, her plight, her growth and the loss of innocence. Quite standard in the way of fantasy, and I was pleased with the world Miss Fletcher, the author, created (more on this later in the spoilered section).
This is all I can say before the spoilers come in, so now I’ll begin with my ratings.
Plot: [5/10]
Why? Because most of this book is world-building and character-building. Due to the fact that this is the first book in a series, it isn’t surprising. It does seem to drag on when the plot seems to be going nowhere and nothing really drives Tevi beyond self-preservation. However, the plot kicks in near the last quarter of the book, and I feel that that wasn’t the best move on the author’s part. It was there from the beginning, and it was foreshadowed in a way, but it feels weak when compared to other novels out there.
Characters/Characterization: [8/10]
Tevi’s growth was handled quite well, and from the start, she was a character I could relate to. She might bother people who have never had the same problems as her, but I feel that she accurately represents those of us who are homosexuals and live in a world that condemns our “choice”. I can’t really talk about the other important main character, who doesn’t even show up until the second half of the book, without spoilers (although the character can’t be that hard to guess with the title being The Exile and the Sorcerer). Rest assured, most characters seem to be an accurate reflection on the society they live in and how their society reflects ours.
Prose/Writing Style/POV: [7/10]
First off, I do want to say that I saw several grammatical errors and sentences that seemed to miss a word or two. I saw quite the error with a “>” in front of a sentence at one point. I don’t know if this was due to the version I read, but... Hopefully that is the case. Regardless, that doesn’t affect this grading.
The POV is Third-Person Limited, switching from Tevi to other characters at times, but the focus is still mainly on her. This breaks the flow of the story at some points, and although it greatly annoyed myself at the time, I have come to understand the purposes behind the POV switches. They are bearable and not overused.
As to the style of writing, it works. The majority of the book is spent in subject-verb sentences, and this is quite common with the fantasy genre dealing with swords, fighting, magic, etc. The descriptions are definitely nearer to the higher end of the scale compared to other works I’ve read in the genre (and by genre, I mean fantasy lesbian fiction), so that was a plus.
Final Verdict? [6.5/10] - Worth a Read
I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It lulled at times, but I loved Tevi as a main character and the small bits of humor thrown here and there throughout the novel. The character growth was handled quite well, and although some people seem to be cast off without a second thought, I’m sure they’ll reappear in one of the later books. Overall, nice experience. I would have liked to see the plot more structured, but for all intents and purposes, Miss Fletcher made the story move along somehow. The only other big problem was the romance, but more on that below.
----Spoilers Ahoy!---- (I shall assume you have already read the book, so characters will be mentioned, and sometimes I will not clarify who they are to people who have not read)
Ah, the beginning had me fooled. I read the first page and thought to myself, “Oh god, not another story with tribes and tomfoolery between villages and simpletons”. The first pieces of dialogue pointed everything in that direction, courtesy of Laff, Tevi’s bitter sister (who we aren’t supposed to like, but I knew better than to judge her for what she appeared to be... Typical character ploy made by authors).
Thank goodness that all changed when Brec, the childhood friend and crush, and Tevi’s “family” kicked her out. That scene hit too close to home for me, and I’m sure it will (or has) reminded others of their own similar situations. It was handled well, all things considered, and I think that was what Miss Fletcher intended with that scene: sympathy and empathy. I was pleased that Brec appeared to have been forced, quite against her will, to “out” Tevi, so to speak. No unnecessary bitchery (ahem) was afoot.
(In retrospect, having read the book in its entirety, I have the feeling that the readers will laugh once Tevi inevitably returns to her homeland and shoves her newfound badassery in their faces. Of course, I could be wrong, seeing as the rest of the series is already published, but I digress.)
For all their gripes about Tevi and her weakness, for she was pretty much the runt of the litter in her tribe, the author gave reasonable explanations later in the book to explain that Tevi may not be as worthless as she originally thought. It is always a good move on the author’s part to start the main character off in a position of low power and have them grow and become wiser and stronger, and this takes the twist of “you were always strong, just handicapped”. Getting ahead of myself, but I want to make the connection here. The discrimination Tevi experienced humbled her even further, and that is part of the reason why I cannot get mad at her magical strength over all others in the world beyond her home, although it seems to make her entirely too powerful at times.
Before anyone says anything, yes, she lost her eyesight because of her encounter with a basilisk. She lost it because she was curious and foolish, and even then, her eyesight was restored, better than before. So shush. She is overpowered at the moment. (And to that point, I did like how the author revealed Tevi’s eye color in such a manner).
Miss Fletcher creates two worlds for Tevi to live in, the first of which is her place of birth, an island where your blood determines your place in the hierarchy and homosexual behavior is strictly prohibited and punishable by death. Similar to our own world, hetersexual sex runs rampant throughout the colony and the impression is that pretty much every girl is very... “loose”, shall we say. I see this world as a reflection of the past, where kings and queens did rule, homosexuals were put to death, and people did not seriously consider the consequences of their sexual behaviors (*coughAIDScough*).
On the flipside, the mainland that Tevi travels to is governed by a system that takes into account ability and disregards all ties to blood. From the first family that Tevi travels with, we learn that children are expected to make their own livelihood, that they cannot depend on an inheritance. The government is comprised of the Coven, the elite of the sorcerers in the land, whose abilities are the product of their own work. Homosexual behavior is seen as normal, and to think otherwise is very alien, as seen by the difficult time that Jemeryl had when she tried to understand why Tevi was so “homophobic”. I believe this is Miss Fletcher’s vision of the direction our world should take, so this is a reflection of the future.
Before we touch romance, I want to comment on Tevi’s inability to differentiate between genders on the mainland. Is this another way that Miss Fletcher is saying how the way we dress and the way we act should not define our genders?
But of course, this is all my mad opinion.
Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for... romance. Oh god. I had the horrible fear that Brec would be the eventual romance, but as time went on, that became less and less likely, and then Cayell came along and I almost punched Tevi through my computer screen for her idiocy in that failed relationship. I sincerely hope that Miss Fletcher patches things up between the two someday. By then, I was done expecting a decent relationship development.
Then Tevi took that trip up to the mountains and met the crazy sorcerer. Their initial meeting was... nothing special. Nothing jumped out. Tevi was blind and not really attracted to the person that was supposed to save her eyesight. Jemeryl was very attracted to Tevi immediately, but how are the readers supposed to connect with a character they had hardly met 20 pages before?
Their relationship seemed to develop further and further along, but I was sorely disappointed when they jumped straight to sex, what, 10 or so days after meeting? Granted, the sexual tension was there from the start, but there was no build up. For novels that span over three or so books, the relationship shouldn’t culminate in the span of 50 pages. Take your time, Fletcher! You have book space to work with! I do understand that she might’ve wanted the relationship to be there before the second book started, but it would have been great to tease the readers and end the first book with only a kiss. There’s nothing left to look forward to if they sex it up immediately.
Aaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnndddddd...
That is all, folks. That is all.
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As an end note, I would like to put a disclaimer that this is all my opinion. Feel free to agree or disagree, let me know, yadda yadda. I plan on reading more of the series and finishing it, unless one book leaves me so disgusted or bored that I can’t get through it all.
Vanui out.
Purchase here: at amazon
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