Book 1 in the Witch Roads duology, the latest epic novel by fan favorite Kate Elliott..
Status is hereditary, class is bestowed, trust must be earned.
When an arrogant prince (and his equally arrogant entourage) gets stuck in Orledder Halt as part of brutal political intrigue, competent and sunny deputy courier Elen—once a child slave meant to shield noblemen from the poisonous Pall—is assigned to guide him through the hills to reach his destination.
When she warns him not to enter the haunted Spires, the prince doesn’t heed her advice, and the man who emerges from the towers isn’t the same man who entered.
The journey that follows is fraught with danger. Can a group taught to ignore and despise the lower classes survive with a mere deputy courier as their guide?
CW/TW – mentions of past sexual assaults/rape
Dear Ms. Elliott,
The part of the blurb that talks about the class differences is what grabbed my attention. I will be honest though and admit that the first 100-ish pages of the book were a struggle. I kept waiting for the road journey to start and it kept not starting. Instead there is a lot – a lot of a lot – of world building and character introduction along with some mysteries that won’t even be totally addressed by the time the book ends. But right at that point where I sat thinking, “do I want to keep going,” something changed. From then on I knew I wanted to finish the story and with about 120 pages to go at the end, I read frantically. Yep, can’t wait for the next book.
She knew better than to trust, yet sometimes her heart pulled her into those chains.
This is a harsh world of top down power and control. That’s in addition to the dark fantasy elements of a horrible infestation in the land where these characters live which kills painfully. Palace intrigue and power jockeying lurk behind every action in this empire. El and her beloved nephew have mostly managed to stay out of that by dint of living out in the boonies but the sudden arrival of two people with agendas – and remember, power, as well – changes that. A sudden reverse power move by nephew Kem and El’s knowledge gains them a temporary bit of control but they’ll have to survive the journey, deal with hurt feelings and a fantasy person while trying to keep a step ahead of those pesky palace politics.
“You understand the inner workings of the palace in a way I cannot. Isn’t this a lethal game a prince can’t afford to lose?”
This is not a found family story. Kem now has a bit of a place among those whom they travel with but El is viewed with suspicion and only tolerated due to what she knows and can do for the party of wardens and the prince. More is revealed about this world, its history, its problems, and again the court shenanigans. It’s painful to see how little the Little People have and that even those with some degree of authority are little more than tools to be used by the palace. Yet the fantasy person gleefully takes advantage of the fact that no one talks back to or disputes the will of the prince.
You have survived things that killed others, have you not? Yet there is joy in you, despite these stormy tides that would have scoured others into oblivion.”
El has gone through enough in her life and managed to stake out a bit of autonomy which she’s not going to yield to these high falutin wardens who come from powerful families. Malicious compliance is a lovely thing. She’s lied when she has to, is not a menial (an actual position here) and won’t be ordered around by those who don’t have the authority. She also has a bit of an obsession with someone’s bare buttocks. Yet she’s also made mistakes in the past and hurt someone she dearly loves even if she did it thinking she was helping. She gets called on this and finally listens to that person’s emotional pain. Yay, character growth.
Probably that made her a bad person, but she was already a thief and murderer, so she would add it to her catalog of crimes.
Bits of information are slowly added to the initial layout of this world which I find I like better than back breaking info-dumps. Small clues to possible future events are casually dropped without being tagged with CLUE WARNINGS. Hallelujah the names of people aren’t overly weird just to emphasize the point that this is a fantasy. The relationship issues have actual emotional stakes and are also baked into what we learn about these people. Feelings and emotions can and are allowed to get messy at times for reasons that, as I said, matter. There is a gradual romance that develops which also has believable reasons why it can’t be open or continued. I’m crossing my fingers on that for the second book.
I was a feckless, vain, charming fellow. Everyone said so.”
El is a strong character and I enjoyed watching her gain what power and control she can in a world where people like her have very little of either. There are reasons why she acts as she does. She’s intelligent, too, though she’s smart enough to look guileless when she needs to. The book ends with a firecracker setup for the next one as well as some mysteries which I’m hoping will be solved. Looking forward to it. B+
~Jayne
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Jayne
Another long time reader who read romance novels in her teens, then took a long break before started back again about 25 years ago. She enjoys historical romance/fiction best, likes contemporaries, action- adventure and mysteries, will read suspense if there’s no TSTL characters and is currently reading more fantasy and SciFi.
