The book description does not do this one justice. The story starts with an expedition in to a harsh land created by a great cataclysmic war hundreds of years before. They 'discover' a race of peoples from the area that they were sent to investigate. The party is welcomed in, and discover the wonders hidden on the other side of this divided land, and return to the empire with a small delegation of these new people.

That is just the start. The new people claim to have seven gods that tell them what to do, and they expected the Capt on the original expedition, and another that they trek to the Empire to meet, Andovar. I don't want to get to into details and spoil it, but events then lead us into the start of a war, with an un-yet known enemy.

This is a great start to what is appearing to me to be a great series. I am already half way through the next book, and see that there is a third, and soon to be a fourth. Definitely worth checking out! ( )

This started as a 2 star and got bumped up to a 4 by the end. For about the first 20% it barely held my interest, while having some entertaining parts here and there. From that point on I felt it got better and better and more and more interesting. I love how you were never really sure of where the story was going or what the intentions were of the Saba Taalor. The mystery of it kept the pages turning.

The only reason it wasn't a 5 star was the first quarter or so of the book being mostly average at best and that I felt the characters for the most part were flat and had no real personality. ( )

reviewed at mightylewry.wordpress.com

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

I was quite surprised by this book, I hadn't read anything of James A Moore before. More of his titles can be found here.

This is a book about first contact with a new civilisation. Initially Captain Dulver ex military man now mercenary was tasked by Desh Krohan – sorcerer and right hand to emperor of Fellien, to find a path to the Seven Forges through a land decimated by the gods over a thousand years ago. While fighting some of the local creatures he comes across Drask Silver hand, who is Sa’ba Taalor. I wont say anymore about them, as they are the main part of the story.

The story and characters, I found to be engaging and well developed, through the story you find out more about the Sa’ba Taalor, their history and religion and to say it is fascinating is an under statement, the problem with this is I found myself wanting the story to delve further into their culture and history. Parts of the story covering Sa’ba Taalor and their environment could have been developed further, i.e. the first contact. It seamed to be over as soon as it began.

One interesting point to make, is when first contact was made there was a language barrier between the races, I thought this was a great idea, because in most Sci-Fi/Fantasy titles I have read this is very rarely explored- to be fair I haven’t read a lot of first contact novels so it maybe more developed than I realize.

Summing up, this was a great book, and was left on an epic cliff hanger which partially reminded me of the end scene in “The Grey” with the mighty Qui Gon Jinn. The book left the world forever changed and empire wide implications to deal with. There is an endless amount that can be built on in future installments and from what I have seen with my first foray into James Moore’s work, I cant see he will disappoint.

until next time!!! ( )

Actually, this was an odd read. I liked the tale, and finished the book, quite quickly, in fact, but on the whole, I felt the prose was missing, the dialogues were dull, and the character development a bit lacking. Also, there are many slow scenes, sometimes minor and boringly detailed, while other important parts of the plot are, in my opinion, hastily outlined, with a final rush at the end of the book which climaxes in a to-be-continued sort of scene, with the main characters abruptly thrown in the storm of events you could notice brewing from about mid-book. I don't really know how to feel about the book, or the abrupt changes and the way the characters react at the end, I guess I care enough to read the next installment. ( )

Good stuff. Opening and closing featured tense action. Middle has a lot of political social groundwork being laid for the series, but Moore keeps it interesting all the way. ( )