In the stillness, a power wakes
Caerlon is a kingdom where the power of Resonance has long been bound to a single bloodline, a single all-powerful ruler. Now, for the first time in centuries, the magic has been divided.
On the night of the new king’s coronation, something causes his magic to fracture, and Catanya, a young woman living on the outskirts of Caerlon discovers the long-kept secret of her connection to the throne.
Driven mad by his lust for power, King Cadyan sends his soldiers to hunt her down. He is determined to reclaim his birthright and uncover the truth about the legendary Relics of Illayan, which could hold the key to eternal power and immortality.
On the run, terrified and alone, Catanya must decide how—or even if—she can wield the magic of Caerlon to protect herself and save everyone she loves.
Loved it! 😍
The first book in what could be a new favorite fantasy trilogy for me.
Catanya has grown up as an orphan in Camlee lodge, a girls home, with a loving guardian. When she learns that she is in actuality the twin sister of the new king of Caerlon everything changes. A couple days after this revelation she and her best friend, Diyah, are out by the lake making plans. Suddenly they hear screaming coming from the lodge and sprint back. What they see is firkon, the king’s soldiers, ransacking and killing everyone in sight. Diyah makes Catanya run away and Diyah stays behind to give her more time. From this point on we follow multiple perspectives; Diyah, Catanya, and Cadyan (the king) are the main ones.
This is a pretty typical fantasy setup; a tyrannical king; a long lost princess with magic who will save the day. However there were a couple of things that you don’t see as often. For example, the “good” characters have experiences that help them see the “bad” characters in a different light. Like Diyah treating the Firkon and seeing that they too might be prisoners in a way. We explore the grey area in each person. What would you do to save yourself or someone you loved?
A drawback for me was that I don’t understand the way the magic works. They keep throwing around the world resonance so I’m assuming it has something to do with sound waves? Catanya doesn’t understand exactly how her magic works so maybe we will learn more with her? At least I hope we do.
The pacing of this story is pretty fast, but there’s also some downtime that helps to break up the action and establish some plot and character development. I didn’t want to put this book down even in the slower times. I felt the ebb and flow of the characters emotions in the storyline.
Overall this was an excellent start to this fantasy trilogy and I’m excited to read the sequels.
Content Warnings;
Violence - Heavy violence with medium gore, violence towards children, domestic abuse, child abuse talked inferred but not explicitly described, torture.
Swearing - light to nonexistent
Sexuality - one short explicit sex scene that was easy enough to skip over
