The Final Strife

A clever take on racial tensions in a fantasy setting. Racism is often a challenging topic to take on, and this one takes it a step further by making the colour of a persons blood literally the defining characteristic of their social standing. With 3 castes of people living in the empire the tensions between the haves and the have nots are cleverly manipulated by those at the top. The reveals and twists cleverly act to undermine the social order and the basis for the regime, but also the motivations of some of the rebel characters as well, creating a wonderfully murky moral picture despite the obvious bias of the society.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. The very real oppression, the politicking and the hidden agendas all work together to produce a fascinating cocktail. Very much looking forward to see where this series goes