The Price of Power

Slowburn epic grimdark fantasy. This plays heavily into the grey morality that defines grimdark. Most of the characters here have serious baggage. The world built is a dark and brutal place too.

We have four main POVs to follow: The Former Crown Prince, currently in hiding working as a drug dealer after some questionable actions in his past, an orphaned Princess trying to find her place in society and not get swamped in the continuous power plays of court, a grandmother basically torturing her grandson to try and awaken some mystic power, and a suicidal son of a farmer. This is very much a character driven story and all the characters are well drawn, even if it takes a while to really get to grips with some of their motivations.

The world building is also well done. Right from the prologue we are drawn into a world where there is an underlying conflict, a recent liberation that still defines the nation that is focused on. The idea of national identity is a key one! The mythology around that is also ever present and plays an important role in defining the action.

The magic is something intriguing as well. We have beings known as ‘The Awakened' who possess some mystical powers, but this is relatively ill defined within this first book.

Intriguingly despite this being an 700+ page beast of a book we are only really scene setting here. All of the stories are separated with no crossover. This is very much a first book in a series, and whilst there is certainly a steady build in the action it all still feels like only the opening shots in something greater.

Definitely intrigued enough to delve further into this!

This fine fellow offered me a review copy in exchange for an honest review. I'm glad he did. This also stands as the first book to have a super cool looking cover when it was offered to me just for me to find out the cover was a PLACEHOLDER! And wow, look at this real cover! 
This is a dark and gritty fantasy featuring some morally gray characters that might not actually be deserving of salvation. The cast itself, also features some children, as well we others, that brighten the whole thing up, which I enjoyed a lot. I have seen this compared to The First Law trilogy, (of which I've only read the Blade Itself) but I think other than tone, grittiness, and genre, they're quite different. 
The magic system is awesome. It features magical folks called Awakened, who must summit a mountain and return powered. Most die, and the powers are random. Not to mention, they aren't even guaranteed! Who the hell would try that! Well, some people do, and it works for them. Several different powers are displayed in the story, and it's never really described if that's all of them or if there is more. As these powers possibly come from the gods, it makes sense they are random and not fully explained. 
As is the usual aim for these types of stories, the author has created a main character that is so awful that the entire world should despise him. Yet, the more and more you read, the more you like and feel for him. I'm impressed with how well done the character was built. His guilt and self-imposed suffering are what leads you to see him as redeemable. 
Personally for me, there was a chunk in the center there that was a bit thick. I wondered if maybe a POV was cut out if it would have flowed better, however I couldn't think of one I'd want to do without, so idk! Therefore, 5/5* for me. It was great. 

So good:
“Belara straightened. “Peace is what happens when enemies fear each other enough to avoid the uncertain results of attempted conquest.””