1 Fall of a Kingdom

Soraya is a young nobleman's daughter, Jiaan his natural son and Kavi a peasant. These three wish nothing more than to stay away from one another. But as the course of their country's fate changes rapidly they must choose how to respond to pressures exerted on them from all sides when a foreign empire invades their country.

This is a mostly clean book, some interesting moral twists. The characters seem to have a fondness for swear words beginning with the letter B, but otherwise nothing. There are battles, but nothing bloody. There is a story about two people who have sex without any commitment whatsoever.

This book rather than being the first part of a story, seems more to be the set up of the story. You get to know the characters and plot, and then the second book starts. So our three main people are undeveloped. Soraya is a terrible snob, Kavi is ruthless and Jiaan (though good) is weak.

I thought these where good books, not great, but good. Some of you, like me, will have a hard time liking Soraya, Jiaan and Kavi, but the book isn't focused on them, it focuses on the story and the rest fall into place. I also thought it was an interesting look at wars and war logic. Not quite as idealistic as some fantasy books are. Refreshing.