The Book of Wrath by Billie-Jo Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An EPIC tale focussing on the heirs to the thrown of Ay and their protector. Their flight from danger and attempts to consolidate their position as those around them seek to take advantage in their time of need.

When their uncle, the Emperor de-facto, is killed and the empire torn asunder by mysterious magical forces the heirs find themselves in a most precarious position. They are aided only by their protector the stalwart and ever diplomatic Kai and must deal with a cast of self serving nobles, mysterious bandits, enigmatic gypsies and mysterious monks. All in the cause of trying to survey and rebuild the empire.

The book is well written and the tale well told. There's a smattering of olden English words like thee, hale and betwixt, to some they may seem annoying to others part of the flavour of the book. Either way they never really get in the way of the story.

The characters are well defined and I found myself associating the Price with the King of France as portrayed in the recent BBC adaptation of the Musketeers.

The lands in the book are named after the signs of the zodiac and I found myself wanting to know more about them and their inhabitants. Speaking of which they are mix of races from werewolves, to dwarves and vampires and even spiders. Yet it is never made clear what race the heirs or Kai are so we assume them to be human.

There's a character called Skander who appears almost out of thin air and promises more than is written about him within the pages of the book. This left me a little unsure of his purpose and questioning why he was there at all.

There are a few little other plot mechanics that were not quite explained well enough that, along with Skander, made me give this book 4 not 5 stars.

However, I would still recommend you buy and read it, it is worth every penny/cent.

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