Finished Chosen of Harrekh.

Overall, I quite enjoyed the story. The characters, after a slightly rambling introduction become very solid and well fleshed out. A couple of them, particularly the Chosen's mother, are a little incoherent at times and it's hard to puzzle out their motives. The supporting cast of characters, such as Nebhla & Dela give a nicely human perspective to events. The Archer is a particular favourite of mine and I'm hoping for more "screen-time" in the next novel.

The Eight Faces of the Goddess thing, while hard to understand at first, makes a lot more sense once the story reaches the Seat of the Stars and we start to see it in context. Much of the politics (especially revolving around War-Lords and Standard Bearers) is confusing and it's hard to keep track of who out ranks who. The character of Devron is marred a little by this but when he's left to get on with the plot, he's a very likeable chap.

One comment that would really, really help - in the back of the book, Telonius included a brief cast of characters, similar to Game of Thrones. It's a good idea and one that could be expanded on by showing the political system of the world as well and how each person fits into it. Or as much as could be done without giving the story away.

I think I will re-read it when I have a bit more lesuire time and see if it's a bit clearer on a second run through. Don't let the muddy political stuff put you off though - the core story of the book is rock solid and I am eagerly awaiting the follow up - "Exiles of Harrekh".


****


Lensman, let me know when Scarlet is out and I'll happily give you a critique of it as well.