Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsAn enjoyable urban fantasy
Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2018
This is an ubran fantasy set in Stirling, Scotland. The city has been under siege for the past three years, with one group of goblins occupying the city itself (subjecting the human population to starvation), and another group encamped just outside the city limits. Saiya is a Wraith, able to detach her shadow. She is caught up within the city, slowly starving, and trying to supplement her meagre rations by selling secrets she eavesdropped on in her shadow form. When her upstairs neighbour is arrested under suspicious circumstances, Saiya finds herself caught up in a race to prevent the goblins' plan from coming to fruition.
I enjoyed Saiya's story. She was an interesting character, able to think on her feet, and willing to go that extra mile for what she believes in. Sometimes she dropped very lucky, with good fortune seeming to hand her what she needs, but for the most part she acknowledged when this was the case. There were enough other situations where her own skills provided the way forward that it didn't feel like she was being handed too much.
Gabriel, an envoy of the Scottish government and one of the few Dark Elves in Scotland, was also an interesting character, though I felt he could have been developed more. The prologue follows him, and I enjoyed that glimpse of him. Once he and Saiya meet, his character isn't really given as much room to become well-rounded and realistic. Certainly the fantasy part to him, his species, could have been looked at in more depth.
There's a fated romance between Saiya and Gabriel that meant that a slower development to their budding relationship is foregone. I would have preferred to seem them actually get to know, and fall for, one another. This is personal taste, as I like when the narrative brings a relationship to life. That wasn't the case here; it was just more or less thrust upon us.
I also had some trouble with the setting, or at least the time period. It's supposed to be taking place in the present day, but the atmosphere doesn't feel like present day. It took a while before there were enough indicators to really place the time period, and even then it still often felt like the turn of the 20th century rather than the 21st. This meant that remarks about current pop culture, like Rihanna, were jarring and felt very out of place.
All in all, I had some reservations, but for the most part I enjoyed the story. It was something a bit different, and it worked for me.
