Review: Authentic human characters in an epic story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 4, 2013
What Braden excels at, in this first installment, is the ability to let us see realistically motivated human characters, even in mythical or spiritual situations.There is a basic goodness at the core of many of the main characters, that makes you not only interested in them, but concerned for their well-being. This author knows that for danger to be powerful, we have to care about those that are facing that danger. And he does this very, very well.There is a frame, which you will see when you read it, that is at first distant, and then collapses inward to the story until they intersect. This is so well done you almost don't realize it's happening at first. It is the first book I've read that does this.I lost sleep reading this because I had trouble putting it down. Like I said, this is emphatically character-driven. The author understands human nature expertly enough to use it as a coherent plot device.Highly recommended, for the characters, for the plot, for the quality of writing. Don't pass this one up!