Mage's Blood - David Hair

4.75/5

Most of the time the Leviathan Bridge lies deep below the sea, but every twelve years, when the tides sink and the Moontide comes, it is revealed - linking Eastern and Western continents. At first, traders went back and forth across the bridge, but then the Rondian Empire - hell bent on ruling the East - sent its first two Crusades, and its mage-led armies pillaged their way across the new world. Now the Third Crusade is mustering.

Wow... I picked this up based on the interesting premise and I'm so glad I did. Despite being 700 pages, I flew through it and that was down to the excellent pacing, as I never once felt bored.

In short we follow three main characters - A training mage, a mercenary hired to spy on the royal family and a market girl greeted by an unusual man.

These 3 main story arcs are each unique, having their own twist and turns and various intrigue. The way they slowly start to interweave with each other is beautifully crafted and doesn't feel at all forced.

There's 4 types of magic (or 'gnosis') in this world, each split up into 4 sub categories. As the book continued the magic system continued to get more and more interesting. While being slightly confusing at first, I quickly got a grasp of the capabilities of each type of gnosis and how some mages naturally suit certain types better.

This is also the first Epic Fantasy I have read, where there are huge influences from both eastern and western cultures from our world. It was so interesting how the conflict was created, using these cultural differences in a fantasy setting, through this diverse cast of characters.

I recommend this book to any Epic Fantasy lover or even for people looking to get into the genre, as it certainly got me back into reading Epic Fantasy. On to book 2! :D

My Goodreads Review