Year of the Reaper - A Review

 

    I’ve finally begun to work through all the books I need to read. I got Year of the Reaper as a gift about a year ago and didn’t actually read it until last month, so yeah, baby steps. And, while I have my qualms with the ending of Makiia Lucier’s book, I did find it a rather enjoyable read all in all. But before we get into my review, here’s a quick summary of the premise:

    Three years ago, Lord Cassia was taken prisoner. As one of the many victims of the feud between the kingdoms of Oliveras and Brisa, he has seen hell. A victim of the Brisan labor camps, of gruesome abuse from his captors, and as the lone survivor of the plague that freed him, all he wants is to return home to his brother; to return to his peaceful life now that the war is over.

But, peace doesn’t await him upon his return.

Of course not. If it did, we wouldn’t have a story.

Instead, he uncovers a plot to assassinate the queen, and those closest to her, including the brother he went through hell to return to.

I actually really enjoyed the tone and setting of this story. Oliveras and Brisa have such care put into their history and conflict, leading to a lot of geopolitical depth that I live for in my fantasy novels. It truly feels like a new world. Additionally, I think Lucier did a wonderful job portraying this kingdom trying to recover from a conflict, both the plague and war, instead of showing it dealing with that conflict. I feel like so many fantasy novels tend to only focus on the conflict itself, such as the wars, famine, or plague, having the characters battle with the conflict directly. It was just a nice change of pace to get to experience a story about the healing and recovery a country has to do after such devastating conflict and destruction; and this theme of healing is very well portrayed through our main character Cas, which leads me to another point.

I adored the characters of this novel. They had so much substance to them that made them so well rounded. One of the best examples of this book’s characters is Lena. (Quick warning here, the rest of the review does include a few spoilers). We are first introduced to Lena when she tries to steal Cas’s horse and fails, getting herself stuck in a tree while running from a rabid lynx. Not much later, we are introduced to her as the king’s sister; but she is so much more than that. As it turns out, she’s only the king’s half sister, they had the same father, but her mother was a concubine to the king and she was raised by her grandfather, a historian. Her dream is to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps, and that comes first before anything, even being a love interest to Cas.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. It had some fun plot twists that I didn’t see coming, great characters, and a setting that was rather different than the ones I’m used to seeing. So even though the ending felt a little rushed, I’d still recommend the book to someone looking for something a little different. But that’s all from me. Thank you for reading, and, until next time!

-Abigail Makela