We know all those cliched lines about power. "With great power comes great responsibility", "Those who crave power the most deserve it the least", and so on and so forth. This is one of those stories exploring what it is to have power and what kind of path it can lead you down, whether salvation or damnation. How's it play out? Let's take a look.
Kayden Jayta is the top of her class at an academy which teaches the art of Zarantar, magical gifts that manifest when one reaches a certain age and can be either honed or bound. After Kayden cheats her way out of an important test (this world's equivalent of the Kobayashi Maru), she's approached by the campus's headmistress, Fay Annis, to accompany her to the headquarters of The Order to undergo a certain test set up by its very founder Master Ari. Little does Kayden know that this test is her last chance. If she succeeds, she returns to school and finishes her education. If she fails, she dies.
Let's just get this out of the way right now. Kayden is a horrible person. She has got to be one of the most arrogant, condescending, rude, manipulative, self-centered characters I've ever read in my entire life. However, it's okay...because it is intentional! This book isn't insisting that she's actually a nice person and talking about how wonderful and sweet she is. No, people freaking hate her and for good reason. Kayden is meant to be a character who tests your patience and who is at the point in her life where she can be evil or change her ways. Kayden is this close to becoming a villainous character, which is what Fay is trying to prevent. This isn't about Kayden being the most specialist person in the world, it's about taking a terrible, miserable person and saving them before it's too late. It's meant as a redemption story and, while it is a bit of a pain being stuck with this awful person as our protagonist and some people might get turned off by that, it's their transformation that we get to see in the end.
Now, there are actually two redemption stories in this book, Kayden's and another magician named Kenit Darbandian. While Kayden's is given the central focus, I actually enjoyed Kenit's story as well, if not a little more. Kenit's deal is that he ran away from a perilous situation and got his mentor killed. So Fay devises a plan to help him confront his fears and give him another chance. They way this is devised is pretty clever and it makes for a pretty intense scene. You understand why he wants to run, but you know he needs to fight and the conclusion he comes to hits home deeply. It also helps that Kenit is a more enjoyable character to be around than Kayden and so his story arc is a good one.
Kayden's arc, however, I felt could have been...well, a bit more. She sees where her current path is taking her and deals with the demons of her past but I felt it could have used a bit more power. With other redemption stories such as this, the main character goes through a lot before they change who they are. In A Christmas Carol, Scrooge sees three intense visions of his past, present, and future and views his life from the perspective of others in order to see how miserable his life is and the impact he's had on others. In The Thin Executioner, Jebel goes through vast amounts of pain and torment, witnessing things like brutality, slavery, cultism, massacre, even cannibalism before her learns the value of life. For Kayden, it is one hallucination and her journey of redemption takes place over one day. Yup. Just one day and poof. I just feel like a character this rotten could have used way more time and faced way more in the way of trials. Not that what she does go through doesn't leave an impact and does make a difference, I just think going the extra mile would have let a bigger impact.
Also, this book probably could have used a bit more editing. There are a few grammatical errors here and there and I do think some of the scenes were unnecessary. It probably could have ended a few chapters sooner, rather than wrapping up every loose end possible Return of the King style. That being said, the writing is good, the world building is sound, I like the concept of Zarantar as well as the characters of Fay and Ari. They were both very likable, I enjoyed the comradery between the two of them and I kind of wished we had more time with them.
Final Verdict
I always do enjoy a good redemption story and this one was pretty good. Some people might be put off by Kayden as a character, but if this sounds like the kind of thing that attracts you, I'd say go ahead and check it out but wait for it on paperback.
Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Please make sure to Follow Midnight Readings for instant updates. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer
Next Time: It's graduation time at the School for Good and Evil...
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