3.75 out of 5 stars
E-book. 155 pages. Published January 18th 2011 by Dreamspinner Press
Blurb:
After saving his younger brother’s child, Daemon Shar is cursed by a witch and runs far from home, a stray who will seemingly never be anything more. But destiny is hard to outrun, even for a man who is now more cat than man beneath his robes and cowl. A chance battlefield meeting between he and Ehron, a foreign lord, gives him purpose amidst the darkness of his accursed life. Soon Daemon finds that his true nature cannot be corrupted no matter the form he inhabits.
As Ehron’s consul, Daemon plots and plans to shape his new lord’s future so that he may leave it blessed when he runs away yet again. But he never counted on his soul hungering for Ehron’s brother Gareth or for his past to catch him by the tail at last.
Likes:
- Action right from the start.
- Kept me hooked.
- Hot smut.
- The feelings between Daemon and Gareth were heartwarming.
- The ending.
- How impressive it is to have written a complete high fantasy story in so few pages.
- The Asian-ish names and cultures of Narsyk.
- Complex story line.
Dislikes:
- The omniscient point of view.
- Too many names that I stood no chance of remembering.
- The slow pace of chapter one after the rush of the prologue.
- I felt like there was a lot of history the reader didn’t get to see.
- Didn’t get to see the effect of the curse.
- For a world with magic, there was little magic in the story.
- Complex story line.
Not only am I a fan of Mary Calmes, the book cover intrigued me, so The Servant has been on my list for a while. I decided to pick it up now because, at 155 pages, it was relatively short. And, despite some rocky areas, I’m glad I did.
The book dives into the action right away, which I admit I’m not always a fan of. You don’t really know who Valian or Ostyn Tan are before they’re smack in the middle of a life-and-death situation. But Calmes is a talented writer, and all the information you need is expertly woven into the fabric of the story by the end of the prologue.
Then chapter one begins and the story gets a little confusing, in part because of the omniscient point of view. Omniscient point of view is something I don’t think I’ll ever be a fan of, no matter who the writer is. I got used to it, but it made me glad that this book is both short and a standalone. I was forced to really pay attention to whose point of view things were coming from because it bounced around so much.
Luckily, the omniscient point of view did tend to stay within the Terhazien family. It was easy enough to remember who they were, which is something that can’t be said for all the other side characters. There were way too many names for me to accurately remember them all, especially since none of the people played a big part in the story.
As for the plot, I both loved and hated it. It’s complex in both a good and bad way. The good is that, if you follow along closely, the payoff at the end is totally worth it. The bad is that, especially at the beginning, it’s very confusing. This book has a lot to it, both that’s on the page and a whole bunch of stuff that happened in the past. There was a point at about halfway through the book when I realized that reading this book was how it would feel if someone made a 2 hour move of the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. Like, the central plot was there, but a bunch of stuff was only mentioned briefly in passing.
That being said, I’m amazed that Calmes made a complete high fantasy book in so few pages. All the information that the reader needs is there. Of course, being the eternal fan of world building that I am, I wanted more than just the bare basics. In terms of the politics and war elements, this book could easily have been turned into a trilogy. In terms of the romance, it did well.
Daemon and Gareth had an instant attraction that quickly turned into something more. I love that Gareth fell for Daemon before ever seeing his face. Calmes can always write hot smut and this book was no exception. Too bad we don’t actually see Daemon in his half-cat form, but that would have made the smut scenes uncomfortable for me, so it’s probably for the best.
Overall, I think this book was an entertaining read, and something a little different from everything else I’ve been reading lately. This was an early book from Calmes, originally published in 2011, which feels like eons ago. If she ever decided to rework it into a sprawling epic, I would be at the front of the line to get my copy.
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