This review has been crossposted from my blog Review from Rose's Book Reviews Please head there for more in-depth reviews by me.

The prophesy says that the Gaurdian will be born when the four moons of the Empire align. Yet when that fateful night comes, there are twims born - Jax, fat and healthy, and Terrell, with strange eyes and deformed limbs. Naturally Terrell is sent away - but is it the right choice? How will they find the Guardian in time? Hit the jump for more.

Initially the reader knows very little about Terrell - because he knows very little about himself. The use of a third person narrator allows the reader to see and experience, but not to feel too much. Eventually the reader begins to sympathise with him, because who could resist a withered wraith who has lost all his friend? I appreciate that Gray introduced Terrell first instead of Jax. It makes Jax appear shallow and conniving, which is of course what his mother has made him.

There are a series of deaths suggesting corruption in the capital. A gradual revelation of the powers Jax and Terrell have doesn't help with the confusion. However, it seems like Terrell got all the good qualities of personality, and all the bad ones of appearance. He makes the most of it however, and that is what makes him the more likable character for me.

The writing style of this novel is a lot heavier than most teenage fictions, leading me to classify it as an adult fantasy novel. However, if you enjoy fantasy, and are a strong reader, a teenager is likely to enjoy it. Certainly there are some adult themes (sex, death, rape) but Gray treats these with beautiful delicacy.

If Juliet Marillier is a 9/10, and Mercedes Lackey is normally a 10/10, this novel would be an 8/10. It's good, but it seems to be lacking something in the first half of the novel. Perhaps the emptiness I'm feeling comes from the fact that it is the first book in a series, and little seems to be happening except the setup of the plot for the other two novels. However it does eventually reach quite a satisfying, if somewhat predictable, conclusion. I'm looking forward to the next book for sure! I picked up three books for a bargain $15 at my local opshop, so I'm not complaining.

Edited to add - I won't be reading and reviewing the other two novels I own of this series at the moment, because the fifth book is out of print, and not available at my local library. This is very disappointing for me, I really wanted to read the whole set. If anyone had a copy, and wanted to sell/give it to me, I would be very grateful. ( )

This is a reread for me, which ought to say something in its own right. Despite the very overused plot description, this was actually a very enjoyable book with twists, turns, and an interesting and complex societal structure.

I find it particularly interesting that the main character, Terrell, is disabled, and this is called attention to quite often. Wth a twisted leg and a withered arm, he sometimes has to find ways of doing things that are different than what abled people would do, which is a nice touch. Disabled folk don't often get a lot of showtime in epic fantasy novels, somewhat understandably so since it's hard to go off on adventures when your body doesn't work very well. Thus, it's interesting to see Terrel try to get by.

On the flip side, though, some of the disability was glossed over. With such problems, Terrel should have been facing increased energy use, serious pain when sleeping on anything other than a decent bed, and trouble moving over land that isn't particularly flat. Instead, he manages to do things like climbing down mine shafts in the dark. It's not that I'm saying it's impossible to do those things, but I am saying that it would be a lot harder than the author made it sound. Travelling for weeks on end would have been a lot more taxing than the author made it sound!

In spite of this, and a rather overdone-sounding description of the plot, this book manages to pull you in and along rather well. If there's one thing I've noticed about Julia Gray, it's her ability to create and submerge the reader in wonderfully rich and complex cultures. It's her biggest talent, I'd say, when it comes to her novels, and given that I have a pet interest in anthropology, it's not hard to see another aspect of this series that kept me pushing onward to the next paragraph, next chapter, next book.

Another talent of hers is to make people question. There are so many different shades of truth presented in this novel, both from the character's point of view and the reader's. Jax is shown off to the world as the Guardian, but it's obvious to even most other characters that he isn't. Thus we think Terrell's the real Guardian, which has support from other characters in the book. But sometimes events happen that make you question which one may actually be the Guardian after all. Is it neither? Both? There's nothing definitive in this book, or the next book, or the one after that. Though there are hints and pieces of speculation, it isn't entirely revealed until near the end of the fifth and final novel.

Though to be fair, the revelation doesn't come as much of a surprise to anybody apart from a few characters. But the way the author makes you question your assumptions every once in a while is pretty clever sometimes.

If you're in the mood for some epic fantasy that isn't particularly dark (or daunting, as this series is only 5 books long), give this one a whirl. It's light, it's fun, but it's a richer world and story than you'd first think when reading the back of the book. Well worth it, in my opinion. ( )