Review: The Sons of Mil by L.M. Lumiere
From the publisher:
On the continent of Innisfail, Old Gods reign. Following five hundred years of vicious conflict, the High King has negotiated an armistice between the immortal Sidhe in the North, and the human populations of the South- the Sons of Mil. In this land of treacherous magic and ageless blood feuds, the peace is precarious at best.
An outcast with few loyalties, Ben Maeden has no interest in the political strife brewing in the South. Convinced a man without pride has nothing left to lose, he's content to fade into drunken obscurity in the wilderness. That is, until a rare moment of conscience compels him to rescue a young noblewoman from a band of mercenaries. This auspicious encounter hurls him into the heart of a far-reaching conspiracy, for Una Moura is no ordinary girl. Branded a heretic and scourged by her own people, she harbors a secret that could spell disaster for everyone. Hunted by militant nobles, dark creatures, and ambitious zealots; Ben and Una find themselves in a desperate race to prevent a war. Though, not every enemy lurks in the shadows. Haunted by the ghosts of a former life; Ben may discover his greatest challenge lies within. Can he reconcile his past to safeguard Innisfail's future, or is he doomed to repeat his mistakes...to the detriment of all?
L.M. Riviere creates a world in Eire full of family drama, political intrigue and elves. The story has all the makings to be a truly epic fantasy-- morally ambiguous characters, oncoming war, scheming politicians, and all the innocent and not so innocent people caught in between.
The world building is epic but can also be dry and incredibly dense at times. Everything moves super slow and we're given just enough information to be completely confused as to what's going on until we get a huge info dump, that really doesn't give any of the information we need. The book is interspersed with words that I think are supposed to be Gaelic, but the translation feature on Kindle didn’t recognize most of the words and those that it did didn’t match up with what we’re told they mean.
The characters are fairly well developed and it is very refreshing to see many strong and capable female characters, whether they be the "good" or "bad" guys. The main male character, Ben is an absolutely insufferable character who I think is supposed to be morally grey, but he’s really just a self pitying, narcissistic knob. There’s trauma there that I’m sure is supposed to make us feel for him, but honestly, his entire arc is getting drunk, screwing something up royally, and then blaming everyone else for it—until the very end when he realizes he's messed up so bad he has no choice but to be better.
Una is quite possibly the brains and brawn of the group, but has a moral compass that prevents her from being the ultimate weapon she could be—which Ben mocks her for. Rian is a half fae healer who had the bad luck to open her door to Ben and now has lost her home, is running for her life, and again is mocked by Ben. She is probably the fiercest character in the story because she has nothing to lose and I was kind of hoping she’d take Ben out for the majority of the story.
We also had multiple points of view and a lot of the characters were only heard from once or twice and it felt unnecessary. There were a lot of characters we followed and it did get hard keeping track of everyone, especially when we get a chapter from one guy who is killed fairly quickly or one at the end from a character we haven't seen since the beginning. There is a glossary in the back which was great, but is cumbersome for e-readers.
I would say the first 75% of the book is world building and character development and the last 25% is the main action and where things start to really pick up. The story does end on a cliffhanger, so be prepared.
I honestly hated this book for the majority of the time I read it. I wanted to DNF so many times, but I pushed through. Once you hit the 75% mark it does pick up immensely and becomes so much better that now I'm pissed that I'm going to have to read the next book to find out what happens.
My rating: 3*/0 - It was just so boring throughout most of the book. It would’ve been a one star had it not redeemed itself towards the end.
Trigger warnings for graphic violence, language, and attempted rape. Also for the scene where they’re talking to the Duch while he’s pooping.