Review: Sun Slayer By Juzi
Blurb:
In a land torn by the wars of dragon and phoenix, Crown Prince Euan struggles to hold his kingdom together while thwarting his younger brother's antics.
Now, a talented healer has entered the imperial court. He is not here to save lives. He is here for vengeance. In retribution for the wrongful massacre of his entire clan, the dragon physician seeks to obliterate the powerful houses who persecute his people. To do so, he must dismantle Faerin's imperial family.
But Euan is standing in his way.
Sun Slayer is a fantasy novel inspired by Asian history and culture. Enter a world of demons, clashing kingdoms, and powerful magic anyone can cultivate... at a very heavy price.
What happens if our heroes were the villains all along?
Review:
The theme of cultivation in fantasy is very close to my heart and after experimenting with a few books outside my comfort zone, I was itching to get back to something closer to my core interests. So when I saw the author’s announcement on threads about their eastern fantasy debut novel, I jumped on it. The beautiful cover drew me in, though at the time I didn't quite realize what I was getting into.
I went in expecting deep world-building inspired by wuxia/xianxia literature, the kind of fast-paced action that is hallmark of this genre and a deep plot featuring cultivation and demons. I got all of that, and so much more. When I picked this up, I didn't expect the characters to take over every moment of my life. I didn't expect that, even when I was not reading the book, the story would follow me around like a specter. I have been day-dreaming about Sorreyu's thousand needle dance while sitting through dentist appointments. I have been thinking about the brotherly banters between Euan and Denari strolling through the streets of Faerin's capital during my work commute. And of Huyse battling the phantoms in her mind while taking cold showers. I certainly didn't expect to end up staring at my kindle at 3:00 am at night with my eyes moist.
But we digress, let's rewind.
Juzi is a sentient orange, the thousand-year-old fruit of an ageless heavenly tree. They descend frequently to the mortal realm, traveling long and far across the Land of Sea and Flame to collect fables and histories. They find humans very amusing.
No, this is not a description of a character in the book. The above, taken verbatim, is how the author identifies themselves.
And perhaps this bio was one of the reasons why I assumed this book to be a YA fantasy. It was a pleasant surprise to be proven wrong. Not that it is unsuitable for a YA/NA audience, the kind of depth the story features, makes it a great read for, well, pretty much everyone.
In Juzi's world the primary players are the dragons who specialize in water based elemental magic, and the phoenixes who wield the power of the flame. If you are mostly used to western depictions of dragons, you will need to rewire your brain a bit.
In an ideal world, the dragon clans siphoning the might of water and ice and phoenix clans leveraging the force of fire and lava would all live in harmony under the reign of the Heavenly emperor, complementing each other's strengths and weaknesses. That is the dream - 'The land of one people, born from flame and sea'. However, this ideal rendering is quite far from the world we actually get to experience.
That the world isn't ideal becomes clear before we even the start the first chapter. The story opens in the '13th year in the reign of Faerin’s last emperor'. The young crown prince, yet to come of age, is a primary character in the story. The obvious question thus follows, what happens to Euan and the empire he is destined to inherit?
The answer to that question turns out to be a long and beautifully complex storyline that spans more than three decades.
We see life unfold from the perspective of Euan, son of the heavenly emperor of Faerin and his closest friends - Yeonri, a dragon prince and Aikyung, a phoenix prince from vassal kingdoms. They are split apart by a tragedy, and meet each other again as adults in vastly different circumstances. As life's priorities change, kingdoms and clans rise and fall, and wars ravage the lands - they adapt, evolve and grow into positions of great responsibility. Life pushes them towards pivotal points where they must rethink what they want for their respective people and what it means for the promises they made to each other as children.
'Life is not a right... You earn it'
Yes, this book is about strategy, political maneuvering and brilliantly depicted fantasy. But, it is also about human emotion because in this world, emotion is the foundation for all magic. And we can't just choose the core emotion that defines us. So how does a prince, whose core emotion is love, use the power stemming from it to ravage enemy troops in a vicious battle? Or what if your core emotion is fear, and to cultivate your power you need to force yourself through a cycle of growing ever-more-dreadful terrors. What does it do to your spiritual growth, if the core emotion around which your life revolves is hatred?
‘he was putting up fortress walls to protect himself from the world. And the world proved him right.’
The author keeps the pacing comfortable through judicious use of time skips, and at no point does the story feel overwhelming, despite there being so many things going on at any given time. Over the course of the story, we see dragon warriors flooding their enemies by harvesting the might of rivers, we see cultivators heal the wounded through music, we see phoenixes shape and mold fire and lava to their whims, and we see commanders rally their troops through use of conniving, strategy, deception and deals made in the shadows.
‘Those who live by the sword die by the sword. Those who don’t live by the sword still die by the sword. Take what you have and fight.’
The story weaves through the aftermaths of long battles and complex alliances. And at the center of it all is the diabolical vendetta of Heaven's physician Sorreyu, the best healer in the world. That is a title he has earned by paying a dangerous price. He walks on a forbidden path, and his needles and bandages are just as effective in dealing killing blows to enemies as they are for saving the lives of allies. And many of those he saves, end up in positions where they regret ever being born.
The primary opponent standing in his way is a warrior who is hiding a dangerous weakness from the world - one that will likely unravel the trust of all his followers. For in a world of cultivators, he is a cripple who has to rely just on his physical strength. And his strength has its limits, that are tested again and again.
‘Only with time did the truth unveil itself with the subtlety of a rotting carcass.’
Each of Juzi's characters are layered, complex and multi-faceted. They have their secrets, they have their own notions of morality, and they harbor elements of darkness to varying extents in their hearts.
'What happens if our heroes were the villains all along?'
In this world, reality is fluid, and besides crusading against their enemies out on the battlefield, the characters must also face their inner demons and hallucinations - which are just as deadly, if not more. This is a story where every stray plot thread ties up neatly into a wholesome tapestry that is bound to keep you hooked from the beginning to the end.
