Review: The Way of Unity by Sarah K. Balstrup
Blurb:
The Seven Lands of Velspar put their faith in the Intercessors, a psychic priesthood responsible for the purification of the spirit. Where passion flares, they soothe its intent. Those who cannot be soothed, are cast out, their spirits destroyed by fire.
The Intercessors are mystics of the highest order, but Velspar’s ruling Skalens believe their power has grown too great.
Surviving the Intercessor’s murder plot against her family, Sybilla Ladain rises to power. The Skalens come together under the banner of her grief, bringing the practice of Intercession to its brutal, bloody end.
Yet victory brings Sybilla no peace. In time, she will have to face the people of Velspar, forced to live in a psychically alienated world, and a band of rebels led by an escaped Intercessor set on her annihilation.
Review:
I loved the book. I didn’t love the first few chapters. I’m going to get that part out of the way. They are dry and distant and kind of confusing. That’s why this book didn’t make it through my first chapter culling, that’s why I didn’t finish it when I bought the ebook a while back and started it on a whim.
But I got the audiobook, got past those first few chapters, and pretty quickly I was absorbed in the story.
This is the sort of book that keeps you guessing as to what’s really going on, who the villains really are, and if certain magic is really magic or is everyone high as a kite. There were incredibly dark moments in the plot and the author doesn’t shy away from death or violence.
All around the writing suited the conflict incredibly well. The MC was the perfect for this plot, the only fit for this plot, and her voice was crafted with an elegant edge that makes you really feel how desperate she is to keep her emotions at bay and keep herself secluded emotionally.
Much of the story and plot revolves around the dangers of getting close to others in this strange alternate world where the thoughts and feelings of others are something of an open book—at least until they aren’t.
The character work in this was lovely. Yes, there was a romance, but it isn’t a… swoony sort of romance. It’s kind of a sad romance. That sort of romance where you look at your mentally unstable friend and their kind-of-normal partner and say, “Well, at least they’re distracting you from the demons.” In other words, I enjoyed the romance in this book more than I do in most. Don’t be deterred at all by the romance in this, dearest dark fantasy friends: there is technically a romance, it is not a romancey romance though.
Get through those first few chapters and you’ll be smooth sailing into dark and murky waters.
Subgenres: Grimdark, Dark Adult Fantasy
Romance: Side plot
Spice: on-the-page sex in one part but not the sort I’d consider spicy
Premise: Empathic/telepathic magic and old gods
Highlight: PoVs from both sides of the conflict
Vibes: Dark, sinister, subtle
PoV: 3rd Limited, Multi-PoV
Tense: Past
Time Period: Medieval alternate world
