Kari C. reviewed on 8/20/2013 + 77 more book reviews

This book follows young Alec of Kerry. The book opens with him in a dungeon being tortured and prepared to be sold because the local lord is turning paranoid and believes anyone on his land to be a spy. Alec is rescued by a real spy who brings him along and starts teaching him the trade.

The book opens very slowly - it wasn't bad, but nothing going on made me interested in either the characters or the plot. I found the opening to be a bit silly. A lord decides to lock up and torture anyone he doesn't know on his property? Later we find out that he's not the only one in the area that has reach this level of paranoia. And of course the real spy just happens to be tossed in the same cell and just happens to decide to bring a young boy who knows nothing about spying with him. I can understand rescuing him, but there was no reason to bring Alec along on the rest of the journey besides "intuition".

Eventually the plot picks up and I found myself drawn into the story, even though a lot of it still didn't seem to have reasons for happening. However, after that bit of excitement ends the book returns to the way it was at the beginning. The excitement I felt kept me reading until I was only about 50 pages from the end. I found myself skimming the rest.

Overall, there seems to be a lot with the characters that doesn't really have a reason for happening, or only happens because one character insists and the rest go along with him. I didn't feel any real connection to the characters, or any interest in what happens next.

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details