The book is set in a world which is divided into four different parts, which in turn contain their own separate kingdoms. In the North was the island and queendom of Inys. In the East were the dragon worshipping nations of Seiiki and the Empire of the Twelve Lakes. The South was made up by the Domain of Lasia and the Ersyr. The West contained the Draconic Kingdom of Yscalin and the Free State of Mentendon.
The four main characters are naturally from four different parts, although two of them are not in their homeland when the story begins. Arteloth (or Loth) Beck is a Lord of the North and a follower of Virtudom. Tane is a worshipper of dragons and from the East. Ead Duryan is from the Southern Kingdom of Lasia and belongs to the Priory of the Orange Tree. Niclays Roos is an alchemist from the Western Mentendon.
The book started off a little rough. I took lots of days to get through the first ten chapters. There were too many people, too many places and too many names to keep track of. One thing had many names and sometimes two things had the same name. It took me a while to figure out most of the things and reading the book just seemed like such a chore. Each chapter was narrated from a different point of view, and as soon as I began to understand what was happening in one place, the narration switched, and I got confused all over again. I was tempted to give up at first, but I love fat books, and I was eager to read a nice high fantasy, so I continued.
The story did get a lot better from thereon. I realised that the first few chapters were just the ones in which the author had described all the characters and a little scene from each land to give the readers a gist of their world. There was a lot to understand about their world even before the story started. The author got to the main plot slowly, and I don't blame her for it. Things became much clearer later when they revealed the ancestry and backstory of the protagonists.
The plot was well thought out and the story-building was done very well. Although there were so many places, the author has differentiated between the lifestyles of people belonging to different lands. It made me wonder how the author would bring everyone together in the end, without making it seem sudden and pointless since they were so different from each other. However, she managed it somehow, and once I was hooked to the story, I loved the book until the very last page.
In the ending of the book, the author has given a short description of the characters in the tale. It has mostly only two to three lines of text for each person and not all the side characters, yet it required fifteen whole pages. The entire book weaves a complex story, with the various paths converging into one at the end. It involved many riddles and mysteries and left us guessing what the truth could be, until the author gave a shocking reveal.
I would recommend it to anyone who loves reading books because this one was great in all aspects and the story was especially wonderful.
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