Path of Fate (Path #1)

By Diana Pharaoh Francis

This one started a bit slow, but was worth the effort. There are some motifs I’ve come across many times before in fantasy: orphan protagonist, companion animals that humans mind-meld with, evil mages, an initially-disliked romantic interest. That said, it was still a fresh read. The protagonist (Reisil) is very sympathetic, and stronger than she thinks. The interactions from her companion animal, a hawk named Saljane, were (somehow) believably bird-like; I’m not sure how that was accomplished, exactly, but I liked it. Reisil’s healing skills and reluctance to follow the path of the ahalad-kaaslane (wandering judge-warrior-explorer) with Saljane add an interesting twist and perspective to things. The feud between the two countries highlighted in the story isn’t as fully fleshed out as it could be, but suffices. I did like that the deities of the two nations were real entities and made appearances; it brought a nice level of consequence to those in the book claiming to do things in their name. This first book ended in a good place; there’s still quite a bit of mystery and a few unresolved points – enough to make me want to read the next book, but not enough to make me frustrated with this first one.

I give it 3.5/5 stars.