Book Review: The Price of Fear by Miles Lyon

 Here is the customary plot: 

 For a Godless like Azreal the Wretched, peace might be a more profitable time, but it’s no less bloody…

A decade into the armistice with Inath, the North, once united against invasion, finds itself a divided kingdom. Azreal – an infamous mage of the Northern military – operates in his native land as a contract killer, employed to hunt traitors by a king who is squabbling against his would-be usurpers.

But when the completion of his latest bounty unveils a foreign plot to dethrone the North altogether, Azreal is the only one who can cross the border and respond in kind…

Or he would have been, until betrayal at the final moment resulted in his killing of the wrong man and capture by those that he’s spent half his life fighting.

Now, imprisoned and awaiting his execution for the murder of an Inathian crown prince, Azreal finds himself across the interrogation table from Anamira Lestrade. A career criminal investigator, Ana is tasked with extracting the truth behind the assassination or dying in failure – linking the two through one last story that could stave off both their gruesome ends.

Possessed of few friends, countless enemies, magic blades that feast on his emotions, and the haunting rumors of how he won his name, Azreal the Wretched’s narrative pits him against traitorous conspiracy, brutal magical feuds, and broken promises of love. And if there is any hope of making it out alive at its end, he’ll need to conquer the price it cost him to paint the tale

Fear.

My review: 

This is the first book for me to read by this author, as it's his debut novel.   

The book started off with a bang. We learn currently where the main character is, and why he's there. In the 2nd chapter, we get a bit of a backstory as to how he got to where he is.  The story goes back and forth from present day, to what happened. The backstory is interesting. You definitely get to learn about the main character. 

We learn that this world has magic. In this world, the ones who use magic are called mages, Godless. We also learn that with using magic, it comes with a price, and that depends on what the mages specialty is. 

Our main character is Azreal the Wretched. He gets his name for the type of magic he wields, and the name of his weapons. He's a crass, smart-mouthed, dangerous mage. He's also has a sense of humour, which helps you to sort of like him. 

 OMG! This book just  didn't slow down. So much action. So much blood. The climax....the ending... The book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, and I'm not really of fan of those. In this case, it just makes me want to read the next book in the series, and the rest of the series. 

Why, you ask? Let me tell you.

The world building is great. You can just picture in your mind at how this world looks. Dirty, grungy in the North. The South, clean, the people full of themselves. Perfect opposites.

The characters are well developed and thought out. You find yourself easily liking the main character, Azreal, even though he's not a very good person. Even the secondary characters are well done. You feel like you've known them for awhile. 

This is a 5 star book (*****). It has a great plot, the story doesn't drag, and the build up to that ending. What a rush.

It's definitely a book worth reading, as well as to continue the rest of the series. 

The cover is also great. 

Thank you for letting me read an ARC of this book. I truly enjoyed it. Congrats on a terrific debut novel. 👏