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I devoured this book in a week solid, starting with caution and then purposefully making time for it. That in itself is the sign of a good story well told.
Priest isn't a coming of age tale, instead its protagonist is the priestly Heden, an older man that has lived his life and has now slumped into quiet seclusion. He owns an inn that he never opens but keeps stocked, a strange combination that has you questioning his thought processes immediately.
Heden himself is a complicated man, and the tale is told entirely through his actions save for a brief flashback. He is a priest in a polytheistic society, and the goddess he is empowered by only has one worshipper: him.
The story is further complicated by the young whore he gives safe haven to, which you immediately believe sets up for the youth/experience duo fighting for their lives against the world.
Only, it doesn't at all. Heden is given orders to head off into a forest and leaves the girl in the inn for the next three days. We hear little from her for the bulk of the book.
There are brief tales on Heden's way to the forest, but they're largely for the benefit of establishing this single character
Instead we are introduced to The Green Order, a small group of solitary knights that are protectors of the forest. Something has gone horribly wrong within said order and it is up to Heden to determine what has happened.
Priest throws a proverbial curveball with this forest, evoking an almost twisted Arthurian feel to the proceedings. It's like a façade of medieval fantasy under which lies a more contemporary tale.
There are monsters in this tale, but they largely serve as a plot point. There is little development of the world, most of it mentioned in passing rather than regurgitated history being spread out over multiple paragraphs. This lends the tale an aura of intrigue as you're venturing into a land unknown with Heden in tow.
The knights are chivalrous to a fault and their deeply held convictions coupled with their hermetic existence outside of the order make their initial interactions with our hero seem almost alien. An undercurrent of animosity is soon given voice and things start falling apart soon after.
The underlying mystery of the problems with the order and the relationships that Heden develops with the order are what propels the bulk of this book, with a particularly poignant scene involving one of the squires that had me silently applauding.
For all its excellence, the introduction of the young girl and subsequent banishing of her from the text seemed needless, whilst the book also had a tendency to cut away from certain action scenes and immediately jumping to the aftermath. The tale felt bookended in an unnecessary fashion and the powers on display did border on Deus Ex Machina at times.
The mystery was unfolded at an infuriating pace, which is both laudable as it left the reader mirroring the hero's own frustrations and a point of contention as it often felt under-exposed. I felt like I was clutching at straws too many times before it was finally spelt out for me.
The characterisation was strong for the most part, with all the knights and the principle characters getting the time needed. It was non-existant for some other critical characters which left me confused as they only appeared sporadically and at completely opposite ends of the tale. In all honesty I had forgotten about them by that point and would have needed a primer to keep all the names right.
There were also no paragraph indentations in my copy, but I assume the author will rectify this. The number of typos in the text were minimal, a sign of good proof-reading and editing.
Overall I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes a protagonist with baggage and introspection. People who are tired of the coming of age stories but who also want something a little different from the clones masquerading as adult fantasy clogging up the shelves in the book stores.
Matt Colville considers his work a hard-boiled throwback to books that he read in the 1980s. I'm not sure what books he was reading back then but if Priest is the result then perhaps I need to contact him for a reading list.
Note: upon completion of this review I immediately bought the sequel, Thief. I look forward to reading it and can safely say that Colville has gained a new fan. Here's hoping this is the beginning of a successful career and his writing continues to improve book by book.
Priest isn't a coming of age tale, instead its protagonist is the priestly Heden, an older man that has lived his life and has now slumped into quiet seclusion. He owns an inn that he never opens but keeps stocked, a strange combination that has you questioning his thought processes immediately.
Heden himself is a complicated man, and the tale is told entirely through his actions save for a brief flashback. He is a priest in a polytheistic society, and the goddess he is empowered by only has one worshipper: him.
The story is further complicated by the young whore he gives safe haven to, which you immediately believe sets up for the youth/experience duo fighting for their lives against the world.
Only, it doesn't at all. Heden is given orders to head off into a forest and leaves the girl in the inn for the next three days. We hear little from her for the bulk of the book.
There are brief tales on Heden's way to the forest, but they're largely for the benefit of establishing this single character
Instead we are introduced to The Green Order, a small group of solitary knights that are protectors of the forest. Something has gone horribly wrong within said order and it is up to Heden to determine what has happened.
Priest throws a proverbial curveball with this forest, evoking an almost twisted Arthurian feel to the proceedings. It's like a façade of medieval fantasy under which lies a more contemporary tale.
There are monsters in this tale, but they largely serve as a plot point. There is little development of the world, most of it mentioned in passing rather than regurgitated history being spread out over multiple paragraphs. This lends the tale an aura of intrigue as you're venturing into a land unknown with Heden in tow.
The knights are chivalrous to a fault and their deeply held convictions coupled with their hermetic existence outside of the order make their initial interactions with our hero seem almost alien. An undercurrent of animosity is soon given voice and things start falling apart soon after.
The underlying mystery of the problems with the order and the relationships that Heden develops with the order are what propels the bulk of this book, with a particularly poignant scene involving one of the squires that had me silently applauding.
For all its excellence, the introduction of the young girl and subsequent banishing of her from the text seemed needless, whilst the book also had a tendency to cut away from certain action scenes and immediately jumping to the aftermath. The tale felt bookended in an unnecessary fashion and the powers on display did border on Deus Ex Machina at times.
The mystery was unfolded at an infuriating pace, which is both laudable as it left the reader mirroring the hero's own frustrations and a point of contention as it often felt under-exposed. I felt like I was clutching at straws too many times before it was finally spelt out for me.
The characterisation was strong for the most part, with all the knights and the principle characters getting the time needed. It was non-existant for some other critical characters which left me confused as they only appeared sporadically and at completely opposite ends of the tale. In all honesty I had forgotten about them by that point and would have needed a primer to keep all the names right.
There were also no paragraph indentations in my copy, but I assume the author will rectify this. The number of typos in the text were minimal, a sign of good proof-reading and editing.
Overall I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes a protagonist with baggage and introspection. People who are tired of the coming of age stories but who also want something a little different from the clones masquerading as adult fantasy clogging up the shelves in the book stores.
Matt Colville considers his work a hard-boiled throwback to books that he read in the 1980s. I'm not sure what books he was reading back then but if Priest is the result then perhaps I need to contact him for a reading list.
Note: upon completion of this review I immediately bought the sequel, Thief. I look forward to reading it and can safely say that Colville has gained a new fan. Here's hoping this is the beginning of a successful career and his writing continues to improve book by book.