A review by books17
Strange Threads, Volume 1: The Legacy of Lord Regret by Sam Bowring

4.0

As Regret put his hand behind the world and wrenched at threads he found there, he injured deep and age-old patterns. Imagine it, my friends – the Great Spell, altered by a madman’s will.

A reread of a new edition of one of my favourites from years ago!

Long ago in the land of Aorn, the despot Lord Regret was killed by a group of Threaders - users of magic who can twist the threads of the Great Spell to their will. His powers went into the eight Threaders - now called Wardens - who used their power for good or ill, and eventually were all killed. Now, decades later, the Wardens are back to continue or change their paths.

I first read THE LEGACY OF LORD REGRET back in 2013 when I found it whilst shelving at the library. I was immediately taken by the setting and the characters. Early this year I was thinking about a re-read, and looking on eBay for copies as the original books are out of print when the author Sam Bowring posted on Facebook asking for beta readers/reviewers for a new publishing run! Sometimes I believe that kismet exists.

I really enjoy the magic system in STRANGE THREADS - it rides a good line between Sanderson-style magic rules and Tolkien-style wishy-washy 'magic is magic'. I just upset somebody by suggesting that Brando Sando and JRR are the only two kinds of magic writer. The different abilities that each Warden picks up from their defeat of Lord Regret are interesting - being able to sense injustice, constantly spewing out random blessings to the world around, being able to 'steal' threads from the Spell and rhyme things out of existence. You have the standard super strength, freezing time, but they're mixed in with far more interesting and unique concepts.

We get POV chapters from all of the Wardens bar one who is killed very early and they are all pretty well rounded and interesting to see their perspectives. The 'evil' Wardens, Despirrow and Forger, get a fair bit of time and development - Forger moreso, who feels more like a character whereas Despirrow is kind of a cardboard cutout of 'Bad Guy'. It feels like Bowring needed a character to take out his edgy on. I didn't notice the overuse of r*pe as a threat/event when I originally read it but I certainly did this time.

Rostigan, our protagonist, has a kind of relatable melancholy to him and his relationship with his bard companion/lover Tarzi - while a little trite - is believable and sweet. The twist of his character is also rather good but I think that it could have done with being pushed back to later on in the book or perhaps in the second book as it happens pretty early on, but that would require a fair bit of shuffling of the plot.

Overall, really enjoyed my reread! Annoyed with myself that it took me so long but I do struggle reading ebooks. I encourage any of my fantasy reader friends to try it out, this series really deserves a lot more attention, especially from a local Aussie author.