Author: R. Merino
Genre: Fantasy
First published: 2015
Book description: First of all, allow me to introduce myself... I am Balán Léguil, scholar-adventurer of the Previous March. The story that you are about to know is just one of the many existing within the vast world of the Four Brands and its Nine Kingdoms. In those days in which I dedicated myself to collecting legends, stories and all kinds of anecdotes, I came across one that was especially to my liking, which spoke of a minor character... but why focus my attention to telling the story of an insignificant character if there are others of greater impact, of heroes whose striking profiles would swell the pages of a story? Well then, because for them there will be other titles that I will dedicate to them with the same pleasure. Or perhaps you will find them narrated by one of my comrades... As I said, I have decided to focus my attention on the exploits of this character of insipid fame, whose unknown name is repeated, circumstantially, within other stories starring heroic characters. The list is long, but I will only name the ones with the greatest impact, such examples: the white wandering alchemist Yaibrel, and the dark wandering alchemist Arcbael, both enigmatic characters; the Teradrian Crown King Sande and several of his most faithful and... not so faithful servants. Their participation became a key piece in the complementary existential puzzle of the Nine Realms. Ah... venerable reader, it is necessary to note that the words that you will find here mean more than a simple fanciful story. If you are looking for a crude story like that, then I suggest you stop your reading here. But, if you decide to continue... then I warn you that you will be seduced by the knowledge that I share here. He was known by different nicknames but the one that stood out to him the most was: Ephesto.
Review:
I picked this book up with no previous research, I had never heard about this series or the author. It was a nice surprise. These are pretty quick and short stories. They are available in English and Spanish, I did try both of them out but I just didn't like the English version so I went to the Spanish version.
We follow Ephesto, of course, while he is exploring. The world is interesting but it does need a bit more unraveling. As Ephestos is the only person we follow the bits about the social structure and magic come in slowly but waved very well in the storytelling.
He is a being different from his people, and he's learning from a mysterious and powerful master. As part of the training, he is tasked with exploring on his own and going to a specific city. On the way he meets a caravan of merchants and he gets involved with them briefly.
This feels like a nice beginning but so far we have been getting to know the characters and the world, but the plot still has not made itself known. It is a enjoyable quick read, I just need to get more before I can make up my mind about it.
This was used for the challenges:
Latin/Spanish Authors
Books in Spanish
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