Greathouse lost a little with the worldbuilding. While it didn’t feel shoehorned in, Alder’s journey could have been the same without it. I liked Atar when she was introduced, especially how she used dancing to express herself, but I don’t feel the romance added much to this particular book. However, I was less impressed by the romance. Alder’s mother, his grandmother, his uncle Usher, Oriole and others make a lasting impression, even with brief interactions, which only served to enrich the story.
Though this is a first person narrative, Greathouse takes care to have enough interactions with the side characters that they stay memorable. I especially liked his progression in the final parts of the book, his decisions and actions showed how much the journey was worth it. Once he’s not held back, his quick thinking and kindness shine through and I genuinely liked being in his head. His friendship with Oriole is the first step in him divesting himself of the empire and thus becoming a more interesting character. I’ll admit, this part of the book was tedious, Alder’s extreme adherence to rank and his dwellings on whether or not someone of lower station insulted him made him thoroughly unlikable during the first part of his training. He clings to them and propriety as he tries to erase his mother’s heritage and serve the empire. The first half of the book is dominated by his ambitions and frustrations. As he grows, he comes to see the Empire as reductive at first, and then cruel, until finally he breaks from it. He quickly discovers that every type of magic he encounters comes with limitations that first taste didn’t, which only adds to his frustration. It’s this ambition that sets him apart as a main character since it drives his every step. As a child, he touched unbridled power and he spends the book trying to recapture that feeling. With his mother being Nayeni and his father from the Sienese conquering Empire, he’s always struggled to reconcile his legacies and that marks his journey in the book.
Wen Alder was torn between two destinies from the moment he was born. a magical path, filled with secrets, unbound by Empire or resistance, which could shake my world to its very foundation.īut my search for freedom will entangle me in a war between the gods themselves. I can choose between them – between protecting my family, or protecting my people – or I can search out a better path. That of my mother’s family, who reject the oppressive Empire and embrace the resistance. My name is Foolish Cur.Īll my life, I have been torn between two legacies: that of my father, whose roots trace back to the right hand of the Emperor. Greathouse tells the journey of Wen Alder as he wrestles with his heritage in the face of a colonising Empire.
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