Blurb:
Long ago, The Lord Aiduel emerged from the deserts of the Holy Land, possessed with divine powers. He used these to forcibly unite the peoples of Angall, before His ascension to heaven.
Over eight hundred years later, in a medieval world which is threatened by war and religious persecution, four young men and women begin to develop supernatural abilities. These forbidden and secret powers will shatter the lives that they have known, and will force each of them to confront the mystery of the ethereal Gate which haunts their dreams. What does the dream mean, and how is it connected to their burgeoning abilities?
As they experience conflict, love, lust and betrayal, in lands which are being overtaken by war, they must try to stay ahead of and to survive the sinister forces which are now pursuing them. For they are being hunted…
ILLBORN is Daniel T. Jackson’s powerful and gritty debut novel, and is the thrilling opening chapter in the epic fantasy story of The Illborn Saga.
Review:
Illborn grabs hold of the reader immediately and then never lets go. It is immersing, interesting, and thought provoking. There is a POV for every kind of reader with four interesting stories that begin to intermingle towards the end in great and interesting ways. It is something that my mind kept thinking about, long after I had put the book down. I would consistently be surprised by the number of pages that I had read and would find myself wanting to dive back into it at every opportunity! I had heard the hype about the book and now lend my voice to the many in shouting the praises of this fantastic debut.
The strength of the novel is the prose with which Mr. Jackson writes. It just pulls you in and takes the reader on a gentle ride, allowing the story to flow, lulling the reader into reading long past the time when they should have been sleeping. It seems effortless and poetic, all while creating a world that is deep in scope and imagination. The characters all were different, with different goals and ideas. This made it very interesting and each of them had their moment to shine, leaving me undecided which was my true favorite. This is a positive thing as it made me want to know what happened with each of them. The couple of things that did jar my attention a little bit, were when the perspectives crossed paths and there was a little repeat of information, all so we could see what they were thinking at the exact time as the other character. This is a small gripe and it overall did not takeaway from the story. One other thing that might be a negative to some readers is the fact that it is very heavy on religion. It is an integral part of the story and is handled wonderfully.
Illborn is that book that really becomes a book that remains in the mind for long periods of time. It is an epic fantasy that even with all of the mass amounts of pages, feels like this story is just scratching the surface of where it has the potential to go. It feels poetic, bringing all of the emotions of a carefully crafted poem to mind. It is a start to a series that I look forward to seeing where it it goes. It has more than enough potential to be a stalwart of epic fantasy for years to come! This is a book that will remain in your dreams for days and days to come!
Thank you for taking the time to read my review. As always, happy reading and Stay Great!!
