Exile

Series: The Caein Legacy, #1

Author: A.J. Calvin

Genre: Fantasy

Book Description:

Andrew grew up in the royal palace of Novania, the eldest son of the queen. He went on to achieve fame and glory as a renowned soldier, and was eventually named commander of the king’s army. The kingdom believed he would be named heir to the throne, but he has long known he is ineligible. The king is not his father.

The truth of Andrew’s lineage is only partially known to the king; the identity of his father is a mystery that even Andrew is unaware of. He knows only that his father was a dragon-mage, and the dragons have fled to another world. Andrew is a skin-changer, but the laws of Novania forbid his very existence. If the king were to learn the truth of what he is, he would face execution.

The laws are equally hostile to humans born with the Mark of the Magi and the ability to wield magic. Andrew’s younger half-brother, Alexander, bears the Mark. The pair keep one another’s secrets into adulthood…Until the king dies unexpectedly and Colin ascends the throne.

When Alexander’s Mark is revealed for all to see, Andrew is faced with a choice: To watch his brother be killed, or reveal his true nature in an effort to save him from the headsman’s axe.

Review:

Exile caught my attention because dragons (even if there is only one and he’s a dragon-shifter) and, more than that, the brother bond. I really like to see close, enduring relationships that aren’t romance, people who mean everything to each other in a non-romantic way, and hopefully books that put the spotlight on them!

I am pleased to say that Exile did, indeed, put the spotlight on the bond between Andrew and Alexander. It’s not something that shows up, matters for a bit, and passes away, and it looks as if it is going to be the central relationship, and a central plot-driver, throughout the entire series, notwithstanding a bit of romance in the beginning. It is certainly the primary relationship in Exile, and the primary plot-driver as well, once one gets through the beginning. And I really liked it.

However, I found that beginning to be more than a little bit of a slog. All of the characters, including Andrew, feel really one-dimensional and without originality, as if they are just acting and speaking in order to get the author to wherever her story truly begins. Many holes in the narrative are left unexplained: why did the King raise Andrew as if he was going to be the Crown Prince, though he knew he would never be, only to publicly shame him later?

Why didn’t he subvert the law and have Andrew registered as his child? Many such questions are raised throughout the story, and while sometimes – after many pages – something of an explanation is given, I regularly found the explanations inadequate, insufficient, or now I wanted more background on the explanation: such as, why is the King so staunchly devoted to not breaking the law? Especially when the “true heir” is obviously someone no one wants as king. (Or does someone?)

Andrew also felt flat for a while. I couldn’t find the thread that connects his emotions and his actions or feel him strongly. He proceeds to go from wondering if his time to flee is coming soon – as the fact that he does not age may soon reveal him as other than a normal human – to falling headlong into a dalliance with a girl. I did not get any chemistry between them (but then again, I’m not usually a romance person), but what I really did not understand is why, it takes so long for him to think about the fact that he may have to flee soon and their relationship will be very short. Given how recently that thought has occurred, and the disaster that was his last marriage, I would think he would consider the fact that might really hurt her, seeing that he seems to care about women in general, and her in particular, so much. It’s not the only thing he does that makes no sense, and clashes with what the reader is explicitly told to expect from him, without diving deep enough into his psyche to understand these contradictions or even sense how they are part of one whole, even if I don’t understand.

But once the story really gets going, and he flees with just himself and Alexander together, Andrew stopped feeling like a disconnected bunch of thoughts, feelings, and actions mashed together. As his and Alexander’s relationship and bond becomes more and more central, and more and more the driving part of their lives and the plot, Andrew feels more and more relatable, and by the time we got to the end, I had stopped struggling to remain interested in the story some time back – I am not sure exactly when.

His discovery of who he is as a dragon is fun (though I think he’s overly disgusted by eating raw meat), and his absolute devotion to Alexander is incredibly refreshing. There are still bits and pieces here and there that feel tacked on, but in general the two brothers felt much more real as they flee together and encounter new challenges. They never grew to be the kind of vivid that leaps off the page and into my mind, but I definitely enjoyed them.

I also enjoyed the way that the story is not full of things going wrong in order to heighten the stakes and manufacture suspense. A lot of time and space is spent on the characters and the relationships, both in quiet moments, and when rushing to flee. And things sometimes do go horribly wrong, but they go horribly wrong in organic ways, and not in an all-the-time-way that never lets you take a breather and leaves a reader like me needing to jump to the end, so I can know how it all turns out, because otherwise the suspense will get me bored.

I actually really enjoyed the fact that not everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong. I hate it when writers seem to bend the rules of their own world and geography in order to give their characters more challenges, and this book definitely avoids that issue. But at the same time, it doesn’t shrink from things going very badly wrong when it’s appropriate, and I appreciated that balance.

I also loved the conversations between Andrew and Alexander so very much. Here’s something Andrew explains to Alexander, when his brother is wrestling with guilt over the fact people died because Andrew rescued him when he was scheduled to be executed. Edited lightly, as to avoid spoilers, though I think those edits lighten the impact:

I closed my eyes briefly. “No they did not,” I agreed, “but neither did you. I came to your aid, believing Colin would not threaten them. They were nothing to him.” I ground my teeth together as rage flowed through me. “The real villain isss not you, nor isss it me. Colin did thisss.”

Something about the novel, and the way it is written, reminded me a lot of the Riftwar novels by Raymond E. Feist. I think readers who loved Magician and the Riftwars but would like a somewhat slower read, where the bond between brothers and the sacrifices they will make for each other plays the largest role, and there’s a bit more introspection, will really enjoy Exile.

I have to emphasize again: I really enjoyed how much Andrew loves Alexander. This is – so far – a very healthy and compelling relationship of absolute love between brothers. The kind of love that makes me return to romances again and again, even though I don’t particularly like romance, because it’s hard to find stories about that kind of love that aren’t romance. But I’ve found one here! Andrew and Alexander are “just” brothers who really love each other, and have also bonded over different, but shared struggles, even if they did not know it until recently.

I’d talk a lot more about their relationship, but I think I’ve said enough to get the idea, and most of that is in spoiler territory. But I’m definitely going to be getting the next book when it comes out!

A.J’s Website

Buy the Book

Other Reviews and Bookish Content in the Escapist Book Tour for Exile