Swords of Winter by G. L. Lathian Series: The Forgotten Kin #1
on 2013-11-29
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction
Pages: 188
Rating: I LOVED IT
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Twin brothers, Herth and Tarn's simple country lives are thrown into turmoil when they learn war has invaded the borderlands of Manaki. With their village expecting imminent attack, the locals are forced to make a decision colder than any winter; abandon all that they know and flee south to the great cities, or lay down the iron of their trades and take up the steel of swords to defend their homes and families. Facing choices most men would run from, the boys must discover if they possess the skill and courage to raise a blade between themselves and death. A death at the hands of an enemy that has sacrificed countless generations to spill their blood.
Wow, what a quick and enjoyable read (thank you for recommending this, Amber). It’s a great setup to future books, and, by the end, I was thoroughly invested in the brothers. Now, I must confess that I have a soft spot for stories that have siblings…a very large soft spot. I’d be hard pressed not to like a book that focused on a close sibling relationship. Anyways, let’s get on with it.
The formatting of some of the paragraphs and the dialog tags often left me trying to figure out who was speaking. Since there is a cast of characters at times, mostly male, it needed some proper names, clearer tags, or proper punctuation when keeping with a single character’s dialog that spread over multiple paragraphs. It was easily discovered by reading to the next paragraph, but when reading you might notice it.
The middle kinda dragged for me and I skimmed over a training scene. My boredom was short lived since the story picked back up quickly. There’s a lot of getting to know townsfolk and I my mind might have wondered during some of these scenes. But, like I said, it moved quickly over those sections.
What I loved was the brothers’ relationship and I also loved their father. The family dynamic was done very well. The brothers were believable characters, holding different quirks and thoughts, but staying close the entire time.
There were hints dropped that have me dying for answers. I will definitely be purchasing the next book in the series. Very excited for it to be published.
About G. L. Lathian
The pen name, G.L. Lathian, is the pen name of Garrett Streater and Luke Jessop. We have been friends for twenty-seven years – the same amount of time as we’ve been alive. The south west of Western Australia has provided us with our own fantasy world to grow up in over the years. Without the distractions of modern conveniences, we turned to camping, fishing, surfing and exploring the empty landscape. Every day was a new story or adventure, inspired by our imaginations. In 2011, our long time friendship became a collaboration when we began writing together.
