Fire of the Forbears
by L.A. Buck
Pitted against one another, with the people and country they love in jeopardy, the daughter of a deserter and the son of the king have a chance to fulfill their forebears’ legacy—or destroy it entirely.
Twisted monsters called saja lurk in the shadows of the mountains. Rumors say the Fidelis, human wielders of an ancient elemental magic, again walk the plains. Not all in Avaron believe, and not all welcome the return of legend.
Kura’s a skeptic. But, she’ll cross and befriend centaurs, talking animals, and worse to save her family after the rebellion mistakes her for the land’s prophesied savior. And, while he’d rather negotiate with rebels than fight them, Triston can’t ignore prophecy. That was the sham his father used to steal the crown in the first place.
Over a century ago, their ancestors sailed the oceans in search of peace and died as heroes fighting for it. But heroes—and villains—aren’t always what they seem to be.
SPFBO8 – Our Reviews
PL Stuart
‘I will not lie. I have shed Fidelis blood for the merit of its nature, and I have fought in the Reconquest as is my place as firstborn among my father’s sons. But there came a day when I limped back to my mother’s house, coverind in both my own blood and that of your kind, and it struck me that I could not determine the difference. I have have paid dearly for that realization, but so do all who seek the truth in this world of darkness, and I accept that for what it is.'”
I have provided an honest review of this book – “Fire of the Forebears” by author L.A. Buck – below for purposes of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO) Number 8 competition, in which this book is one of ten finalists. Before We Go Blog (where I am one of the judges) is assigned the book, along with the other 9 judging blogs, to help determine which one of 10 books will emerge as the SPFBO 8 Champion.
I’ll never deny I love, and sometimes crave, “old school classic fantasy”. Something to take me back to my younger reading of books like “The Black Cauldron”, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”, and “The Sword of Shannara”. Something with many of the familiar tropes, many fantasy readers know and love. It was the promise of this that lured me, based on the cover synopsis, to select “Fire of the Forebears”, Book One in “The Heritor’s Helm Series”, for one of my SPFBO Finalist reads.
Overall, this book delivered on that promise.
The premise is interesting, as two people – the book’s primary and secondary protagonists – on rival sides of a conflict, and from different social circles, are thrust together, with unexpected consequences.
The main heroine, Kura, comes from humble origins, or so it would seem. Her father is a farmer, formerly a war-deserter. Kura lives on the periphery of society, due to her father’s lowly status, though she aspires for more for herself and her family. But when a rebellion arises against the despotic Drage, King of Avaron, Kura finds herself caught in the middle of the revolt, dealing with the rebels. Then, after finding a crucial artifact, Kura’s position in the rebellion becomes much more important than she could ever have dreamed of.
The secondary lead, Triston, is the son of the tyrannical king Drage, who is the catalyst for the revolution. Triston is dispatched to put down the rebellion. Once hailed as an upstart-hero – the “Rebel-King” – now despised as someone who has become more horrible than who they overthrew, Drage has his son’s loyalty. Still, Triston isn’t completely aligned with his father’s agenda. Nor is he completely comfortable about the fact Drage usurped the throne based on an ancient prophecy.
Nevertheless, the brave, charismatic and capable Triston, a talented warrior and commander, is dutiful. But will he continue to support his father’s mission, the more he learns about the true nature of the world around him?
The characterization in this book was one of its stronger features, in terms of what the author attempted to accomplish, with two strong and interesting leads in Kura, and Triston. Kura’s plucky personality was drawn out through her very real and interesting relationships with her family, which I found endearing.
Triston, I found to be somewhat of a more predictable character, though I did enjoy his arc. Buck provides the reader with sufficient backstory about both Kura and Triston, that one can become invested in them, and since both are likeable, easy to root for. I did enjoy the way the relationship between the two primary players developed slowly, with all the understandable caution and mistrust due to coming from opposing sides of a civil war.
The auxiliary cast is absolutely sprawling, and a bit hard to keep up with at first. However, in time, their roles in the story become more clear, their names will begin to stick in the reader’s mind, and they lend a richness to the scope of the characterization. Nonetheless, perhaps we don’t get to know as much about them compared to their relative importance to the story.
Readers should be prepared for overlapping POVs in the novel. It is an interesting narrative technique that I see periodically used in fantasy, where the characters participate in the same event, however we get different perspectives of that same event, sometimes from a different location, in back to back POVs.
This device is often utilized in large set battle scenes, where we get one POV character at one end of the battlefield, for example, on the opposing side, relating their experiences. Then, directly following this, another POV character does the same from their side of the battlefield.
It takes some writing aplomb to make overlapping POVs work well, so kudos to the author in this regard.
Steeped in lore and mythology, the worldbuilding, in particular the fantastical elements with the creatures (including centaurs!) in the book, was probably my favourite aspect. We have ancient magical weapons, startling prophecies, and the nostkynna – talking beasts.
Nostkynna are animals, for the most part, in every way save their ability with human speech. We are introduced right away in the novel, to a talking bear, which I loved, and it really set the tone for the nostkynna, throughout the novel, as a critical part of worldbuilding.
Magic in the world has a benevolent and evil side. Humans who worship the “Crux”, can become “vojaks” and wield elemental magic. On the other side, we have the Fidelis, who cleave to the “Essence” and also harness elemental magic.
The nostkynna can evolve into the terrifying saja, if dark magic is employed.
Humans who worship the “Crux” (the dark side), can become “vojaks” and wield elemental magic. On the other side, we have the Fidelis, who cleave to the “Essence” (the good side) and also harness elemental magic.
Buck does a great job of presenting a balanced magic system. She shows the rationale behind the usage of either side of magic, allowing the reader to possibly empathize with both types of users – for Crux and Essence, and see why those users chose to utilize their particular brand of magic.
The main theme running through the book is family, be it found family, or one’s actual blood relatives. The strong sense of healthy and productive family relationships in the novel, many readers will find truly heart-warming, and reinforced, for me, that classical fantasy feel.
The writing is fairly smooth and effortless, easy to read, lean and efficient prose. It’s certainly not elaborate, but it’s not just ‘serviceable’.
There were some stylistic choices in the writing that didn’t always work for me, however I put that down to more personal preference, than any failing of the author. Still, I must note that here, regarding my overall enjoyment of the novel, which was marginally affected by these choices.
Overall this was a good story, with well-worn tropes done well, an expansive world, lots of magic and lore, interesting characters, lots of twists and turns, and well-paced.
This series certainly had a lot of potential.
I am saddened to learn that since, tragically, the young author, L.A. Buck, recently passed away, seemingly, we won’t be treated to future installments of “The Heritor’s Helm”, unless someone else continues the series.
My heart goes out to the author’s friends and family.
