(Note: reading this would be a good idea before reading the review, so as to clarify terminology. Words you need to know in particular: Quintarian, Quadrene, Bastard, Roknar, divine, death magic. Be sure to look up saint here as well.)
I haven't read the predecessor to this book- I know I should, I just never felt as compelled to read it as I was to read this one. I tried and tried to pass it up and eventually gave in. And adored it. And related way too much, considering how the heroine and I are drastically different folks.
Anyway: Ista is a dowager queen (royina) who's 40 and has had a rough life. She married into a cursed family, killed a guy while trying to break the curse, went mad...and now that the curse is over and things are settled down, she's bored out of her mind. She'd love to just be erased. Failing that, she wants the hell out of the castle. She thinks of a way to do it- go on a "religious pilgrimage", even though she's pretty well sick of the gods not answering her prayers over the years. The learned religious figure that accompanies her on the trip is a disciple of the Bastard, god of bastards, homosexuals, anybody chaotic and unexpected events... (Yeah, I love him.) and he figures out that There's Something About Ista. Ista was goddess-touched once and made a saint temporarily, but failed in that role and doesn't want anything to do with religion again.
Alas, religion would disagree with her on that. Circumstances- which is to say, an abduction by a rival nation that doesn't believe in the Bastard and kills anyone of that sect- end up leading Ista to end up at a castle on the edge of her nation, where something's going wonky. Arhys, the hunky fellow running the place, doesn't eat a lot and has an enforced rest in the middle of the day. His brother Illvin, who got injured a few months ago in an attack, only comes out of his coma during naptime. Arhys's wife, Cattilara, is obsessed with him and will do ANYTHING for him... and Ista ends up being charged by the Bastard himself to answer someone else's prayers and investigate the situation. The gods can grant powers and second sight, but have to have others take actions for them. Back in the day, people chose not to answer Ista's, but she wouldn't do that to someone else, right?
...Right, but that doesn't mean Ista's not annoyed at the patronage of a new god. With a "vile" sense of humor. I love the Bastard.
In addition to her new godlike duties, there's a lot of demons taking people over in Chalion, and the neighboring nation of Roknar wants to invade, and Ista ends up dealing with that in addition to the situation at Castle Porifors.
From there on, I shall not say. Other than this book is made of awesome.
Five stars.
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