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Book Review: The Light of Kazaban by Thomas Howard Riley

December 2, 2024 by Andy Peloquin Leave a Comment

Rating: 8.75/10

TL;DR Review: In the grimdarkness of this tale, the light of resilience and strength of spirit shine beautifully bright.

Synopsis:

In the brutal desert city of Kasaban, the old gods have had their statues crushed to powder by invading Priests, with magick forbidden to anyone but themselves. Merely being born as one of the magi makes even infants into fugitives, and the Priests and their spies are always watching, ready to toss their enemies into the purifying flames of execution.

Saya Ani Anai is the last of her family, dedicating her life to being a teacher of magick for little orphaned children. From within her hidden home, she provides the closest thing to a normal life these children may ever know. They help each other like family, working for what they can and stealing the rest to scrape by, forced to live every day under the yoke of oppression.

When the warren-boss who keeps their domain a secret suddenly demands a higher price to keep his silence, they must race to find a way to meet the demand or they will lose their home and their lives. But for the poor living in Kasaban, simply surviving is anything but easy.

With the Priests and their magick-hunters scouring the city for magi to burn, and the catastrophes of daily life intervening to crush her plans at every turn, Saya must risk everything to save her home and keep the children safe. But Kasaban is unforgiving. Its fires rage bright. If she fails, all her hopes will burn.

Full Review:

I’ll be honest: I was not prepared for how dark this book was!

Our story opens with a public execution. Magic-wielders are being killed in grand spectacle—the men have their heads dipped into burning steel, but the woman and young girls are burned from the feet up in a truly gruesome display of cruelty.

In the audience is our protagonist Saya, who goes to watch every single execution because it’s a reminder that one mistake, one careless accident, could mean she winds up on that stage being brutally killed.

Dark, right? Well, hold onto your hats because it’s about to get SOOOOOO much worse!

Saya returns home (quite the ordeal to make sure no one is following her) and we’re introduced to all the adorable young children under her care and tutelage. We’ve seen just first-hand what happens to magic-wielders, then we meet a gaggle of utterly delightful boys and girls (some as young as four) that are learning from Saya how to wield magic. And there’s no escaping that sickening sensation in your stomach: something terrible is going to happen to these little kids.

The Light of Kazaban is a look at what Saya has to do to survive in a world where she and the children under her care are considered profane, where anyone could turn them into the authorities and get them executed at any moment.

It evoked the tone and tension of Jews living in Nazi Germany during WWII. There are so few friendly faces, but those who do not simply dismiss Saya outright (for being poor) see her as a threat, someone to take advantage of, or someone to use and discard cruelly. Every Priest could be her killer or find her secret—especially once the High Priest gets it in his head to hunt her down.

The few bright moments in this story are immediately overshadowed by dark and terrible things. This is pure grimdark and you feel it on every page. The feeling of dread and foreboding gets worse with every chapter, until…well, you get to experience this particular terrible outcome for yourself.

But in the darkness of this story, Saya’s strength of character and the resilience of the children in her care shine like a star. It’s a testament to the author’s skill that amidst the bleak reality, Saya can still maintain a sliver of optimism and hope—if not for herself, for the children she has sought to protect.

The Light of Kazaban is one of the darkest stories I’ve read all year, one that has left an impression for how grim it was willing to take the tale, but also how strong the drive to survive and protect can be. One hell of a story!

Filed Under: Dark Fantasy, Grimdark, Middle Eastern Inspired Tagged With: Book Review, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy, Fantasy Books, Novella, Self Published

About Andy Peloquin

I am, first and foremost, a storyteller and an artist--words are my palette. Fantasy and science fiction are my genres of choice, and I love to explore the darker side of human nature through the filter of heroes, villains, and everything in between. I'm also a freelance writer, a book lover, and a guy who just loves to meet new people and spend hours talking about my fascination for the worlds I encounter in the pages of fantasy and sci-fi novels.
Speculative fiction provides us with an escape, a way to forget about our mundane problems and step into worlds where anything is possible. It transcends age, gender, religion, race, or lifestyle--it is our way of believing what cannot be, delving into the unknowable, and discovering hidden truths about ourselves and our world in a brand-new way. Fiction at its very best!

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