Synopsis:
Can a path of blood lead to redemption?
Is redemption enough to amend a wayward world?
Morality and reality have shifted from their natural axis. Technology and ideology derive from the remnants of a world long dead and segregated by the monsters that now rule the seas.
Crow, a young ranch hand, is swept into an odyssey of redemption and revenge as he strives to hold back the ravages of fate and the urges born of a curse shared with his new mentor.
Callus, an exile struggling to find redemption whilst keeping his vampiric curse from tainting his new ward, pursues his prey across the sea.
The new world they discover reveals a tyrannical society fixated on their council’s ascension to godhood.
Review:
With a story that begins with a dystopian/western vibe, Callus & Crow becomes so much more than the initial chapters led me to believe. There are elements of fantasy; they’re vague insinuations at first, but as the book continues, they’re brought heavily to the forefront and play a significant role in the story.
Callus calls himself cursed; he’s something akin to a vampire (though that term is never used.) Crow winds up sharing his curse, though the exact details of how that came about are not discussed. Both characters are morally gray, and even though Crow struggles with the notion of what he’s becoming, it doesn’t deter him much.
Along their journey, they meet Laz and Silk, and later Crave. Laz is portrayed as an eccentric and sometimes mentally unstable old man at first, but every time he reappears, it’s pretty obvious something is about to go down. In his world, he’s termed a wraith, but he’s not the traditional variety. He either has a higher calling, or he’s some sort of harbinger of things to come—the trouble is, he often doesn’t make sense. Silk is a fierce swordswoman who carries the soul of her mother trapped in a silk scarf. Her mother’s story isn’t featured, but the scarf does seem to have a mind of its own. And Crave… He isn’t described in a lot of detail, but from what I gathered, he’s some sort of human-spider hybrid (not the pop culture variety, either—Crave has mandibles and distinctly predatory tendencies.)
This unusual mix of characters inhabits a world that feels lawless at times, yet follows a strict set of rules at others. Danger is the only constant, no matter the location. Between skirmishes with outlaws, escaping slavers, and a treacherous journey across an ocean riddled with kraken-like octotusks, there is plenty of action.
Callus & Crow is written as a series of journal entries, interspersed with personal letters, passages from books, and the occasional professional-style missive. The various elements don’t all appear to fit together at first, but by the end, everything relates to something else, and the whole picture is pretty clear. It was an unusual layout, but it works for this book.
And the way this one ended definitely paves the way for a second installment in the series. It’ll be interesting to see where the story goes from here.
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