Synopsis:
Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Only stolen.
Mages feed on catalysts like Dinnie to enhance their spells, and since she’s the most formidable weapon alive, they will stop at nothing to control her. Even her parents, leaders of warring realms, wage a battle for her custody, imprisoning her to prevent the other from gaining the upper hand.
No more.
For the first time, Dinnie isn’t alone. With the help of Ghost, a glum deserter shackled to his past, she intends to flee this madness. But as they witness the horrors unleashed to retrieve her, one thing becomes clear: Her parents will never abandon their claim.
Death and destruction follow in Dinnie’s wake, and she must decide if her freedom is worth the cost.
Review:
The Source of Strife employs a fascinating magic system. People can become a Channeler (those who cast and summon magic), a Dampener (those who mask/deaden magic’s effects), or a Catalyst (those who harbor the Source the Channelers use for their spells.) Catalysts aren’t treated well in some parts of the world; they’re coveted by the other mages, who can’t work their magic without them, and because of that, they’re often treated as objects rather than people.
Wars are started over the possession of Catalysts, which is the basic premise of this book. Dinnie is a fourteen-year-old girl and the most powerful Catalyst in the world. Her mother, the Sourcequeen, and her father, the All-Keeper, are the rulers of two nations that have been at war since Dinnie’s birth. Both parents want Dinnie’s power, and both will do anything to ensure they keep it for themselves. Neither stop to consider that she’s a young person, and neither give her the ability to make choices about her life. She’s in an awful situation.
To make matters worse, her father is responsible for creating void-rifts, a magical attack that summons undead from another plane. The undead are drawn to Catalysts, and will steal them during their attacks, while razing entire towns and killing the rest of the people they encounter.
The only person who has ever treated Dinnie as a person is Ghost, a man hired to help a group of rebels escort Dinnie out of her mother’s realm in an attempt to put a stop to her father’s attacks. Ghost is something of a mercenary, but he’s also an inventor. He’s learned how to harness the power of Source and imbue it into other objects (most of the time, he uses bullets.)
Of all the characters presented in this book, I liked Ghost the best (though it did take a little while for that to happen.) He had the most fleshed-out backstory of the cast, and hands-down the most integral role. I also liked the growth Dinnie’s character went through during the course of the book, and I sympathized with her plight. Bravid, a former knight, was another character worth mentioning, though it wasn’t until close to the end of the book that I really started to like him. (This was a common theme with all of the characters for me; most weren’t terribly interesting at first, but they grew on me over time.)
The worldbuilding in The Source of Strife was my favorite part. It wasn’t only the magic system that I enjoyed, but the various cultural details that were presented as the characters traveled through their world. There were many unique creatures, plants, and foods mentioned too. Reading this truly felt like stepping into another world.
My only critique is that numerous times, words were used that didn’t quite make sense in the context of a given sentence. I could figure out what the author was trying to say, but another word would have served much better. If not for that, this would have easily been a 5-star read for me (as it stands, I’m giving it a 4.)
Overall, I really enjoyed this story. It works as a standalone, but based on the ending, I wouldn’t be surprised if a sequel is somewhere on the horizon.
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