Review: (Sin)ful

(Sin)ful
by
Lucy Grayson
Self-published, available from: Lucy Grayson

Review by Dan Breen

Sin(ful) – Swords, sorcery and… Citroens?

(Sin)ful is an oddment. I was introduced to this book via a friend on Facebook, and thought, why not? Having bought and downloaded this book, my only regret is that I left it so long before reading it.

(Sin)ful is set in a contemporary fantasy Earth. Magic is real and the world as we know it is joined by two extra lands, one the home of the Kiasakis, and the other, home to the Elementals, two extra near human races and hereditary mortal enemies, one a clear warrior race, and the other, more ethereal and mystic, (as you read the book you’ll come to understand them better), and set in a society pretty much parallel with our own.

(Sin)ful follows Animay Wolfheart, an Elemental, and heir to the Shadow estate, and Luicius Dranco, a Kiasaki warrior, two people thrown together by their employer, Tom, a human wizard of “interesting” moral fibre for his own personal gain.

While there feels to be an element of a “coming of age” story about this, the back plot, the political sophistication of the back story, the intelligent use of action and drama devices to create a story arc, (this is the first in a projected series), place it beyond such easy pigeon holing. It’s an intelligent, well crafted first book, and doesn’t feel like the 400 page epic that it is. I also found it difficult to put down, which is never a bad sign.

So who would I recommend this to? If you remember the Shadowrun RPG, if you like Anne McCaffrey, William Gibson, or just something different to the norm and consider yourself too intelligent for the Tw*****t series, then this is for you.


For more on Lucy Grayson:
Lucy Grayson Weekly