Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg
Title: Felsh and Spirit
Author: Carol Berg
Type: Fantasy, Slash Friendly
Length: 408
Rating: 5/5
Blurb: The first book of a duology introduces Valen of Navronne, the pure-blood scion of a long line of diviners and magical cartographers, who hates his heritage. He ran away as a youth, lived as a rogue, and wound up, badly wounded and owning nothing but a magical atlas, at a monastery. Offered sanctuary, he finds his maps, rumored to chart the way to the realm of angels, plunging him into intrigue instead of the retreat, however temporary, that he wanted. Navronne is beginning to unravel, starting with a battle for the succession between heirs of the late king. Omens and divination's are foreboding, and even the monastery contains several factions, each trying to use Valen and his maps. Berg touches a shop-worn situation with originality and limns Navronne and the characters well--Valen is unquestionably memorable--in what is definitely a dark fantasy as much concerned with Valen's internal struggle as with his conflicts with others.
Lol Sorry for the long break Nano struck and well some of you might know how that goes. But I can slow down on that for now and let's get this show back on the road.
So I slowly read this book over the past month and a bit. I would've read it much faster but real life happened.
I didn't have some of the same complaints with this book as I had with the last Berg series that I read. This one kept up it's fast pace and didn't dilly dally around as much. At least not for me I think there is opportunity for some to argue the other side of that point. It definitely picks up towards the end of the book and into the second book.
Carol Berg enjoys playing out the interactions between her main characters and other people. She likes to build them up and she's good at it. Though sometimes it can tend to lead the reader to question 'well when is something going to happen', I had that issue a lot more with her first series. I think she had that more under control with this book, there was action while showing Valen's interactions with the monks and various other characters.
I'm curious to see where this goes as I get into the second book. I don't really want to say too much because I don't want to give things away to people. Needless to say, good book, good author.
The slash is very very light. The book has one scene but it doesn't go anywhere and a couple of other mentions. So if you're looking for lots of slash and sex move on but if you like good fantasy that is slash friendly, have fun. ;)