Wednesday, July 8, 2015

The Waterborn by Greg Keyes

Never fall in love with a god or goddess; no good will come of it.

Open Road Media and Net Galley gave me the opportunity to read this book (thank you).  It has been published, so you can grab a copy now.

Hezhi is a young princess who wants to know what's going to happen to her once she comes of age.  She also wants to control it, and that's impossible.  However, she considers being forewarned better than being surprised.  The worst part is no one can speak to her about it.  They have been forbidden to by the priests.  The priests backed that up by putting a spell on them.  So she's on her own to find out what she can.

She might be of Royal Blood but almost everything at the castle is determined by the priests.  She's already seen one of her cousins disappear.  She doesn't want to be the next to be sent underground.  She's going to figure out how to escape.

Then we have Perkar, who manages to fall in love with a water goddess.  He wants to keep her as his, but it's not possible.  She tells him that the big river eats her.  So he decides to go kill the river god and save her.  She begs him not to, but he doesn't listen.

Along the way, he finds the king of his lands and travels with him.  He makes new friends and new enemies.  He also has no idea how complex this quest is going to get.  

This is a land of many gods and many beliefs.  It's really a bad idea to make a god or goddess angry, they are almost impossible to kill.  When Perker takes some old weapons, he sets off an avalanche of bad luck.  Hezhi is fighting for the right to her own life and the river has a bond with her.  She doesn't want the power it brings.

This is quite an adventure with lots of action and the two stories merging at the end.  There will be more to this story.  Hezhi and Perkar are not done exploring and avenging.

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