Wednesday, August 21, 2013

BLOG TOUR + GIVEAWAY: The Oathbreaker's Shadow by Amy McCulloch [REVIEW]

This post is part of THE OATHBREAKER'S SHADOW BLOG TOUR hosted by Pinoy Book Tours

TITLE: The Oathbreaker's Shadow
(The Knot Sequence #1)

AUTHOR: Amy McCulloch
PUBLISHER: Random House 

Children's Publishers
PUB DATE: Jun 4 2013

Summary from Goodreads:

"Fifteen-year-old Raim lives in a world where you tie a knot for every promise that you make. Break that promise and you are scarred for life, and cast out into the desert.

Raim has worn a simple knot around his wrist for as long as he can remember. No one knows where it came from, and which promise of his it symbolises, but he barely thinks about it at all—not since becoming the most promising young fighter ever to train for the elite Yun guard. But on the most important day of his life, when he binds his life to his best friend (and future king) Khareh, the string bursts into flames and sears a dark mark into his skin.

Scarred now as an oath-breaker, Raim has two options: run, or be killed.

A gripping YA action-adventure fantasy, the first part of a planned duology."

Rating:

“Warrior. Traitor. Saviour.”

I must point out that the Young Adult world does not have enough male protagonists. So when The Oathbreaker’s Shadow featured a male character on the cover, I just had to know what this was all about. I say, “yay!” for male protagonists!

The setting seems to have that Middle Eastern theme to it. (If it is in fact the actual theme, forgive me, I didn’t read any extra information beforehand). The world building was quite elaborate, a bit lengthy too, which I find both has its upside and downside. The good thing about it is, it makes the scenery a lot more vivid and enriching, sadly the problem with this approach is it takes too long to get to its point.

I find Raim to be an ambitious kind of guy. And I mean that in a good way. The determination he has shown over wanting to become a Yun warrior is remarkable, and I like a guy who’s driven and passionate about what he wants. Not to mention that his loyalty to Khareh, his best friend, is not a bad factor either. Although who would have thought that this would become his downfall?

The first time I met Khareh, I had this gut feeling that he’s not a good friend for Raim. He seems to be such a spoiled brat, and he’s been dragging Raim to all sorts of trouble, little did I know that he would be the devil to unleash all evil in this world.

It was a little upsetting that Raim’s main agenda for going to Lazar got lost along the way, but maybe that means there is still a lot to be told before the story would get there.

For a debut author, I have to hand it to Ms. Amy McCulloch. This story was quite impressive. There was so much potential to the story. With magic, promise knots, intriguing characters, and a very exciting premise, I’d definitely watch out for where McCulloch would be driving The Knot Sequence. It seems to show so many possible outcomes.

*ARC provided by Pinoy Book Tours.