Reviewed by Nikyta
Title: Battle of Will
Author: Sasha L. Miller
Heroes: Ackley & Ealdwin
Genre: M/M Fantasy
Length: 132,000 words
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Release Date: January 1, 2014
Available at: Less Than Three Press, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes
Blurb: At a memorial service meant to honor the dead and mark the beginning of a truce between Skirfall and Morcia, Ackley spies a figure who does not belong—a mage interrogator whose presence will only cause harm should the Morcians realize who he is and all the people he has tortured. But the problem rapidly grows much worse than that when Ackley realizes his true purpose is assassination of the Morcian crown prince—an assassination Ackley prevents, but at great cost.
Banished from his own country, bound magically to the crown prince of his enemies, Ackley is certain of just one thing: whether he can figure out how to break the spell or not, his death is assured.
Review:
When Ackley saves the crown prince of Morcia from possible death, he inadvertently gets magically bound to the prince. Now tasked with being constantly within Prince Ealdwin’s presence, the two must figure out how to counter the spell that brought them together. But what’s a Skirfallan mage supposed to do when he’s in a country that hates his very race and his every action is only met with suspicion?
In the m/m genre, one of the things that I find lacking is the amount of true high fantasy stories out there. You have what I call ‘contemporary fantasy’ which is basically fantasy elements in a contemporary setting and ‘semi-fantasy’ which is a fantasy world but with only the bare bones for descriptions. Battle of Will is, in my opinion, a classic high fantasy tale filled with a ton of descriptions, two prominent warring races, a royal prince, a traitor and a forced bonding between enemies. Basically, everything I could want in a fantasy!
And how I loved every second of it! From the moment that Ackley realizes what is about to happen to Prince Ealdwin to the last word in the story, it satisfied all my cravings for a true high fantasy tale. It has a slow build-up, with descriptions left and right about the war, the layout of the country, and the spells that Ackley is forced to look through. You have the very real animosity between Ackley and Ealdwin, the inability to believe what the other is saying is the truth and the very real possibility that if someone kills one of them then the other will die too. It has some action, some twists and some sweet moments written in a way that had me spellbound throughout the book.
The characters have such depth that I felt like I knew them each personally. Ackley is very surly and stubborn. He’s not afraid of saying what he wants especially to a prince and absolutely will not back down even when Ealdwin is at his most scariest and intimidating. Ealdwin isn’t used to anyone sticking up to him so Ackley not only confuses him but intrigues him. I loved how Ealdwin was a respected prince who had no issues with fighting the war from the front lines but I also liked that even with their situation, Ackley couldn’t put away his bodyguard instincts and not protect Ealdwin, even when he didn’t need to… or want to. It was sweet the way they hated each other but slowly created a friendship that had so much trust, there was never any doubt of the other person’s actions… until Ealdwin tried to show Ackley his true feelings.
I had a few issues with this story, though. My biggest being that I felt the resolution to who the real traitor was and how to deal with him very anticlimactic. With everyone that was killed and everything that happened to not only Ealdwin and Ackley but to the King of Morcia, I expected more action to be taken to handle the King’s killer. I felt there also needed to be more editing considering there was a lot of typos, grammar mistakes, punctuation errors and inconsistencies throughout the novel. Also, while I loved that the fantasy and the desire to end the war was front and center of the story, I wished we could have seen more of the developing romance between Ackley and Ealdwin. I feel like we were missing just a little something between them.
All in all, even with its flaws, I still really enjoyed the story. It’s more fantasy than a romance and focuses more on the journey Ealdwin and Ackley go through from being enemies to allies. It has a lot of world-building and descriptions with an emphasis on the daily work of a prince turned King. I absolutely loved it and recommend it for those who enjoy a good, meaty fantasy that has very little romance. I’m also hoping we’ll get more stories in this world because I’d love to see what happens next especially if it involves Leavey getting his own HEA!
Overall Impression: I really liked it!
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*
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