Rebel Wars - 2018 Awards [CLOSED]

FANTASY WINNER || The Cursewright's Vow

The Cursewright's Vow

By HouseofMourthia

Review by djhowty

Before I begin my review, let me just say that in addition to winning first place in Fantasy for the Rebel Awards, The Cursewright's Vow also received a 2018 Watty!

So major congratulations to HouseofMourthia for this accomplishment—it is so well deserved!

In the first chapter—split into five parts—we see the world through the eyes of Casimir/Cass, a young boy who lives in the Lionness, a brothel in the seedier part of town. Casimir has seen a lot in his few years, but he's never witnessed the horror of a demon possessing a man, and it's terrifying. Nearly as terrifying as Casimir's task to fetch the cursewright, Ammas, who will kill the demon.

What follows is that over the course of the exorcism, Casimir's resolve and courage convince Ammas to take an apprentice—and Casimir becomes one of the last of the cursewrights and the story commences.

This is a pretty poor summary of the first chapter, and doesn't do justice at all to the richly detailed world that  has created.

The writing reminds me of George R R Martin, Robert Jordan, or Patrick Rothfuss in tone and detail—with nothing left out from a world that is complex, fully realized and perhaps not the nicest to exist in. There's the brothel, plague, rich nobles taking advantage of the poor, street gangs, dying religions and demons that will enter a host if they are filled with too much regret and shame.

The world is dangerous and dark, yet there is hope from the cursewright himself, a man feared by many yet possessed by fear himself—of the demons he slays and the power he wields.

While the chapter started off slow, the details began to entrap and snare, to weave subtle fingers about the reader's mind, engaging and enticing to read on, read more, to fully submerge into this vicious world—caught by the words just as the demon was captured by the cursewright.

This epic fantasy is definitely not one to be missed, and I'd be shocked if I didn't see it on the shelves at Barnes and Noble someday.