Thoughts: The Judas Blossom by Stephen Aryan

Source: NetGalley! Many thanks to the publisher!
TL;DR:

Plot: All setup, but interesting setup. There is a lot of politics and hints of the magic to come with an ending that promises a LOT more of the magic
Characters: I really liked all our Points of View characters and especially enjoyed the General and how our view is twisted on him over time
Setting: Well realized and you can tell Mr. Aryan knows his stuff
Magic: Very light, and honestly a little bit unoriginal but fun nevertheless

Thoughts:

The Judas Blossom has been pitched as an epic fantasy retelling of the Mongol invasion of Persia. I wouldn’t say it’s wrong – but I would say go in with some important notes. I would rebrand that ‘epic fantasy’ portion as light fantasy and you’ll have a more accurate representation of this heavily political story.

On the whole I genuinely enjoyed this book, but the fantasy is light and it’s very much the setup book to a series. It spans multiple PoV’s, from the one of the most powerful Mongol generals to his wives, and associates and the rebels that oppose them. This makes the book move quick, which is good because the bulk of all of these chapters is political scheming or training. Outside of scheming or training we get war and a lot of it. There are large chunks of the book that just feel like a bit too much description of dead bodies: floating, bloated, and in pieces. Screams and groans and moans dominate the sounds of the world and it really took over for large chunks of the story.

The characters themselves I enjoyed, their voices were each unique enough that I new who I was reading even if I missed the name on the header and each one had a unique struggle. The General was especially my favorite as we begin the book seeing the best in him and really empathizing with him but by the end we see the truth behind a very flawed man. His son is the only place where we really see any magic and that itself is not prevalent till the end – he was my least favorite PoV as well but with the ending of the story it could be a very interesting one in the future.

I will definitely continue this series in the future if I have the opportunity. However I do hope we see more fantasy without the story without loosing the pacing and politics of this one. Additionally a hair less on the gore and blood would probably assist the story in it’s depth. This really was an interesting setup, and I hope to see more from this writer.

[CWs:
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Violence, and War
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Xenophobia
Minor: Sexual content, Slavery, and Trafficking]