The Burning Isle
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
A powerful and gripping debut grimdark fantasy novel, set in a world of criminals, pirates, assassins, and magic...
“A man has only three reasons for being anywhere: to right a wrong, to earn a coin, or because he is lost.”
Cassius is not lost...
The mage Cassius has just arrived on the island of Scipio. Five miles of slum on the edge of fifty miles of jungle, Scipio is a lawless haven for criminals, pirates, and exiles. The city is split in two, each half ruled by a corrupt feudal lord. Both of them answer to a mysterious general who lives deep in the jungle with his army, but they still constantly battle for power. If a man knows how to turn their discord to his advantage, he might also turn a profit...
But trained on the Isle of Twelve, Cassius is no ordinary spellcaster, and his goal is not simply money. This is a treacherous island where the native gods are restless and anything can happen…
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Panzo's weak debut is a Greco-Roman spy thriller with high fantasy elements. A boy calling himself Cassius arrives in Scipio looking for work as a mercenary spellcaster. The city is divided between two crime bosses. Risking his life and playing people as pawns, Cassius seeks to upset the uneasy peace between them, but his reasons for doing so are unclear. Panzo hangs his plot on a complicated triple-cross, which depends on keeping the reader ignorant of vital information for the majority of the novel. The payoff is eventually delivered, but the missing character development leaves readers confused about the protagonists' motivations. Battles read more like video game cut scenes. The ambiguous ending is unsatisfying, as it avoids any resolution to the chaos that Cassius has brought down on an entire city for no apparent reason. The story has a few original ideas, but the execution leaves much to be desired.
