Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Eternal
AUTHOR: Marie Brown
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 662 Pages
RELEASE DATE: October 31, 2015
BLURB:
In a future where the Eternal Empire has ruled unchallenged for seven thousand years, two exiles meet and start their journey down a road that will change history forever.
Jericho, an enslaved mage, holds a power that even he does not know the full extent of. Kai, an Imperial exile, has secrets upon secrets and is hunted wherever he goes. Together, the two manage to build a fine life, but it isn’t long before Kai’s background catches up to them and threatens to destroy everything they know and love.
REVIEW:
I want to start with a warning…this is one seriously long book! In my humble opinion, I think it really could have been a trilogy instead of being all bound into one book, but it made up for it because it was soooo worth reading!
A little background. I had originally asked the author for a different book to review on Love Bytes, but she instead asked if we would do this one. I was at first daunted by the page count, and honestly dragged my heels a little bit before starting. I started it on Saturday afternoon, and had to put it down to go to a dinner party, but when I got home I picked it right back up and read until 5 something the next morning. Then I slept for a couple hours and kept going…reading last night until nearly 2 and then leaving the final hour and a half for today. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I loved it, and couldn’t stop!
Now, what is the story about you ask? That would be a logical comment since the Blurb on this one tells you absolutely nothing about the story if you look at it on Amazon. If you look at the Blurb I’ve used above, only the first line is on Amazon, and even with the additional section on Goodreads, I have to say I might not grab it as an impulse buy. I’ve seen Blurbs that go way overboard and give too many details, but this one errs to the opposite extreme! So I’m going to try to give you a little bit of the story, without doing any spoilers.
Imagine a future world, roughly five thousand years from now. But this world isn’t exactly ours. Imagine a world where the Roman Empire never fell…where instead they went on to conquer and rule the rest of the globe. Imagine a world where magic actually does work, but so does science. A vast civilization of 200 plus worlds, all ruled by an Emperor.
Ms. Brown did an excellent job of world building on this one. I felt like it was actually a possibility that with a few changes in history, Rome could have ruled the world. In the world she created, women are second place citizens, slavery is still a driving force in the economy, and homosexuality is punishable by death.
Enter Jericho. Jericho was sold into slavery by his own father for monetary gain when he was a child. Jericho had Mage potential and was worth more than his siblings, so he was the one sold. He has had a hard life since then, being collared with a high tech collar which suppresses emotions, sexual urges, and basically anything that is fun. Now Jericho is again up for sale. He has proved to be a “difficult” slave and has been “returned” for resale.
A mysterious man shows up and buys him. The man has tons of money, but tons of secrets as well. Who is Kai?
There begins the story of Jericho and Kai. A richly told tale that will span the known universe, pitting them against a whole chain of enemies…dragging them to the depths…but also raising them to unexpected heights. Along the way they will encounter slaves, dragons, demons, necromancy, and lots of adventure.
OK, no more spoilers. If you are a sci-fi fan, and you like long books, this one is for you. After just finishing 662 pages, I still want more. I’m so hoping that we get more of the story, especially the interaction with the dragons that was hinted at in the end of this book. I think there is a lot more story to come, and I really want to know what happens with little Julian!
I highly recommend this book. It was very well written. This is definitely an author I will be following in the future.
RATING:
BUY LINK:
I’m looking for something different to read and this sounds like a great read. I’m the opposite, I tend to go for longer reads if I can. I’ll definitely be adding this to my TBR list. Great review – the blurb most probably would not have drawn me to it by itself without that! 😀
Just finished reading ‘Eternal’ – absolutely loved it! A great mix of magic, sci-fi and Space Opera. Great fun! I really hope there’ll be more in this series!
And thanks for the review! I’d have never come across this otherwise! 😀
And it’s 01:30 in the morning too! Damn, I should really get to sleep now! I couldn’t put it down! ;’)
[…] Eternal by Marie Brown […]
Happy to know I’m not the only one who marathon read it! 🙂