I received a copy from the author. All opinions are my own.
Innkeep, hunter, blacksmith, nurse—Horace has apprenticed for every clan in the domed city of Trenaze, and they've all rejected em. Too hare-brained. Too talkative. Too slow. Ever the optimist, e has joined Trenaze's guards to be mentored. Horace has high hopes to earn eir place during eir trial at the Great Market. That is, until the glowing shards haunting the world break through the city's protective dome, fused together in a single, monstrous amalgam of Fragments.
Armed with a sword, a shield, and far too little training, Horace doubts eir ability to defend the market-goers. But eir last stand is interrupted by a mysterious elven figure who can dissipate the Fragments with a single, strange sentence: your story is my story.
From the moment it is uttered, Horace knows the sentences holds true for em, too—and when the elf collapses in the middle of the market, e carries them to safety, to recover away from the panicked crowd and inevitable questions from eir fellow guards. It could cost em eir apprenticeship—eir last chance to find eir place in eir home city—but Horace cannot resist the pull of this mystery elf and the call of a new friend.
Aliyah has but one desire: to leave Trenaze's safe boundaries and find the forest that haunts their dreams. After an afternoon of board games in their quiet, sharp-witted company, Horace is ready to follow, confronting Fragments and other dangers of the road to understand what happened that day, hear Aliyah's laugh again and finally feel like e belongs.
Awakenings is the first book in Claudie Arseneault's new series, The Chronicles of Nerezia, a series of novellas following a small party of adventurers as they try to uncover the secrets of the world and themselves. This is the first book, where the group meets.
The setting and tone is an interesting mix of both epic fantasy and more lighthearted fantasy. The stakes are relatively high, the characters do find themselves in mortal danger, but because of how the book and series as a whole is set up, there is a lot of time for slower, less intense, character driven moments, making it feel more lighthearted at times. From a world-building perspective, I also loved how the city of Trenaze was set up, not only with the physical lay out, but the family/clan structures described.
Of the three characters introduced, Horace is probably my favorite. E has never successfully completed an apprenticeship, which means e is not part of a clan officially and is not recognized as an adult in the eyes of the city. Despite this, e still has a deep curiosity of the world and of others. It's refreshing to experience a fantasy world through the perspective of someone with that much curiosity and compassion.
And as with any Arseneault novel, the setting is queernorm and the characters are very much queer (specifically, aroace)!
As this is a novella, I'll be ending my review there to avoid spoilers. It was a solid start to the series, and while there were moments I was left wanting, I enjoyed it! I rated it 3.75 stars.
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