As a plague ravages the land, King Dietrich, and his Queen are dying and the castle they live in is about to come under attack by powerful enemies. As the castle secures itself, his daughter, Tacia, and her lover, Nelpus, arrive to help bolster the army. However, the royal line has magical power and from the dreams Dietrich has, it seems that Tacia is responsible from the plague, but still intends to serve as best she can. Arrayed against them, is Zabal the Gargoyle, cursed to be more creature than man, and Lopine the Wizard who has his own magical abilities. When they attack the castle, Zabal cuts a swathe through the defenders, only stopped when Dietrich is able to rouse himself and drive him from the castle. But Dietrich pays the highest price for his efforts, leaving the castle without it’s mightiest defender and the troops outside the castle ready to attack again. This leaves Tacia the tough decision to either leave the castle and run as her father wished or stay and fight knowing there would be no escape.

This is a fantasy novel in the God Conqueror series, although it does not appear to be linked to any of the other books. The main plot is fairly simplistic, but it falls short on giving background or explaining why the characters act they way they do. It gives hints that this is part of a larger event going on, but no impression of what is happening outside the walls of the castle. There is also little to give any idea of what this magic is or where it comes from. The writing and descriptions vary from the poor to the enjoyable and it feels that a little more editing could have helped. There are a few assumptions and jumps through the narrative that could have been cleared up. However, the battle scenes are well written, and come across with the heft and feel of combat between the fighters. The characters show a little more nuance than might be expected and are not all black and white, but without some explanation or background, relating to them becomes difficult. There are also several characters who are named and then promptly disposed of, leading you to wonder why they were named in the first place. A set of profiles at the back of the book does go some way to giving some more information. Spelling and grammar were fine and I didn’t see anything glaring that took me out of the book. Unfortunately, the front cover appears horribly squashed on my reader and there are a couple of extra logos which seem oddly out of place.

Overall, this is an average fantasy story with some good points, but a lack of world building and variable writing style, which needs a lot more polish, doesn’t help. This is for someone looking for a new fantasy book or perhaps to see the authors style.