In a quest to find out about his past and his curse, Never (yes, that is his name), allows himself to be captured by the guards of Lord Firmita, who is rumoured to have the artefact Never is looking for. When Lord Firmita has no use for him and Never is thrown into the cells, he is rescued by the Lord’s daughter, Julesa. She wants Never to protect her father’s antiquities that are being transferred in three days time by a clandestine operation. Once freed, Never makes his way to an old friend, Vento, who runs an one of the local establishments and his connections to the seedier side of the neighbourhood. Never also surmises that he is being set up as the scapegoat for when the attack comes, and yet with an opportunity to gain access to what he is looking for, he makes his own plans to handle the raid.

This is the short prequel to the fantasy series and it does an excellent job of setting up the characters and world without giving too much away. The story moves along quickly as we do not spend much time on the characters trying to fill in all the background but let us see them as they act. The characters are no fools in this story and do act with a respectful level of intelligence in carrying out their schemes through the story. Never is the only main character given any time and it is interesting to listen to his thoughts on the situation, see him working matters out and his reactions to other characters. The fact it also dwells on the present gives it an air of mystery as to what else is going on. The minor characters fit around Never and little time is spent on them although it does feel that some of them will become more important in future stories, in which case it would have been helpful for them to be a little more fleshed out and more reason given for their interactions. That aside, the writing is deliciously descriptive, easy to read and it became a page turner once the initial action had finished and I wanted to see what happened next. Whether it is breaking into somewhere or just an easy chat between friends, there is consistent pace and push with enough twists to keep the reader waiting for the next part.

If you were expecting to find out everything about Never, his situation and the nature of his curse in one easy short story, then this will not be for you. Personally, I enjoyed that there were only glimpses of these and certainly gives me an impetus to check out the full series. I have no complaint about the formatting and editing of the book, it was easy to read and neatly laid out, with notes and acknowledgements at the end for those wanting to read more.

Overall, I certainly enjoyed reading this, enough to look up the main series and see if it maintains the quality this book has shown.