Book Review: Full-Blood Half-Breed

Full-Blood Half-Breed by Cleve Lamison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Publication Date: March 11, 2014
Source: Netgalley

 It’s been two thousand years since the bastard spawn of the god Creador lost their war to enslave humankind, transforming the Thirteen Kingdoms into a violent world where the martial arts are exalted as sacred gifts from the gods—and honor is won through arena blood sport.

Paladin Del Darkdragón, a sixteen-year-old warrior-in-training, is a “half-breed.” His battle against pure-blood bullies like Fox the Runt has forced him to master the four fighting forms. But when he blends them, he is condemned as a heretic by authorities and banished from the training temples. Seeking redemption, he enrolls in the arena games, savage trials that end in death.

This year’s games mask an old plot driven by a new prophet. With a horde of Creador’s Bastards and an army of fanatics led by Fox the Runt at his command, the Prophet will bend the world to his will or burn it to ash.

Paladin faces an impossible choice: redeem his honor in a fight he can’t hope to survive, or abandon his loved ones to perish in the sweeping holy war consuming the Kingdoms.

There were a lot of good things in this book. It was different, not really at all like a lot of other fantasy. The pacing was a bit uneven. Some parts seemed really exciting, and I had a hard time putting it down. But then other times the story seemed to almost come to a screeching halt, and I got quite bored.

I wish the story had been longer. It seems like as soon as things really got going, the story ended. It seemed pretty obvious there will be more books, but I like it when authors do a little better job of finding a good stopping point. This was definitely not the worst I've read in that respect, but could have been better.

Maybe it's just my weariness of series that is coloring my view here. There are just so many of them, and by the time the next books come out, I've forgotten what happened previously, and there is no way I have time for constant re-reads.

Anyway, this was pretty good, and I would recommend it to certain readers, but I don't think all fantasy readers will love it.