I'm reminded of Arlington Road with this one. When you're left with the question of if a story doesn't come out the way you expect or want, is it a bad story?

No.

That said, there are a few moments where it comes very close to deus ex machina but the story runs deep and is perhaps a bit darker than many would like simply because it casts images that are all too familiar to us. Needless to say, when we see ourselves in bad things, it can make us a little uncomfortable.

But there is a definite style and precise technique to the windings here. The severe changes to the MC are fully explained and it is easy to see how she comes to her perspective.

The ending is tremendous, smacking the MC, and the reader in the face.

3.75 out of 5

A brief novel - can be read in one sitting - of lust for power and the corruption of ambition. The protagonist, a powerful warrior queen, aims to conquer the known world in order to make life better for everyone - at least, as she sees it. Her idealism, however, turns to megalomania and ruthlessness, as with so many such individuals in literature and in life. It's not a compelling plot; there are no twists, but there are interesting exchanges between the characters about ambition and conscience. There's not much depth to the characters but the world Schvartzmann creates is entertaining enough to keep the reader interested for the short time it takes to read the novel.

You could almost title this novel, "Hell is Paved with Good Intentions" - but at what point do those good intentions change the character of the person who started with those good intentions? Minor spoiler alert from here on - we watch the life journey of a great conqueror, from well-meaning teenager to the end, and watch how she changes as she faces one overwhelming situation after another. It reminded me of the final season of "Game of Thrones" - except that we see a much more realistic and gradual change instead of the problematic one from "Thrones."

This was a good book. The trajectory of Eridani's development from idealism to despot is an old story, yet we see the same thing today in leaders of the world. It plays out the same way. Greed for power is rationalized for horrendous actions. While the story was good, I never few to like Eridani, even when she was young. While there was a sorcerer, there was little magic that fantasy lovers crave. Just want to give you a heads-up about that. Still, worthwhile read.

Eridani’s Crown is a stand-alone fantasy novel by Alex Shvartsman. I received this book as an advance copy to help with proofreading, as I’ve known Alex for a few years through a local critique group. Alex was able to bring this book to publication through the help of Kickstarter.

Eridani and her brother Danchu are the crown prince and princess of Kozhad, a small city-state in the continent known as The Heart. At the beginning of the story, they are studying in Skond, a larger neighboring kindgom. When their home is overthrown and their parents are murdered, the two siblings are forced to flee and manage to stay barely ahead of their pursuit. After betrayal leads to Danchu’s murder, Eridani swears revenge against those who took her homeland.

When further events bring Eridani’s quest to a halt, she seeks the aid of a sorceress. As in much of fantasy, magical assistance has a high price, but at the time, Eridani doesn’t worry much about that. She plunges forward and leads her people to a series of victories.

Eridani is faced with a series of tough decisions that bring her goals into conflict with her loyalties. I can’t write anything more detailed about the plot without giving too much away at this point. She faces a prophecy brought on by her dealings in magic, but refuses to treat it as a serious consequence.

The events that unfold later become more unsettling. Eridani comes to learn what price she has paid for her power, and how the prophecy has affected her. While this story appears to be a more traditional fantasy tale in the opening sections, it turns into more of a character study as it progresses toward a bleak ending.

I prefer more upbeat stories in general, but the author does a good job in convincingly portraying the changes that occur with Eridani. I found myself rooting for her to win, but then even when I didn’t agree with her decisions, I still sympathized with her until nearly the end. This book will likely appeal to those who prefer a more grim take on traditional fantasy.

There is a lot to love about this book. Alex crafted a massive world and populated it with diverse cultures, economies, magics, warriors, and more. He nails the little things (the complex chess-analog game, one man's love of fine brandy and the not-so-subtle snobbishness when he drinks a vintage not from his homeland, and much much more). Individual set pieces range from interesting to spectacular, and the overall story arc (Breaking Bad meets Game of Thrones, as he put it in the kickstarter) is fascinating.

Additionally, the story has a momentum, and the book improves significantly so that the second half is far better than the first.

On the other hand, I felt that the relative shortness of the book worked against the world. The story spans decades, and the individual scenes at times feel disjointed (I think as a result of an intention of keeping the story from sprawling). Given another 50-100k words both some of the connective tissue could have been fleshed out as well as some seeds could have been planted in the first act so that when they sprouted in Acts 2 and 3, they fired in a more satisfying manner (Speaking obliquely, I found some of the magic systems and weapons of the third act to feel like they came a bit out of left field)

The story focuses around a young princess who must take back what has been taken from her and her family. The story has good pacing and interesting world politics with likeable characters and good pacing. It does hit on a few of the tropes, but that works well here. Shvartsman paces the story well and there's none of the lull this genre sometimes falls into. A really enjoyable read

Strong characters and some really cunning twists this tale spans the legendary life of Eridani the Great a woman of vast impact upon the lands of the Heart.

Very few achieve the epithet "the great" without making some omelettes and that is as much as I want to be spoilery.

I really enjoyed the novel and the world is really neat with subtle magic that lives in that sort of land that WoD's Mage would call coincidental magic usually.

I backed the kickstarter and would love to read more in the setting.

The Eridani of the title is a princess whose parents have been murdered by the evil Patriarch and the book is about her quest for revenge. While this is a standard theme in fantasy, this is one of the better examples of the genre – the over-arching theme is how power corrupts and “you may get what you want but the price may be too high” and it’s certainly not one where everyone lives happily ever after. If you like your fantasy with a bit of moral ambiguity (and an excellent last couple of chapters which round everything off very nicely) it’s worth a read.