Posted on  21/08/2024 12:37:39

My rating: 5 dark and heartbreaking stars

If you're looking for a light and fluffy, easy to read romantic fantasy, don't waste your time with either this review or this book. This won't be for you.

Sufferborn is NOT your typical cookie cutter fantasy romance. It is a sprawling epic fantasy for deep thinkers. And it is really dark. The hair-stand-on-end enough to break a heart kind of dark! That is what the author herself is trying to show with that cover. Her own work. Gorgeous and dark, just like the tale.
Fan Art by The Magic Book Corner

Making use of all the typical high fantasy themes, J.C. Hartcarver gives us here a classic good versus evil battle, with an absolutely despicable antagonist and a clearly outmatched protagonist. And yet, she manages to stand out with something unique and downright impressive.

At heart, Sufferborn is a love story. The story of Dorhen and Kalea.

Dorhen Sufferborn, the elf on the cover, is said to have been doomed to a short existence full of suffering by his very name. His mother wouldn't be dissuaded from it, despite being told it is the forbidden name. Because she'd never been so sure about anything in her whole life. 'It's like he told me his name. It's my duty to say it aloud.'
Dorhen... The Stranger. The one who brings bad luck to his clan is born and named according to the elven tradition but is forced to walk outside it by tragedy - as expected from one with his cursed name.

Fan Art by The Magic Book Corner

For years, Dorhen walked a path designed for him by Arius Medallus - a mysterious magic creature. He lived his life walking, drifting through forests and cities and farms. Unseen and unheard, according to his master's wish. He fell easily into the routine and lost his soul.
Until he met Kalea. A gentle and beautiful young girl who saved his life when he got caught stealing.
Kalea makes Dorhen resist his master order to keep walking and for her, he stays back. He shadows her every move and slowly gets closer, with a stubborn desire to care for her and protect her.
Fan Art by The Magic Book Corner

Kalea had lived almost her entire life at a convent, looking forward to a long peaceful life of prayer and study. That was the only proper path for a mentally ill girl like her. Or so she had been told. She is about to take her vow of chastity, and although consorting with any male is forbidden, Kalea can’t resist her fascination with his beautiful eyes and sweet, gentle nature. Especially since Dorhen always shows up to protect her whenever she is threatened.
Slowly, feelings blossom between the two and Kalea is caught into an inner struggle between her already set path of becoming a Vestal and the new temptation of a life as a laywoman, outside the convent walls. A life at Dorhen's side.
Fan Art by The Magic Book Corner

But dark forces are stirring in the world and a sinister plot starts to unfold in Kalea's home region, and she is forced to make a choice.
Danger slithers right into her safe little convent in the forest, bringing Dorhen’s ominous past with it. Sorcerers raid the convent and kidnap the other novices. While Kalea manages to escape with Dorhen’s help, he vanishes in the aftermath of the attack. Choosing the love for her elf over that for the Creator, Kalea sets out on a perilous journey to get him back and save her sisters in the process.
Across a land rife with magic and festering with an unknown evil… an evil that threatens to destroy all Kalea holds dear.

As I said, this is the tale at heart. But there is so much more beside it!

The world created by J.C Hartcarver here is impressively intricate and beautifully detailed.

Take sorcery for example:
Sorcery was for the literate. It worked by contacting demons or pixies and satisfying their demands in return for their aid. And it's use could rot the user, both inside and out.

The Elven culture is downright fascinating. With females faerhain being revered and males saehgahn considering themselves born to serve and protect them. Outstandingly written. I loved the little details and descriptions of customs and behavior.

And then we have the faith and divination - with pixies and demons worshiped on one side, and The One Creator or The Bright One on the other. Nicely structured and absolutely intriguing. I still didn't get the full picture of the system by now but I'm patiently waiting for more clues in the sequel.

Speaking of which, I have got to stop here and applaud the author for the skill with which she left little clues all over the story for the reader to pick up and follow. If you pay attention and don't skip and skim, the thread you need to pick up is bright and shining, despite the initially overwhelming impression.

Sufferborn is one of those books that will stick with you long after turning the last page. Because of not one but many things.

The tale itself is one of the most imaginative I have ever read and its end - which is supposed to be only the beginning - hints at an addictive sequel.

The characters will slowly get under your skin and make you practically live the story through them. Yes. For me J.C. Hartcarver pulled that off like a charm! My heart broke for Dorhen and I wanted to alternately slap and hug Kalea.
Complex and masterfully written characters are a strong point for this author who doesn't forget the complementary cast either. From Elven granfathers to young saehgahn and mad princes, from little Elven girls to human swordsmen and apprentices, they are all complex and wonderfully written down to the little details like flowers added to a braid or gruff but gentle gestures done for the sake of a child left behind.

The feeling - pain, sorrow, heartache, despair - this author makes you feel it all, through her characters. She really pulled it off for me. She gives you anguish enough to wring a heart through a beautiful show not tell.

And then the food for thought. What is going on and why? Who does what and why? You must pay attention and piece it all together.
Masterfully entwined with that fine line in between good and evil. Just as all other great high fantasies out there, Sufferborn also presents a deep concern with moral issues.
From how one decides who will have the last 3 bowls of food in a time of famine, to the inner conflict of a future Vestal meditating on impure thoughts; as well as that threshold one needs to cross to turn into a monster when sacrificing someone dear for the sake of another.
Is the purpose worth the sacrifice, would you agree with the reasons for which it has been made? Faith or Fate? Worthy sacrifice or despicable murder? And much more.