Posted on  20/08/2024 14:19:28

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Don't think. Don't wonder. Just go. Just do. What comes, comes, and you will survive it or not.

I read Song of the Beast by Carol Berg a while back and fell in love! So I decided to give more of her books a try, starting with Transformation. I wasn't disappointed!

If you are holding back from reading it because of the cover, please don't! The cover may be cheesy and quite a bit ridiculous, but the book is fabulous!!

The plot is deceptively simple. Deceptively being the key word here, because this is one of those authors who will make you sure of what's coming and give you the exact opposite in return. So don't bet you'll guess how it will all unfold, unless you're not fond of your money.

Before we begin please take note, that this book is not a romance. You won't find any bromance either in between its pages. What you will find however is, one of the most intricate and profound human relationships that were ever written.

Seyonne has been a slave for sixteen years and has lost everything of meaning to him: his dignity, the people and homeland he loves, even the power he once wielded as a Warden of souls to defend an unsuspecting world from the ravages of demons.
He has made peace with his fate and with strict self-discipline, he forces himself to exist only in the present moment and to avoid the pain of hope or caring.

Through Seyonne, you will get to experience the very worst of slavery.

Pinterest - Slave (5e Background) - D&D Wiki

Through him, you will get to witness, and perhaps even feel, the degradation of being paraded unclothed before strangers; the humiliation as those strangers touched and probed and joked of things they had no right to; the torment of the Rites of Balthar - an unimaginably cruel ritual to strip an Ezzarian of his power; as well as the pain that comes with the destruction of faith, hope, ideals and honor.

Through a first person narrative that reaches straight into your soul, you will get to know Seyonne's greatest fears:
Every moment of my existence carries such a burden of terror you could not imagine it. I fear I have no soul, I fear there are no gods. I fear there is no meaning to the pain I have known. I fear I have lost the capacity to love another human being, or ever to see goodness in one.

As well as his means of survival:
We can always bear more than we believe possible.... Don't think. Don't wonder. Just go. Just do. What comes, comes, and you will survive it or not.
Because in an existence such as his, there's little room left for the fear of dying; and absolutely no room left for hope.

After spending almost half his life in chains, Seyonne must now bend his knee to a Derzhi Prince, heir to the empire that wiped out his people and destroyed his life.

Prince Aleksander! This is how he would look to me:

Pinterest - character art in 2019

Lean, tall, handsome and sexy as hell... and an absolute bonafide SOB!!

It was astounding how proficiently Aleksander could destroy a friend, insult a reputable merchant, and cheat an influential baron in a short five minutes.
And this is just a hint of what our lovely hero can do!

He would remorselessly punch and kick a defenseless slave to an inch of his death, just because of a foul mood; or he will destroy the life of a free man, just because he was bored. He is a pampered overindulged prissy prick, that I really would have liked to see roasted on a spit from the very first chapters!!

And here is where our tale starts to unfold. Seyonne will have to make a choice. Because there are demons lurking in the Derzhi castle and no one but him is aware of the danger.

His Warden’s oath, for so long forgotten in the ruin that was his soul, just another scrap in the rubble of honor and dignity, love and friendship and purpose, his last principle and core of his existence, urges Seyonne to raise his voice in warning. But will he be able to ignore his years of subservience, put his hatred aside and actually help the selfish spiteful prince who holds the end of his chain?
If he does, he will risk his life, but it may save his soul!

True to its title, this book tell us a tale of transformation. Of not one, but two souls! Polar opposites, these two characters, and one in particular, will slowly and very very subtly transform. In bearing, thought and deed! And the shift will be so masterfully done that you will find yourself suddenly wondering how that really came to happen.

I've got to hand it to Mrs. Berg - the way she wrote Aleksander is a brilliant stroke of genius! KUDOS for the only character I have ever both hated and then rooted for! You cannot help but admire her craft in writing him!!

If you love dark and gritty epic fantasy that tends to be a little high at times and if you look for books that make you feel, you have got to give this a try!!

You might just end up loving it quite as much as I did!
Happy reading! :)

Check out this book and more of Carol Berg on www.carolberg.com