Book Review-The Oathbreaker's Shadow by Amy McCulloch

Title:  The Oathbreaker's Shadow

 Author: Amy McCulloch

Series:  The Knots Sequence #1

Published:  6 June 2013 by Random House

Length: 413 pages

Source: Publisher

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Raim lives in a world where you tie a knot for every promise that you make. Break that promise and you are scarred for life, and cast out into the desert.

Raim has worn a simple knot around his wrist for as long as he can remember. No one knows where it came from, and which promise of his it symbolises, but he barely thinks about it at all—not since becoming the most promising young fighter ever to train for the elite Yun guard. But on the most important day of his life, when he binds his life to his best friend (and future king) Khareh, the string bursts into flames and sears a dark mark into his skin.
Scarred now as an oath-breaker, Raim has two options: run, or be killed.

Review:  In Dahran, promises are big things. When you make one, you make a knot, and the promise is sealed with magic. Breaking the promise means enduring scarring, becoming an outcast, and being haunted  by a shadow of the person they broke the promise to. Our main character Raim is best friend of the future  Khan, and has just passed his final test to become a Yun, esteemed warrior and protector of the Kahn, and has taken his vows. But this breaks a promise that Raim has worn all his life, despite his not knowing what  it was for nor if was an actual promise.  Thrown out of society, Raim tracells across the desert to find out what his promise was for and how to clear his name, which hleads to him fining out even more.

I found out about this by lots of people talking about it. the premise of promises being binding like this intrigued me, and I was very excited to receive this for review.

I was instantly transported to the desert lands of Darhan. The setting is fully vivid, easily imaginable, and rich. The other settings, ie the cities, were just was well described, and I could really see this setting existing. The action comes to life with the same ease.

I really like Raim. He’s really loyal to everyone he can be, such as Khareh his friend, Darma his sister, Wadi the girl in the desert, and so on. He tries hard to do what  he thinks is right, and is a strong character in many senses of the word. The rest of the characters are also fully developed, really interesting, and generally awesome, especially Wadi and Old-maa.

The plot is a little predictable at times, but the twists and turns and the fact that you just don’t want to stop reading makes up for it.

Overall:  Strength 4.5 tea, more a 5, to a fantasy adventure with one of the best, richly imagined settings I’ve seen in a long time.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |