Moving along with my SPFBO books – it’s time for the longest of my slushy pile!
Fourteen-year-old Sid Sol knows nothing about his origins but believes himself destined for better things than living in an isolated cabin with a giant and a girl whose strange appearance causes the locals to shun them. His fellow orphan, sixteen-year-old Lingli Tabaan, only wants a home where she will be safe from those convinced she’s from the otherworld.
In this coming-of-age story of secret origins, friendship, and betrayal, the arrival of a mysterious woman provides Sid with the chance to claim a more glorious future, but his departure doesn’t go smoothly, and star-cursed Lingli is forced to undertake a journey she never wanted after their guardian is brutally murdered.
Sid and Lingli meet again in the realm of Saatkulom where they serve a mercurial maharani who will risk it all to secure a new alliance while fighting her own inner demons. One teenager’s fortunes rise while the other’s fall. Will their loyalty to one another survive?
This is the story of Sid Sol and his foster sister Lingli Tabaan. They are both orphans who live in the woods with their guardian, Red, who is one of the last giants in the land.
One day, the leader of the Seven noble houses, the Maharani of the land passes by looking for recruits for her army, and Sid, who has always thought that he was meant for better things than the simple life he lives, joins her immediately. He leaves Lingli behind, and both her and Red get attacked by the local villagers, who think that Lingli, who is more or less an albino, is an Asura – a demon. When Red is fatally injured, Lingli follows the group to Saatkulom, the land where the Seven live, and the Rani leads them… and from there, shenanigans ensue.
I enjoyed my time with The Stonebound Heir. I thought it was well written and the story was interesting. I guessed some of the bigger twists early on, but I found that it didn’t detract too much from my overall enjoyment of the book. While I thought Sid and Lingli grew as characters as the story continued, you really got to see some of the side characters change and grow, or show their true colors, which was awesome.
I thought that because the story was so long that it was going to drag, but I ended up reading the entire thing in about four sittings. The story seemed to be influenced by Indian mythology and folklore, which I thought was interesting, and something that you don’t often see in Western fantasy (thankfully, more these days than in times past).
There seemed to be a bit of a celestial event that ties into the story somewhat, and I think that is a very interesting element in this world, where the people have a more simplistic idea of the universe outside their own planet. I am interested in reading the next book in the series to see how that ties into the story after the events of this first book.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with The Stonebound Heir. I would give it a 8/10 stars for the SPFBO.
superstardrifter 
Leave a comment