A powerful character-driven fantasy about guilt, survival, and the crushing weight of legacy.
A fugitive confronts the truth about his legacy and the heavy price of survival in Daily’s second installment in the Chronicles of the Lawbreaker series. After the High King is murdered and Ambrose the Prophet dies, Lauren is blamed for both deaths—and burdened with the Lawbreaker’s ring, a legacy he never wanted. Trying to hide his true identity, he moves from town to town in the Federation, but safety remains elusive. The story kicks into high gear as Lauren flees into lands he once thought were only myths, carrying not only the ring but the devastating belief that his mentor died thinking him evil. Daily frames the narrative through a layered use of memory and present-day reflection. This framing device gives the novel a sense of gravitas and tragic inevitability.
Lauren is one of Daily’s greatest achievements: vulnerable without ever becoming weak, capable without ever being infallible. His struggles with identity, his fierce loyalty, and his bone-deep loneliness make him compelling. Steafán and Ottilie and others are equally compelling. The ring and the sword themselves—the talismans of legacy and power—carry layered symbolism. They signify not just authority, but burden. They are objects Lauren never truly chose to inherit, but which he must carry nonetheless, mirroring the way personal guilt and responsibility can be foisted upon a person without their consent. His relationship to these objects encapsulates the novel’s most powerful question: Can a man carry a legacy he never asked for without losing himself?
An intense and rewarding story about the cost of carrying a destiny you never asked for.
Pub date November 27, 2024
ISBN 979-8991387927
Price $11.99 (USD) Paperback, $3.99 Kindle edition
