A Touch of Light
The worthy are immortal. To die is a sin. But in a tide of madness and ruin, life is a fragile thing.
Lynn, a rogue griffin rider, has uncovered a deadly madness that threatens to destroy the Domain. She can’t escape this enemy, but to fight it, Lynn must risk being found and branded a traitor by her old order.
Prince Adrian has never been pious or on good terms with his father. After losing those closest to him, however, he must either work with the king or convince the Church to deem his loved ones worthy if they are to have a chance at resurrection.
In the clanlands, where death is considered a necessity, Nasha fights to prove she belongs. A cursed hunter and a lifelong outcast, she has always struggled. But when the land itself begins to wither away, Nasha might be the only answer.-Goodreads
Title: A Touch of Light
Series: The Ashes of Avarin #1
Author: Thiago Abdalla
Page Count: 454
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.75/5.0
Date Read: November 28th, 2022
Opening
A Touch of Light by Thiago Abdalla has been on my radar for a few months as I began to hear some rumbling of it around the online book community. I have now been through this epic adventure twice. The initial read through was a visual read of the book a couple of months back. For some reason I failed to type of a review even after thoroughly enjoying it. I have since added an audio listen just last month and I am making myself sit down to try express my thoughts on this book.
I've come to find I rather enjoy have a couple different story and character arcs within the same book. I don't think this was always the case for me, but have rather grown into it. Of the three in this book I think both my initial and second time through, Lynn's is still my favorite. That's not to take anything away from the other two because all three were very interesting and entertaining. I just felt like I connected to her story a bit more.
This world has some political intrigue, some unique magic or religion and plenty of action which can relate to either some sneaky suspenseful moments or out right fighting and battles.
Pacing
Pacing of A Touch of Light is very smooth. Thiago has a very easy to read and follow writing style. In both versions I found myself losing track of time just enjoying the story and then realizing I had spent more time in the world of Avarin than I had either expected or intended to for that session.
World Building
I think the world building might have been the strongest of these three categories that I usually discuss. Thiago does an excellent job in describing the environments and geographical areas the story takes place. But we also have several very different cultures introduced throughout book one. An example is even within Nasha's arc there are multiple cultures that she is stuck between. So fare Avarin is a very intriguing world that I can't wait to explore further.
Character Development
Character development can always get tricky when trying to introduce and follow more than one or two protagonists but again Thiago has done this well in book one of The Ashes of Avarin. We start very small with our three story arcs but steadily get to know more and more about them. This might be why I connected with Lynn so early on over the other two as we quickly find out there is much more to her then we initially thought. Both Nasha and Adrian have that potential two as this book progressed but I have a feeling we are going to learn more about them in future writings.
Closing
As far as my recommendations go, I'd simply recommend this to any fan of epic fantasies. It's well worth the time to dive into this world, explore and meet these characters!
Scoring
Pacing 4.5 / 5.0
Worldbuilding 5.0 / 5.0
Character Development 4.5 / 5.0
