The Perfect Review – The Illiri Messiah
The Illiri Messiah explodes onto the scene as the best fantasy novel in a generation. Imagine taking all the things you loved about The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Game of Thrones and combining them into an epic adventure full of intrigue, deceit, magic and mayhem.
K.W. Bunyap does just that as he delivers an epic story of an unlikely hero, Rand of the Scoth, who is forced into a quest to save the very world that despises him.
The republic known as the Realm has become the most powerful nation in all of Eilean Reul. Built upon the ruins of the long dead immortals known as the illiri, the twelve clans that make up the Realm have known peace for generations, but when the Emerald Key re-appears on the dais in the coliseum at Hearthside, it can only mean one thing: Violence and death are once more stalking the Realm.
Vanquished two thousand years ago by the illiri in a cataclysm that destroyed both sides, Dark Worshipers have returned. Followers of The Reaper, they are regaining their power, and aided for the first time by an unholy alliance with the sub-human grimm, they threaten to conquer all of Eilean Reul. Without the illiri, nothing stands between the Reaper’s followers and their ultimate victory over all of Eilean Reul. The Realm’s only hope lies in seventeen-year old Rand, the boy who’s afraid of everything.
He’s the son of Rommen of the Scoth, the Realm’s most revered knight, but the shy, scrawny Rand has inherited none of his father’s faith, courage, or military prowess. His one and only dream is to be accepted by his own village, but he’s hated and despised—at least behind his father’s back—because of his spirit-sight. Alone among all the mortal avanyar, only Rand has the ability to see the spirit world, and this curse has made him a complete outcast among his people.
There’s only one thing that might turn the villager’s hatred of Rand into respect and admiration, and that would be for him to successfully complete the Clannad and become a knight of the Realm. To be a knight, to wield a coveted Nyakil, one of the holy swords of the Realm, would change everything for Rand. It’s an impossible dream, however, because Rand has none of the traits that make a knight, and he’s done nothing even remotely brave enough to earn an invitation to compete at the Clannad, the trials of knighthood.
Rand is afraid of the dark. He watched his mother die, and with his spirit-sight, saw the Reaper and his demons come for her soul. Those images haunt his nightly dreams. Worse yet, Rand has a deep, paralyzing fear of death. Watching his mother suffer, her soul cast into the undying fire, while Rand was powerless to save her, has caused him to fear death above all else. The only way for him to avoid the Reaper’s tortures in the after-life is for Rand to discover the ancient illiri’s secret of immortality, and his quest for that knowledge consumes him.
When fate in the form of a nymph queen hangs an Amethyst Key around his neck, designating Rand as a Keystone, he immediately becomes targeted for death by Dark Worshipers. The twelve clans of the Realm worship Aradun, the Creator of light and of life, and believe that one day His son, Inaradun the Messiah, will be freed from the Well of Souls to cast the Reaper and his minions into the outer darkness, forever. Dark Worshipers are followers of an ancient and deadly cult who believe the Reaper is the master of all life, and Inaradun is the demon king. They believe if the Well of Souls is unlocked and the Inaradun is freed, he will destroy all of Eilean Reul. Dark Worshipers are sworn to kill any and all Keystones to prevent an attempt by an alliance of the Creator’s five races to unlock the Well of Souls.
Rand knows the illiri are no more, and without them it’s impossible for a Keystone alliance to form. Yet, Dark Worshipers are still trying to kill him. Why? He has no answers. He does not even know which of the five keys he possesses, and he has no idea how to get rid of it. Rand is sure of only one thing: The Amethyst Key was never meant for him, and getting rid of it is his only chance for survival. However, the nymph queen told Rand that the Key is bound to him until death, so gaining immortality seems to be his only hope. Does possessing the Key have something to do with Rand having the spirit-sight? Will that cursed skill prove to be an aid, or will it hasten his demise?
The Emerald and the Amethyst Keys are now in play, and the Dark Worshipers are converging on the Keystones. Will the other three Keys appear? Can the alliance be formed without the illiri? Will Rand find the courage to dare the impossible and try to unlock the Wells of Souls? Will Eilean Reul finally be freed from the horrors of the Reaper, or will she suffer the fate the illiri died to prevent, so many years ago? And the biggest question of all? Will Rand live long enough to find the answers he seeks?
K.W. Bunyap makes the world of Eilean Reul come alive in a breathtaking display of scenery and characters that leap off the page and into your heart. Rand’s journey to find friendship, to find answers, and to find the courage to overcome impossible odds will leave you gasping for breath as the stakes grow higher and higher and the chance for success grows darker and darker.
The quest for a sword, the search for immortality, and discovering the gift of strength within are just a few of the themes that make this book a treasure for the generations. With a gripping climax and the twist at the end that stays with you long after you turn the last page, you’ll want to start reading it all over as soon as it’s finished. It’s simply that grand!
Well done, Mr. Bunyap. You give us hope that even the most insignificant of us can conquer our fears if we dare to dream.