Rating: 4.5 Stars

Publisher: Self Published

Tags: High Fantasy, Dark, Morally Ambiguous Characters, Interspecies Same-Sex Romance. **TW Attempted sexual assault. Violence 

Length: 312 Pages

Reviewer: Kazza

Purchase At: amazon

Blurb:

Skilled archer Ryurikov enjoys an unfettered life of thieving and debauchery. He wasn’t expecting to die at the hands of a witch while trying to steal from her. Neither did he expect to be revived by spirits with morally stringent demands. Or to be followed by a demon, hungry for his dreams. Luckily, Ryurikov has plenty of good dreams to trade in exchange for the demon’s help. He also possesses a wealth of denial about his past, his growing feelings for the demon, and the creatures slowly burning kingdoms to ashes. Too bad for Ryurikov, since he has no choice but to face all three.

Review:

This is not an easy book to review. To do so in any real depth would be to spoil it, plus I’m not sure it would make a lot of sense. That said, it’s one fascinating journey. There is an ensemble of characters from Ryurikov, to his love interest, AWIMAK, Jezibaba, their hag, Valka, a sister, Vasili, the Keeper, the Quinary, Mauvella, and other assorted side characters and beings, like the Candescent, or Skin Crawlers. Everywhere, every town, there is something more to discover. There is destruction or there is survival.

The love interest is between a ‘fantasy human’ and a demon. I say ‘fantasy human’ as there is some magic around Ruri. This whole world is magical. Apart from the fact he dies a few times and keeps getting bought back, and it appears he can summon. And AWIMAK is his being. His demon. Ahhh, AWIMAK. He is incredibly tall with a massive trunk-like body. He has a face of a patterned skull, and he has horns, hooves, fur, and eyes that fire up like the sun, yet he is cold. That cover art is AWIMAK and the cloaked figure is Ruri. It’s a beautiful cover. All AWIMAK’S dialogue is in italicised CAPITALS with no quotation marks. Hence why I’m capitalising his name. He calms Ryurikov and Ruri calms him. Most beings can’t see him so it seems as though Ruri is talking to himself when they’re near people. Jezibaba knows AWIMAK is there but she’s an old and powerful witch, or hag as they are predominantly referred to throughout the book.

On more than one occasion, when Ruri is, uh, resurrected, the demon Quinary tell him he’s to make amends. He has to look after the poor and downtrodden. He can take from the wealthy and give to the less fortunate. Ruri uses any means to take from the rich, he’s morally ambiguous, the Quinary are demons, so you know, semantics on a theme.

A rush of blood pooled the earth when Ryurikov yanked free the blade. The man gurgled, throat clicking in his failure to swallow. Mood now soured, Ryurikov marched back to the carriage, the woman within still screaming loud enough for it to score his ears. Fuck. This was not how he wanted it to go.
“Valuables,” he barked.

“I like the way you murder,” he said, affectionately.
ONLY FOR YOU, MY DRURY.
“I’m sure you say that to everyone you court.” All the same, he couldn’t help the smile.

This story has several arcs. One is Ruri trying to find his sister, Valka. He thinks Jezibaba’s Mirror of the Lost is the way to find her. His intentions are good but the mirror knows what it knows.

His mind wandered to the Mirror of the Lost, how all he’d seen was himself. Inwardly, he scoffed. He wasn’t lost, but his sister was. He hadn’t seen Valka in so long, having parted ways thirteen years ago.

Another is a redemption arc for Ruri. At first the Quinary force his hand. Then there’s beings, human or no, that make up or embellish stories. Who to believe, what to believe. Robin Hood. The pied piper. Hansel and Gretel – there is fable knitted into the fabric of the story and its characters. Ruri learns that there are numerous and varied rumours doing the rounds about him wherever he goes. Just like Jezibaba doesn’t like being labelled by him as a stealer and eater of children, he doesn’t like all these things people say about him. There are nuanced lessons throughout Coil of Boughs, and these lessons, while not always, are mostly for Ruri. Then there’s finding home after the fallen Thuidal Kingdom leaves Ruri without a sense of state. And, of course, there is the usual but also quite unusual romance the MCs have.

Humour forms a part of this book as well, sometimes it’s dark, mostly it’s quite subtle, or irreverent which, as an Aussie, I can appreciate.

“You’ve given us too much, sir. I know–I know what they do in the city for that kind of coin. I can do it. I won’t let my sister do it, she’s too young.”
“If you keep going, I’m throwing this child at you.”

Mostly, this story progresses in a linear fashion but there is a flashback section where we (effectively) get Ruri’s Family of Origin. It helps you to understand his swings from entitled to shame-based, then round again. Why he struggles with allowing any internal space for emotions. Psychologically, it’s pretty sound. It’s interesting, because the huge, terrene AWIMAK is this amazing sounding board for Ruri. He’s full of living in the present sayings, and Ruri’s biggest cheerleader, and sometimes a part of me was inclined to ask, ‘why?’ Apart from the dreams he harvests from Ruri, what was it? But there is no denying their growing connection. AWIMAK knows pretty quickly in the piece that Ruri is his. Ruri takes a while. He’s stubborn about allowing vulnerability. And acts of service, thy name is AWIMAK – without doubt, he’s my favourite character. I kept thinking, ‘please be okay, please be okay’ while reading. I also very much enjoyed Ruri’s growth. And while it is mostly forward storytelling, the author gives the reader jagged disclosure about the characters and their background so you learn bit by bit by bit. You have to think. Sometimes someone is dropped in and you have to place them or wait until they are placed for you. I don’t like being spoon-fed, so I enjoyed that. It is part one of a duology so there’s more to come.

There is action. There is downtime, the ebb and flow is pretty good. The world building is really vibrant and immersive. There’s no doubt at any point that this is anything but a fantasy world. The sense of being in an alternate or different universe is wonderfully all pervasive. The style of writing and language also adds to that picture. This author can write!

Bleeding scorching heat, the demons staggered toward him. The clacks of their beaks snapping, the wind of their swinging extremities pursued his every duck and sidestep. Ryurikov pointed the sabre at ominous clouds above, eyes widening as the crystalline glimmer of water pulled toward it the unmistakable crackle and thrum of thunder.

If you like a darker fantasy, one with grey-shaded or morally ambiguous characters, sometimes hard to like, complex characters, then this is a very good read. It has some compelling themes. Lovely prose. It’s quirky. Even the Skin Crawlers were unique to me, their reanimated are not revenants or zombies. The Clutchers. And the MCs, they’re truly interesting. I was curious to know how they would move forward. I’m excited about reading book #2 when it comes out. I’m not always quick to jump in with new (to me) authors these days, but I’m really glad I gave this book a go. 4.5 Stars!