I picked this up half price in Waterstones, idly flicked through the first few pages and then I was hooked and finished the whole thing inside a week!
The cover is an interesting design, on the surface quite restrained and very different from the rest of the genre which make it stand out on the Fantasy table.
The story itself is quite complex but compelling. I like the world building mechanic – we are in a Roman-empire like milieu in which lower orders can “gift” some of their will to their superiors in a triangle hierarchy (hence the name of the series). The mechanism isn’t explained as such, other than reference to a previous fallen civilization.
Our hero is an 18 year old, born a prince but disenfranchised by the hierarchy and very much down on his luck. His ongoing adventures are both exciting and cleverly constructed around a host of interlocking obligations and alliances. What started as a simple grudge / revenge story rapidly becomes much more complex and interesting.
This is very much a first volume, there’s a lot of action and not a wasted page in this quite large book but nothing is really resolved. That’s fine, and it means that I’m looking forward to the second volume (which better match the volume one cover when it comes out in paperback) and I’m also interested in an earlier Roman style trilogy in his back catalogue that is available in a nice box set.
Good stuff and a great read here.