{"id":1319,"date":"2014-12-25T15:59:01","date_gmt":"2014-12-25T15:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paulinemross.co.uk\/?p=1319"},"modified":"2014-12-25T15:59:01","modified_gmt":"2014-12-25T15:59:01","slug":"fantasy-review-the-healers-road-by-s-e-robertson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulinemross.co.uk\/index.php\/2014\/12\/fantasy-review-the-healers-road-by-s-e-robertson\/","title":{"rendered":"Fantasy Review: ‘The Healers’ Road’ by S E Robertson"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"This is an unusual book. Yes, yes, I know I specialise in unusual books; not for me the dull old treadmill of mainstream popular works. I read stuff you\u2019ve never heard of. But this book is special: I came across it on a forum where the author lamented that she\u2019d only sold\u2026 no, let\u2019s not put a number on it. Let\u2019s just say: not very many. So this is a book that nobody<\/em> has ever heard of.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s it about? Well, let me tell you first what it\u2019s not about. It\u2019s not about saving the world. It\u2019s not about finding the lost heir to the kingdom. There\u2019s no quest, no named sword, no moustache-twirling villain, no prophecy. There are no orcs, dwarves, elves or goblins. No dragons, either, sadly (every fantasy book should have dragons, in my opinion, but there you go). There are no witches, werewolves, vampires.<\/p>\n

OK, I hear you saying, so what the **** IS in it, then? People, that\u2019s what. No, not characters, these are real, flesh-and-blood people, who happen to live in the pages of a book. They have histories and personalities, they have weaknesses and strengths, they have beliefs, hopes and dreams, fears and uncertainties. You know, just like everyone.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the premise. Agna is a young healer from a rich family in Nessiny, trained to use magic to heal. Sent to a foreign land to repay her training in service to others, she joins a caravan of merchants and craftspeople travelling through the towns and villages. Keifon is an army-trained medic from Yanwei, deeply religious but with his own demons, assigned to be her partner. She thinks he\u2019s surly and rude. He thinks she\u2019s a spoiled rich brat.<\/p>\n

And herein lies the whole story: two very different people, from vastly different backgrounds, who have to learn not only to work together, as healers with diametrically opposed methods, but also to live together under the basic conditions of the caravan. It\u2019s not so much what<\/em> happens that\u2019s interesting, but how<\/em>: the almost imperceptible inching towards an accommodation, the delicate dance around each other.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking for a book filled with action, or any action at all, you won\u2019t find it here. There is perhaps only one moment that qualifies in the whole book. But if you\u2019re looking for something deeper, a painting in words, if you like, where every tiny moment, every glance or touch or word is a perfectly nuanced brush-stroke, this is the book for you. If ever you wanted to know what literary fantasy looks like, this is it. A wonderful book. Five stars.<\/p><\/div>\n

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This is an unusual book. Yes, yes, I know I specialise in unusual books; not for me the dull old treadmill of mainstream popular works. I read stuff you\u2019ve never heard of. But this book is special: I came across it on a forum where the author lamented that she\u2019d only sold\u2026 no, let\u2019s not put a number on it. Let\u2019s just say: not very many. So this is a book that nobody has ever heard of. So what\u2019s it about? Well, let me tell you first what it\u2019s not about. It\u2019s not about saving the world. It\u2019s not about finding the lost heir to the kingdom. There\u2019s no quest, no named sword, no moustache-twirling villain, no prophecy. There are no orcs, dwarves, elves or goblins. No dragons, either, sadly (every fantasy book should have dragons, in my opinion, but there you go). There are no witches, werewolves, vampires. OK, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[63],"tags":[101],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulinemross.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulinemross.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulinemross.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulinemross.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulinemross.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paulinemross.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1321,"href":"https:\/\/paulinemross.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319\/revisions\/1321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulinemross.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulinemross.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulinemross.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}