Obsidian by Sarah J Daley

 Obsidian is Sarah J Daley's debut epic fantasy novel from Angry Robot overlords, that released last month. This was on my list of Debuts to watch out for, in 2022 ( A year incidentally filled with some incredibly exciting debuts coming out!) and it didn't disappoint. 

Overall, Obsidian was an intense, action-packed traditional fantasy novel, packed to the gills with white-hot action sequences, featuring a very well crafted magical system and in-depth world building full of lores, myths. The narrative itself is paced pretty well, full of betrayals, found family, love, power and sacrifice all headlined by a gutsy heroine, an abomination witch who defies tradition and stands up to the tyrannical rule of the bloodwizards in this ancient land of power and swirling magic. 

So the story is set in this land called Malavita, protected by "Veils" that keeps the encroaching blight from turning the land into waste-lands. This Blight of course is the result of ancient magic gone awry, in this place ruled by magical Bloodwizards, who form the 'Brotherhood'. As we open the narrative, we are introduced to this emissary from the Bhasker Empire, Raiden Mad - actually the Emperor's son ( though seventh in line for the throne and thus, just a minor nobility!) who is here to seek help for setting up a new "Veil" because the Veils all over are starting to slowly fail. Raiden meets this mysterious Black Witch, the only woman notorious in this land of male wizards, to wield blades of Obsidian and rumored to be as powerful as the best of them. Shade Nyx, is something of an irregularity in these lands because she refuses to bow down to the yolk of the Brotherhood and Shade takes Raiden to meet one of the Nobles in the area, Dante Safire with whom, they plan to actually raise the Veil, defying convention. 

Now what makes this task difficult of course, is that Shade needs more than just the Noble's help to raise a Veil. Beyond the threat of the brotherhood and the priests, she needs powerful gem-stones and also the secret manner of raising the Veil that can sustain the whole land and beat out the blight, is only known to a secret forgotten clan known as the Sicani. Her trysts with power, her unusual ability to actually wield the Obsidian Blades and her wild unpredictability makes her the right candidate to such an impossible task but with the Blight encroaching all lands in a frighteningly fast manner and older demons known as the Unseen, who are believed to be extinct, rising up in the wastelands, Nyx and her friends are running out of time. 

Sarah writes an intense complex tale of magic and power, steeped in lores and mysteries. Despite the obvious bait of frenetic action sequences right from get-go, I took a while to immerse myself into this tale. First, the different characters involved in this melee, was being thrown at me at rapid pace. And the world itself, while Sarah builds it up organically enough, I couldn't grasp and make sense of it, in the beginning. But despite being a debut, Sarah guides you deftly enough as events start to unfold, the deep magical system starts to make sense and the ancient prophecies and lores come to light. It was not an easy read but is richly rewarding for all that. Sarah packs in a great tale of environmental disaster owing to men meddling with nature and the sense of responsibility that we need to take up, and the sacrifices needed to remedy the wrongs. It clicks in nicely towards the end as we rush to a shattering power-packed climax with twists and betrayals along the way. 

My only problem with the whole story - was not the depth of the world building or the cleverly crafted magical system. It was actually the characters themselves. I didn't find myself connecting much to Shade Nyx. Despite the painful backstory and her right level of motivations to set things right by the world, I wasn't emotionally invested in Nyx or her mission. The hesitant love-story between her and the noble Dante didn't help either. Sarah peppers her story with a lot of interesting three dimensional grey characters - like the older tribes (Waste-walkers) the forgotten tribes (Sicani) and of course, the Brotherhood. There are three main POVs - so we have Dante himself besides Nyx and then there is the imperial emissary, Raiden. I really felt having Raiden would round out the readers perspectives, give us a view unto the Bhaskar Empire as well but sadly, this wasn't to be. 

These complaints of course, are minor and in no way, marrs the overall reading experience which is like being hit with a blizzard-storm. The blood magic, the ancient mysteries coming alive, the greedy priesthood and the non-stop action compensate in more ways than one, to make it a rich satisfying debut that hits all the right notes. A great first book from an author that I wish to see more of. Recommended!