This epic fantasy is a solid debut for Siregar, who has come out of nowhere to surprise a lot of people with his talent for storytelling, prose, and marketing. There's a reason this book sold 500 copies in 38 days when it was finally released. After teasing us with a novella last year, lots of people, like me, have been eagerly awaiting the full novel, and it was worth the wait. From world building to character development, Siregar rises to the challenge fully. There's interesting choices made in everything from plotting to point of view. With two diametrically opposed protagonists, their love interests and their fathers, as well as best friends and others, we have plenty of views from which to immerse ourselves in the story and world. The parallels to the Greek-Roman religious traditions struck me alongside parallels to current anti-war philosophies. I enjoyed the read and was eager to know how it ended. He surprised me with a few twists and turns and it will be interesting to see where he takes the story next.
If you're bored with the typical European medieval settings for epic fantasy, give this book a try. It's different, in a good way, and filled with action sequences, character conflict, even some romance, as well as a good pcaing of tension and wonder.