Skullsworn by Brian Staveley

This may offend the author but this was really a primer on the myriad meanings of love disguised as a fantasy novel.   It is not a romantic fantasy with heaving bosoms or sex starved virgins but a thought provoking look at what does love actually mean in the context of a medieval type of culture.

The skullsworn, a name they dislike, are pledged to the god of death.   They believe it is their duty to kill in the name of their god.  This isn’t religion by the sword but a more individual killing that seems to, in some cases, right some wrongs.  The main characters are Ela and Kossal, priestess and priest, and Pyrre their priestess to be.   Pyrre is on a quest to undergo her trial to be a priestess by killing seven people in fourteen days.  The victims are not just the first seven people she sees but chosen through the format of the trial.  

Ruc, who Pyrre decides will be one of her victims, is unaware of her religious leanings.  The interaction between the characters, the various gods and Pyrre’s drastic methods of achieving her goals provides the process of the story.

This was an interesting look at love and death.

I enjoyed it.

Web: http://brianstaveley.com/index/

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.