Girik has always been an outsider, but to help his sick mother, he agrees to be the village’s offering in a painful ritual deemed necessary by the Brotherhood. But when the priest has a crisis of conscience, Girik offers his help to untangle a web of lies—even if it means getting closer than he ever imagined and committing sacrilege in the process.
With a monster lurking in the forest, a wandering mage mysteriously appearing, and more secrets awakening to unravel the truths of their world, Tas and Girik must make grave decisions. A life without danger seems a far-off hope, but love just might be theirs… if they survive.
R *A Reader Obsessed* - 3.5 Hearts
I get it. Sometimes you have to take a detour to fill in some blanks and set things up for the overall arc, and it’s not as thrilling or exciting as the first installment. That’s kinda what happened here for me.
Briefly, 1000 years ago the veil was torn apart allowing evil creatures known as spawn, to come through a rift to wreck havoc on mankind. There’s various “fighters” present who have made it their life mission to kill these monsters (the first book featuring wizard Lyuc) and here, it’s the Brotherhood, a fear based religion that uses pain to acquire power enough to kill them.
When one of the Brotherhood’s priests Tas, discovers a fallacy in their practice, it throws off his entire known existence, putting him in an existential crisis that comes at the most inopportune time. He needs to reap a pain offering from local villager Girik, so he can kill a spawn that has been terrorizing the area, but how can Tas go forward knowing that such a barbaric practice is not needed? Just imagine what he can glean by doing the opposite of pain, and you know exactly what I’m hinting at...
Ensue a quick sexy progression between Tas and Girik and an even quicker love connection (which fell a bit short of its mark) as this spans just a few days. However, Girik is the bestest of the gentlest giants out there, and he was my favorite part until we meet back up with Lyuc, Yan, and Bryn again from The Wanderer.
Overall, I applaud McAllister’s intricate world building. Beware huge religious themes and not in a good way. This sort of thing is necessary, but I’m just not interested in the doctrine that devoted side characters zealously cling to blindly. Regardless, things are changing fast. Tas’s world and that of all the kingdoms is about to be put upside down on its axis. The truth they figure out is a mind boggling revelation requiring them to band together to start forth on the seemingly insurmountable task to right some very very big wrongs.
So, this installment was wholly necessary to the story arc but just not as compelling when compared to the first book. Regardless, I’m still reading the next adventure because I need to see how this intriguing fantasy saga plays out!
Adam - 2.5 Hearts
‘The Wanderer’, the series debut released last year, set the bar high for ‘The Priest’. I was ready to be wowed. Unfortunately, it just didn’t pan out.
As one of the Thirty-Six of the Brotherhood, Tas is tasked with defending Rassa and its people from the Riftspawn. However, after he discovers secrets of the past, Tas’ faith in the Brotherhood has been shaken. And his trip to a tiny village at the border only makes matters worse.
Girik offers himself for the painful ritual that will cleanse his village of the Riftspawn. He does it primarily for his ailing mother. He’s been through the torture before, so it shouldn’t be too hard to do again.
But this time is different. From the beginning, it’s clear that the ritual won’t go as planned.
Very early on, I found myself rolling my eyes. I don’t think this is too spoilery, considering it happens near the beginning of the book - but the “fuck or die” trope just isn’t one I’ve ever been able to take seriously.
It definitely sets up Girik and Tas’ relationship in quite a titillating manner, but it just wasn’t a promising start.
That being said, I have to hand it to the two for taking their duty so seriously. Good on them for getting some action, being all sweet, and saving the town in the process!
And I did like both main characters. Girik’s a total gentle giant, and handles Tas with the care he needs. Tas, for his part, showed loyalty to Girik that he didn’t have to from pretty early on.
Yes, their relationship did start oddly and was perhaps more so the result of the two being pushed together under the circumstances, but there was clearly a spark there.
However, the plot just wasn’t that engaging for most of the book. I found myself zoning out as scenes were drawn out and it took a long time for things to actually start happening.
In the same vein, while Tas and Girik’s relationship was sweet, it wasn’t a grand romance and I’d say ends on more so a HFN note.
In the grand scheme of things, the overarching storyline of the Riftspawn doesn’t move forward significantly from Yan and Lyuc’s story in book 1.
That being said, I’m still interested enough (especially with the re-entry of a certain trio) to see what happens next!
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