So this took longer for me to read through ... not because it was a struggle to read it, but I wanted to keep reading it while fighting my urge to sleep. This book, this story, is just beautiful. The narrative is just freaking beautiful to me--it's written in diary format, yet it painted such a world in what's considered (for me) a short fantasy read. Eric did a superb job with the diary format. Helisah Almari is the voice of this story. Told through her eyes, it never faltered for me. I felt like I was there with her every step of the way. But, honestly, without spoiling it too much, her and her twin brother Aegras are telepathic; they escape the wrath of the first attack and fled with The Raiders--a group of assassins; the evil Telurian Lord Thrakoth is after her family and her friends with benefits (the one that fills her up with so much lust) led the first attack. Along with her brother, The Raiders and a group of citizens they travel through the known lands fighting against the Telurian armies and taking back towns/cities and what belongs to them. Her entire demeanor through the entries was written so I never pitied her and I understood her thinking process throughout the first two years of war. I loved Helisah to death--her eyes through this war isn't pity, depressed or overly pure hatred, but with an attitude to fight back. That's what I enjoyed the most. I wished I saw more of Aegras, but his presence in the book semi met my quota when I reached the end. The characters throughout Helisah's entries that were introduced came with brief introductions and few tidbits of background information, yet, you felt like you knew them. She wrote about them in her entries whenever she encountered them and her sense of telling her day in her entries made me feel like I was there in the present with her or reliving it as she wrote in her diary. The fight is far from over, but where Eric ends the story gives you a since of peace until you pick up the next book. **I received this book in Ebook format from Eric Mrozek, the author, for free in return for an honest review.

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