Of Sand & Malice Made
Bradley Beaulieu
(Affiliate Links)
Çeda is the youngest pit fighter in the history of the great desert city of Sharakhai. In this brilliant new story, a prequel to Twelve Kings, she has already made her name in the arena as the fearsome, undefeated White Wolf. None but her closest friends and allies know her true identity.
But this all changes when she crosses the path of Rümayesh, one of the sadistic creatures known as ehrekh which were forged long ago by the god of chaos. They are usually desert dwellers, but this one lurks in the dark corners of Sharakhai, toying with and preying on humans. As Rümayesh works to unmask the White Wolf and claim Çeda for her own, Çeda’s struggle becomes a battle for her friends, her life, and her very soul.
Of Sand & Malice Made was not something I expected from the blurb. There’s a focus on Çeda being a pit fighter, however we don’t see her in the pit very often and the villain, Rümayesh, was a lot less involved than I thought they would be. This is also a prequel to a longer series which I haven’t read. I fully expected it to be a first book, but I was wrong.
The book rushes at a very fast pace, I managed to read it over two days however the very start can be quite slow. The story itself has twists and turns, Çeda heads in many different directions throughout the book with different motivations based off her previous actions. Her place as the White Wolf in the fighting pits isn’t a key point, but it’s the backstory for how she’s gotten to this point in her life.
However, as you start reading it was slightly slower. This was because the first few pages are introducing you to a Middle Eastern city which has kids running about, gangs and a little bit of magic. The feel was immediately Arabian Nights kind of classic storytelling that gets you excited. We also get to learn about different gods, histories and locations all in one tight package which I think was impressive for a prequel book.
Our villain, Rümayesh, is a magical Djinn/demon style creature which takes over host bodies and was made by the god of chaos. Despite not being completely present throughout the whole book, Rümayesh was an interesting antagonist because they’ve been made to be an evil character by the lore of this world. Rümayesh still had motivations that were explored, but I liked that Beaulieu wasn’t afraid to make a character evil for the sake of it.
There’s the two kids, Makuo and Hidi, who are gods (or demi-gods?) but both help and sometimes hinder Çeda. I enjoyed this aspect of the book as it added an extra layer of drama and backstory that was intriguing. I also thought it helped the overall world building as it built on this gods and lore aspect.
The writing was impressive as it helped immerse you in this world. I was completely gripped into what would happen to Çeda and the world she was in. The layout of the book was that it actually contained three “stories” across different times in Çeda’s life, but all connected to the main plot. I found this made the pace faster as it cut out slower parts.
The magical aspects and flowers were also super interesting and caught my attention. There’s not a huge focus on the magic of the world in this book – mainly as Çeda doesn’t use it. But the glimpses you see and the magic the demon has really helped build the threat in the story.
After reading this book, I for sure want to read the rest of Beaulieu’s The Song of Shattered Sands series. The world is the main pull for me, but I also want to find out what happens to these characters too. I think it’s a good introduction for anyone else to this series too – as you don’t need information from the first book.
Positives of Of Sand & Malice Made
- World building, lore and history
- Fast pacing
Negatives of Of Sand & Malice Made
- Slow start
I received Of Sand & Malice Made by Bradley Beaulieu from the publisher. This is an unbiased and honest review
