Exile Exile, Book 1, (Paperback)

I'm about to gush like those fruit gushers candies. If Amazon provided a hidden sixth star somewhere in the page source, I'd enable it because 5 stars are not enough. This books does all the things to readers that books are supposed to do: provide an experience beyond what you can get in real life and press all your pathos buttons along the way. And boy does it press those buttons! It almost made me cry twice. The geese out in my front lawn got bumps as I read this book. The themes of forgiveness and redemption are strong the whole way through, and the way the main characters have to win in the end even draw from that. Warned you I was going to gush. Now I'm going to gush some more. This time by sharing just a fraction of the quotes I loved, by category: Big pathos guns: "O Avgorath, I cannot even pray. I have never hated someone so thoroughly, my Lord. How do I pray when I want him dead? How do I show your righteous mercy when I have none left in me?" "Mother. Father. Forgive me. You raised me better than this. Aulus, I am sorry—I am unworthy of you." "Now Bryn had learned that she could be assured of nothing--good and beautiful things could be destroyed in an instant on one man's order. Or with one sword stroke." "How far back would a person reach to erase a sin? Would a person know if they were pruning a dead branch or a living limb?" Vivid prose: "...he glanced about the room as though drinking the scene down to the dregs." "...frothing thoughts howling in her skull." "Dust grimed his features" "It was a nice laugh that reminded Bryn of church bells on a feast day with the sun warm across the courtyard and the smell of rich food soaking the air..." "When he looked back at his son, a hundred years seemed to have gathered in his eyes" Points of realism: "Bryn half-sworded her weapon, one hand on the blade as she stabbed again and again."--Most authors don't think to include legit HEMA techniques like this :) "Erland had gone pale, but she admired his steady hand as he led his horse--she'd seen people get so nervous before a battle that they'd hold the reins too high near the mouth and shake so badly that they'd pull on the bit and upset the horse."--holy attention to detail! "Bryn glanced upwards, just to see whether arrows might be trained on them."--stuff like this fully convinced me that Bryn is a trained fighter. And when Bryn turned down a huge offer from bigshot character, I was so proud of her. (I think I said that in a non-spoilery way. If not, just forget what I said.) I can tell this author not only does her research, but actually wears armor and practices historical european martial arts. Seriously. And, Dear Avgorath, her writing craftsmanship is so good I'm going to reread it just to take notes. The world needs more books like this. Books that have a message that readers desperately need to hear. Now I'm done gushing. Until her next book, that is.