3 out of 4 stars
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‘Keep your enemies close, and your friends even closer’.
In A Heretical Divide by Serban V.C. Enache, we return to the Sunborn Empire where Emperor Amarius Soronius Mero has deposed his younger brother Hagyai and has started the search for his nephew, and contender for the throne, Prince Yoffis. However, in a world of traitors, who can you trust? With new alliances to forge and traitors at every turn, Amarius has a lot of work to do to maintain control of the Empire. Especially with Lord Kalafar, Warden of the North, going to war against Lord Holton Brax to bring his attempted murderer to justice.
Meanwhile, Drakanes has been set her first task as an Inquisitor of the Matriarchal Temple with Narak al Zull of the mounted arrows. However, she is faced with tough opposition by the corrupted Patriarchal clergy trying to halt her every step and must push through with all her strength to be heard in a man’s world.
After reviewing the first book in the series Of Hate And Laughter, An Empire of Traitors, and giving the rating of 2 out of 4 stars, I was pleasantly surprised by the second instalment. I found that the first book had too many plot lines to cover in such a short space of time, with too many characters involved. This has been greatly improved, with only 4 plot lines covered in A Heretical Divide. The characters stories are interwoven beautifully making the flow of the book better than the previous and a lot easier to follow.
Enache has such a lovely writing style that you can really envisage the world he has so beautifully created with all its detail and intricacies. I do still believe a map would help to better place the different lands within the Sunborn Empire and the countries surrounding it.
There was only one main issue that I had with this book and that was the spelling and grammar. With Enache having such a good writing style, they stand out like a sore thumb and take away from the story. Sometime the sentences are missing a word and therefore don’t make sense such as ‘…but she worked her charms with squeezing in corset her breasts to appear bigger’. It is a little mistake, but the amount of mistakes is the issues.
I would give this book 3 out of 4 stars. The story telling in this book is brilliant, along with a compelling plot makes it a good read. However, I have taken a mark off due to the amount of grammar and spelling mistakes in the book. I believe another edit could rectify this. With those removed I would happily give this book 4 out of 4 stars and would recommend to others.
This book would be great for those who like Game of Thrones, as the plot has very similar twists and turns and is set in a fantasy land not entirely unlike our own. There is strong violence and gore in this book, so those with a weak stomach, beware. There are scenes with strong language and scenes of a sexual nature in the book.
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A Heretical Divide
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. I await eagerly for the next installment. Congratulations again on the book 
