Silverlegs I: Seed of Rage by Camilla Monk
Will you be fast enough?
A fifteen-year-old girl with a gift for violence and nothing left to lose, Constanter is running. To escape the farm she grew up on in a remote part of the Western Lorian empire. To forget the family and the life she can never return to. She runs east, toward the distant war she knows only from the tales travelers—a twenty-year long conflict, opposing the Western and Eastern halves of the empire.
Mistaken for a boy after she stole the gear of a dead soldier, she is captured and drafted by a band of mercenaries whose leader recognizes her innate speed and agility. Her face hidden under a mask, Constanter surrenders to the anger she wears like a second skin and becomes Silverlegs, a legendary killer, an uncontrollable weapon in the hands of power-hungry rulers and religious fanatics.
As the Western empire spirals into madness in the name of the One God, Constanter will have to choose what she truly fights for, before Silverlegs’s rage leads her down the road to hell…
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Trigger warnings:
Silverlegs is a grimdark fantasy novel set in a world inspired by the late Roman empire. The heroine evolves in an environment that is violent, classist, misogynistic, and homophobic. This book questions religious fanaticism. It contains elements of sexual violence, rape, and graphic violence.
Published 27 August 2019 | Publisher: Yaypub | RRP: US$12.99
My Blurb (3.5 / 5 stars)
There seems to be quite a bit in the trigger warning for this book to warn me away but girl-as-boy trope is a fave of mine plus she’s looking pretty bad ass on that cover so I decided that it’s worth to try reading this.
This is truly a very grim & dark story right for the very beginning. In fact, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to read through if there are more rape scene and/or if it was more graphic. Yes, the rape scene was pretty much near the beginning of the book and so, it wasn’t a big surprised that Constanter was absolutely raging! In fact, this rage was what I had to struggle with… I wouldn’t be able to deal if rage and pain were the only 2 emotions she felt.
Constanter is very resourceful, strong, and capable. Thankfully, despite her rage at the helplessness of women in her world and her inability to trust anyone, there are some humour in this sad world. I love her snarky interactions with Vitrix and others. Most of all, I loved cheering her on in her endeavour to rise above her situation. I do have to stress that there are a lot of violence and whilst I have read worst (where I just had to skim the page or skip it altogether), let’s just say there are a lot of gore in this one. They are in the middle of war.
I found the world to be quite confusing in that there are wars but Constanter didn’t have a choice as to which side she’s on. Nor did we ever find out exactly what each side are fighting for (besides power & wealth, if any)… Then again, Constanter came from a backwater village and she herself has no idea the who or whyfor of this war.
As the title indicates, Seed of Rage, is an angry story. It is also dark, violent, and fairly hopeless world. It did however engaged my full attention within 20% of the story and I just had to finish. I must admit, I was full of rage at the ending too and yet, I cannot wait to find out what’s going to happen next. Keeping my fingers crossed for book 2 to come sooner than later!
Thanks to Xpresso Book Tours for copy of ebook in exchange of honest review
About the author
Camilla Monk is a virtually unknown author who somehow tricked a bunch of people into publishing books about ostriches and killer platypuses.
A French native who grew up in a Franco-American family, she taught English and French in Tokyo before returning to France to work in advertising. After ten years spent building rickety websites for financial companies, she now lives and writes in Montreal, where she keeps a close watch on the squirrels and complains on a daily basis about the egregious number of Tim Hortons.
Her writing credits include the English resumes and cover letters of a great many French friends, and some essays as well. She’s also the critically acclaimed author of a few passive-aggressive notes pasted in her building’s elevator.
Tien's Blurb 