Tallow : The Curse Of The Bond Riders 1

As an avid reader, this is the kind of book you always search for. That indefinably different story that spirits you away completely and immerses you in another life. You breathe foreign air when you open the pages. You speak in unlearned languages. And you feel the tug and flow of magic stirring inside of you.

Tallow transports you to a version of renaissance Venice, a city criss-crossed with canals and brought to vibrant life by Carnivàle. But it is a city trying to forget a magical history and stubbornly attempting to ignore the supernatural boundary known as the Limen that encloses it. The Estrattore, a race descended from the old gods themselves, possessed the ability to extract essences, emotions and thoughts, from anything they touch, and manipulate them. Once revered and widely consulted on all matters, the rise to power of the Church saw that reverence turn to suspicion and fear. Demonised and hunted down, a few survivors managed to escape into the forbidding Limen where they remain hidden.

A child is born in the Limen, however, and smuggled out into the city where it might be safe from evil powers that would see all Estrattore wiped out. Placed in the hands of a simple candle maker named Pillar, the child grows up learning the trade. But as young Tallow reaches puberty things begin to go wrong. Tallow's candles begin to have strange effects on the people who use them. As Tallow's powers are revealed so does their danger of discovery and there are many different people on the look out for an Estrattore, all for their own reasons and none of them good.

Karen Brooks does a superb job of building this story layer by layer, carefully crafting a tangled web of motivations and manipulations that makes it impossible to trust anyone fully. Even the most well-meaning characters have other factors pushing and pulling them in directions they don't want to go. Tallow's story is full of heartbreak and betrayal as even the most generous of actions can have disastrous consequences. But far from being a morose book, Tallow is a joy to read. The story constantly surprises and impresses and the scene is set for an exceptional trilogy.

Do not miss this one!

Reviewed by Richard Bilkey, Booktopia Buzz Editor