The First Betrayal

Josian is a monk and a lighthouse keeper on a remote island who has no reason to doubt his past till an assassin tries to kill him and he responds with deadly skills he knows he never learnt. Forced to leave the only home he has Josian finds there is more to his past than he ever suspected. This is a good opening instalment to this trilogy. Josian is a likeable, if somewhat conflicted and tortured character. This book is a good introduction to Josian and his world but by the end of the novel you have the clear feeling that this is only a starting point and the main act is yet to come. My only reservation with this series is how it will end given the very poorly written 3rd novel in the Devlin series by this same author, but based on this book I'm willing to give this a series a chance to prove itself better overall than the last one.

I first started reading Mz. Bray's work with her entertaining story of Devlin in a previous series. Patricia showed herself an entertaining storyteller in that series, turning a relatively mainstream fantasy plot into a very easy read, and a likeable character (I recommend it). Here, in _First Betrayal_, Patricia is proving out herself as a storyteller once again, in providing great entertainment, this time with a decently non-derivative and unpredictable story involving a character with an interesting history who has to make some very hard decisions for himself and his future, when he discover that his past and future both could involve very high human costs indeed. With this book, Mz. Bray has stepped up a notch as an author in my eyes.

Good concept but really a set up book. Looks like the rest of the series will be really good. Interesting twists and great characters just kind of slow moving until the end. But without the detail in the beginning you would be lost. Looks to be a great series as good as the Devlin series.

The Priest Josan had the most brilliant mind in the Collegium of the Learned Brethren located in the capital of Karystos in the Ikarian Empire until a fever broke his mind and body. He was sent to the lighthouse of Txomin's Island where he stayed to heal for five years until an assassin came to kill him. Defeating his foe, Josan realizes he has fighting skills that a priest and scholar should not possess. The islanders believe Josan is a murderer forcing him to leave. He obtains work in a stable run by Myles, who realizes what and who his new employee is. Myles takes Josan to Karystos to finish what was started before the Josan who was a priest was exiled, which means Josan defies the order of Nikos, the head of the collegium not to return until he says so. Josan knows Another inhabits his mind; this being must prevent Ysobel of the Sedddon Federation from achieving a devastating plan; failure means civil war for the Ikarian Empire. Patricia Bray is a great world builder who uses magic sporadically in THE FIRST BETRAYAL, which adds to the believability of the plot. The protagonist changes over the cause of his odyssey from a man with fragmented memories to a champion with strength to achieve his objective of preventing another civil war in the empire. Readers will eagerly look forward to the next tale in this superb fantasy series. Harriet Klausner