Format: Hardcover, 512 pages
Release Date: July 21, 2020
Publisher: Gallery / Saga Press
Source: Publisher
Genre: Fantasy / Epic
An epic fantasy by Hugo Award–winning author Matt Wallace about a utopian city with a dark secret…and the underdogs who will expose it, or die trying.
They call them Savages. Brutal. Efficient. Expendable.
The empire relies on them. The Savages are the greatest weapon they ever developed. Culled from the streets of their cities, they take the ones no one will miss and throw them, by the thousands, at the empire’s enemies. If they live, they fight again. If they die, there are always more to take their place.
Evie is not a Savage. She’s a warrior with a mission: to find the man she once loved, the man who holds the key to exposing the secret of the Savage Legion and ending the mass conscription of the empire’s poor and wretched.
But to find him, she must become one of them, to be marked in her blood, to fight in their wars, and to find her purpose. Evie will die a Savage if she has to, but not before showing the world who she really is and what the Savage Legion can really do.
Savage Legion is the first installment in author Matt Wallace's Savage
Rebellion new epic fantasy trilogy. The story itself is set in a fictional
place called Crache. Crache was once a nation led by nobility like England.
But, centuries ago, the nation underwent a revolution that put committees and
cooperatives ("Gens") in charge of society. Everyone is supposed to
contribute and share resources. The Aegins keep the peace. The Planning Cadre
comes up with new technologies. The Gens provide all necessary services. But
nothing is a good as it seems.
There are people living in the
Bottoms who are struggling to survive. Many have been rounded up for small
crimes, or no crimes at all, and are never seen again. When Brio, an advocate
for the Bottoms, starts looking into what happens to these disappeared people,
he, too, disappears. This sets in motion (2) of the (3) key players in this
story to find out what happened to him and find out what he discovered before
they too disappear without a trace. The key players are Evie, Lexi Xia, and
Dyeawan.
Evie is a mysterious and gifted
warrior who is on a mission to find the man she used to love (Brio), who can
reveal dark truths about those who enter the Legion. She intentionally gets
herself captured and recruited into the Savage Legion. Her name really isn't Evie; it’s a name she
created after accepting Lexi's call for help in finding her husband Brio who
disappeared and is now labeled a traitor. Evie is the perfect person to find
out what happened to him while also upending the status quo and making her own
allies along the way.
Lexi of Gen Stalbraid knows that her
husband is not a traitor, even if his disappearance brands him as such. As
their Gen is in peril, Lexi, and her protector Taru try to stay one step ahead
of the council that would end her work with the poor and forgotten in the
Bottoms. Lexi's motto is that we are not flowers. We do not wilt. For a woman
with no formal training, Lexi does fine most of the time. There are those who
she will meet along the way who will either be her friends or want to see her
fail spectacularly.
Dyeawan (aka Slider) is a street
urchin whose legs no longer work. She is spirited away by a man called Edgar to
an island off the coast. Edgar builds her a conveyance to get around as a messenger,
but she is so much more than that. She teaches herself to read and do amazing
things. While she is learning the ropes, Dyeawan quickly learns that this is a
dangerous place to be even after she passes a series of hard tests and ends up
as part of the Planning Cadre which runs the country. As Dyeawan rises, she
begins to learn more secrets of the powers behind Crache, some of which are
beyond terrifying.
In this world, the most dangerous
thing in the world is a story. The kind of story that people utterly believe.
Religion is quite possibly the most dangerous story of all which is why it's
not tolerated. Dyeawan, Evie, and Lexi all learn that secrets that could
unravel society. There are several other characters of importance as well. I
mentioned Taru. In this world, one must choose if they are a man or a woman.
Then there are the Undeclared like Taru who are who they want to be and are
treated like garbage by most. Daian is an Aegin who gets involved with Lexi
after she is attacked in her own home. At this point, I am reserving judgement
about Daian and others since this book ends on a cliffhanger.
Wallace's worldbuilding is a curious
blend of complexity and variety. Yes, I did find the initial pacing of this
book to be a bit slow. Until Evie is forced to fight for her life against the
countries alleged enemies and ends up going beyond that to stay alive and find
Brio. As I said, the book ends on a cliffhanger. It was such a surprise to see
what the author does to all these characters, including Taru who I wouldn't be
surprised to be a major player next time around.
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