Review of The White Tree, by Edward W. Robertson

The White Tree by Edward W. Robertson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I...am not sure what to think of this. It was...different. The description was well done, and made it easy enough to imagine the scenes. The story itself didn't particularly catch my interest, though. Nothing really seemed to happen until towards the last section of the book.

It's a story about a boy named Dante, who wants power. He steals a book, and thereafter the owners of the book try very hard to kill him. He runs, of course, and manages to survive by killing anyone who comes after him. At some point, he decides he needs help, and hires someone to guard him. That's how he makes his first friend, Blays. They journey around, fighting for survival, until Dante finds someone to teach him about the powers and stories in the book he stole. This man then sends them on a mission to kill a woman named Samarand.

Dante and Blays go to the city where Samarand is, and infiltrate their way into the place she lives using lies and the power Dante's discovered from reading the book.

Toward the end of the book, Samarand, a powerful priest(ess) takes a group of priests to the north, where they try to awaken the god they worship, Arawn.

If I had to describe this book in one sentence, I think it would be "Dante's journey to, and obsession with, power." Not typically the kind of book I like to read. And the power Dante finds and learns to use sounds disturbingly like necromancy. It was rather darker than I expected, and at times depressing.

As far as content goes, there was quite a bit of questionable language, and a lot of murder and gore. Other than that it was pretty decent.

The best part of this whole book was the banter between Dante and Blays; it was very easy to forget that they're boys, until you read them snapping at and teasing each other. I'm not planning on purchasing the next book in the series, but for those who like this sort of writing, it may well be an excellent choice.

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