The good part about being immortal is that you cannot die. That is also the bad part.
Brash, young, and markedly sociopathic, Cyan has the makings of a full army commander if he lives long enough to be promoted. But when a close brush with death breaks his resolve, he is rendered unable to lead his men, let alone leave his tent, for weeks.
The tide starts to turn when his superiors send him a magical artifact that ensures he will not die on the battlefield. Unfortunately for Cyan, he soon learns that not dying can be worse than not living - a side effect of the artifact's magic turns more of his body to lifeless iron with each passing day. Knowing time is short before he becomes just another statue in a town square, he sets off on a quest to rid himself of his cursed immortality.
I've been stuck in a reading slump for the past couple of weeks, which is very unlike me, but fortunately I stumbled across this quirky fantasy quest novel on Smashwords which captured my attention. In a lot of ways, it follows the conventions of its genre, but what really made the story entertaining for me is our petulant anti-hero, Cyan, whose anger management issues lead him from one fatal disaster to the next. This is not a story where the daredevil hero valiantly escapes certain death in the nick of time. Cyan dies. Repeatedly and fairly horrifically although de Pereda's dry humour prevents the story from ever becoming too grim. I loved the portrayals of each magical dragon's shrine. Their similarities and differences were neatly described and I felt I understood each dragon's personality too. I'd recommend The Many Deaths Of Cyan Wraithwate as a light, entertaining read with a moral of being very careful about what you wish for and the importance of following instructions.