Way of the South

by B.J. Leonard

Even with amnesia, Sienna still knows exactly who she nobody. When the Aere brothers find her near death and discover she’s the spitting image of a well renowned goddess, they plot to use the girl for gain. It’s a risk since she’s suspected of being a traitor and spy. The Lord of the South takes an interest in her, dispatching his investigator, but he has a hidden motive. Surrounded by deception, one thing quickly becomes clear to the Lord always gets what he wants. It’s the way of the South. After she learns the full magnitude of this phrase, Sienna decidedly rejects it. And from this seed of rejection, something more dangerous emerges. The girl who is nobody wants to fight back. Sienna is not alone. A hotheaded forest dweller and northern spy are joining forces inside the Lord’s harem. Inciting a rebellion, the women face impossible odds against the Lord. The spider prince, the southerners whisper, able to crawl inside one’s mind. The women become powerful forces, capable of causing the Lord great pain. But the way of the South won’t leave them unscathed. It slides beneath the skin, leaving permanent scars. Change may be possible in the South...but the cost will be high. Not suitable for people sensitive to rape and nonconsensual sex.

Genres: Fantasy

544 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 13, 2018

About the author

Give me a good book, an indica-hybrid, and birds at my feeder.

I write about life experiences with mental illness, chronic pain, and the damage of religion.

Come kick it with me—I have the imagination and attention span of a nine year old.

Reviews

[Alicia Huxtable · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't let my review turn you off reading this

Not my normal style of read but I wanted to give it a go cause it sounded interesting. Unfortunately for me, I just couldn't get into it. The writing was good, the characters well written, it just wasn't for me.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

So the book was good, very engaging, never boring, a very complete world the author has made up. I liked the story in general, and really want to see what happens next. Great detail and little nuggets and hints throughout. Really quality storytelling. The letters in the book for some of the chapters were informative of what was really going on but I didn’t understand the numbers (“7001 annals”). I really would’ve liked a character list to reference. Overall really really fun read. I did not receive the book free!

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried to like this book but I just couldn't. It was pieces of people that didn't make a lot of sense to me. It jumped from one person, one name to another and no way to tie them together. I may have been able to if I had went further into the book but I just lost interest. I like books that make you think and I know that there is character set up. I just didn't see it.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the good: I felt this book was extremely engaging. It has a lot of character perspectives and I found each of them to be interesting. The story itself is really quite intricate and detailed. The writing itself is great and the author has a fantastic writing style.

Yet, what really brought this book down for me was how dark it was. There were a number of terrible, detailed and crude rape scenes and I would definitely rate this book for mature audiences only. However, even as an adult, I found it was way too much and really wish that it would have left more of an inference rather than detailing these accounts.

The whole story felt pretty depressing to me so I felt pretty miserable while reading it because the heroes were never catching a break, however, the writing and plot was engaging enough that it does raise the books score for me a bit. There were some plot holes, which may be addressed in a second book, since the book does leave off on a cliffhanger. Since I assume it may address those eventually, I did not take off for that.