First Steps

Meandering Paths #1

by Luke Daher

Not all roads lead to desired destinations...

A swordsman struggles beneath the burdens of lost friends, survival in the lawless Wilds and a fate he wishes to outrun.

An artist stands on the fringes of her society, derided by her peers while striving to impress the Divine her people worship.

An uncaring world shifts around them, leading their feet onto greater paths unknowingly.

Genres: Fantasy

515 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 27, 2019

Reviews

[Blaise · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://undertheradarsffbooks.com/202...

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. First Steps is the debut novel of Luke Daher, an Australian author with a simple dream. Through conversations with the Luke Daher and my own personal reading experience, First Steps is riddled with influence from the Wheel of Time and the writings of Robert Jordan. Luke has even stated that the Wheel of Time is his favorite series in any medium today and it shows. This debut novel has not reached the main stream SFF community as of today, but the substance, characters, and prose of the author will make the most die hard reader feel lost in a sea of antiquity and a walk down memory lane.

First Steps is a story of characters going down dangerous paths to reach their goals, but the paths they choose may not bring them to their desired destinations. Although we follow several different characters in this novel, the two main POV’s are from opposite sides of the conflict. Normyn grew up on a farm and was destined to accomplish great deeds. Training in his village as a child, he became an expert in the ways of combat and sword play. Tragedy strikes his home town and now as an adult, he has survivors guilt and travels the country as a vagrant unwilling to get attached to anyone ever again. Eventually he comes into contact with a boy and he reluctantly takes him under his wing to train in the ways of the world, but the world are not always what they seem. Xylia is an artist with the propensity for creating Songs with her flute. She decides to enter the competition to become the champion of her God Imatel and obtain her ultimate desire. Xylia is a descendent from an ancient race that was blessed by the Gods. They are encouraged by the Gods to seek perfection in all forms of life and Xylia must accomplish this task at all cost. Her pride and determination become both her greatest strength and also her greatest weakness. the desire for perfection will lead he down a dark path with no return.

There is magic in this story that are portrayed in a variety of ways such as: cards, inner power, and symbols but it is subjective to the wielder. Luke Daher does an amazing job slowly unveiling this aspect throughout the narrative, but his greatest accolade is his prose. Throughout my entire experience of reading SFF books I have only come across a handful of authors whom can write prose that flow and are expressed as if the author was writing poetry. Those authors are: Patrick Rothfuss, Tad Williams, and to a lesser degree Scott Lynch. I can easily put Luke Daher in this class but I feel that his work may not be quite as polished, but the potential and insight are there. Let me share with you one of my favorite paragraphs of First Steps:

“So she played, her eyes closed to the word, her ears open. The Songs she was Blessed with hearing slowly swelled in the background without drowning out her own music. The world was a different place when they were clearly audible, revealing a depth that was otherwise ignored and unnoticed. She could only pity those too deaf to hear them. Without pause, she changed the melody produced from her flute, mimicking the Song of the garden. The Songs heard in the soft trickle of the stream and the gentle rustle of a leaf kissed by the wind. The music representing the delicate beauty of the sensi tree. She blended them all into one sweeping Song, imitating as best she could to create a duet between her and her surroundings. But faithful replication was impossible, the scale of her flute too limited, her own craft inadequate. The Songs were true perfection, the touch of Imatel’s Thought on the land. A perfection far beyond the reach of a mortal, resting in the hands of the Divine only.”

It was from this point forward that I was in complete awe of Luke Daher’s writing style and I couldn’t get enough of it. His words can be a bit descriptive and this type of writing will not appeal to everyone. I am generally not a reader who has prose on the top of my list as important in a literary work. That being said, I will praise it to the moon when I see it performed at a top level. Readers who are big fans of Robert Jordan, Patrick Rothfuss, and Tad Williams, will immensely enjoy First Steps. I look forward to continuing with this series and hope you will join me down these paths.

Cheers!

[FantasyBookNerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, I need to say thank you to Luke Daher for contacting me to review his book. As you can guess I did receive a copy, and obviously I said I would love to read it, but I will be giving an honest review. He said ‘fair enuff!’ So there you have it.

Now, down to brass tacks, what did I think?

I have to admit that I knew nothing about this book at all. I didn’t read the blurb before diving in, so didn’t really know what to expect.

I like to do this, you have no preconceived ideas and whatever happens is a surprise, and let me tell you that this was a surprise.

The story revolves around master swordsman Normyn Stormcoat. However, when we meet him he is just plain, simple Normyn, a boy from Catchcreek, a backwater village in The Wilds. He's a boy that is able command respect despite his young age,but is quite self conscious about a facial blemish that marks him out as being different.

The other main character is Xylia, a self assured artist from the Kyrese society. A member of the blessed who is constantly pushing against what she sees as the constraints of the society she lives in. She is always striving to be more, to be the best, and above all others.

The book mainly follows these two characters' points of view, although there are some points of view of other characters who enter a bit later in the book.

There are a number of things to mention in this, Luke Daher’s first outing. Firstly, his world building is vivid, and at times oppressive, particularly when we are in the wilds, which is painted as an arid, desolate environment. However, when we switch to Kyrel, the picture is the exact opposite. This is a city of beauty, plenty and the pursuit of perfection, but there is an undercurrent of nastiness. And when we change each point of view, we see the contrasts of each environment.

However, it is not just in the physical landscapes that we see these contrasts but also in the landscape of each of the characters' psyche. Normyn is equally as desolate as the landscape that he lives in, whilst Xyria similarly reflects her landscape in her pursuit of perfection.

In addition to the vivid world building, Luke Daher presents us with intriguing and engaging characters that you want to spend time with. However, they are not particularly likeable. Normyn, for instance, is a man that is plagued with mental health problems, but he does make it difficult to have any sympathy for him. He has gone through some significant trauma, and whilst he is a man of great power, he is plagued by guilt and has subsequently given up on life. He has given up caring and has become withdrawn from everything. He does not want to become involved with anything and will let himself be beaten and imprisoned rather than interact. He is a reluctant hero and tries his damned hardest not to become a part of anything.


Conversely whilst Xylia does have some degree of likeability, even though is she self serving, arrogant and blinded to anything but her own desire to be the absolute pinnacle of what she perceives is perfection. And this is one of those things that Daher does very cleverly. He instils a sense of certain paths for each character, but the series is called Meandering Paths for a reason, and characters reach their destination from different directions


However, the characters are strong and intriguing, which is good as for the first half of the book we spend a long time living with these characters, learning about them, breathing with them, and as you can imagine to pull this with off with a degree of success, you have to be able to write characters that are able to carry the story.

As well as these two, we have others that enter the story. Ley, a precocious, unruly boy who is imprisoned with Normyn, who in all actuality takes Normyn under his wing and sticks by him, irregardless of the fact that Normyn is unable to care for anyone. We later get Tabita, an insular Highlander that just tags along and becomes part of the group.

Well, when it comes to the check boxes, we have world building covered, we have characters covered. What else do we need? Ahh, that’s it - the magic. Yes, there is magic aplenty in First Steps. And what Luke Daher has done is to successfully make it part of each individual character, each power different depending on who wields it, collectively known as different names depending on which part of the world that you come from, in some ‘the blessed’ and in others ‘the powerful’

The pacing is not immediately explosive, it takes time to build. However, if you are used to such books as the Wheel of Time, I don’t think that you will have any trouble with this book

As a debut, this is a solid, entertaining debut that is certain to appeal to fans of epic fantasy and that I think needs some more exposure as I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

At its heart, First Steps is epic fantasy, and Luke Daher presents us with the tropes that you expect to see in epic fantasy - the good vs evil, the chosen one, enchanted swords etc. However, Luke Daher uses these effectively and subverts them to present an engaging fantasy that by the end leaves you wanting more.

[Roughspun · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very impressed with this novel. The plot is well-paced and intriguing, and the characters ring true. Cursing was essentially absent, as were adult situations (there are a few hints at them, but very mild- for example, "'We'll go to the worst part of town and find you a cheap-' 'Concentrate!'"). I would recommend this book to fans of Brandon Sanderson who like opposing viewpoints and characters who are broken inside and faced complex choices, the effects of which remain hidden though they run deep. Any age of fantasy reader would probably enjoy this novel, on up from tweens just branching out into fiction that's not specifically geared toward children- if they have the stamina to read a 515 page book.

While the viewpoint characters are multi-faceted, they are all representatives of opposing sides of a conflict, much like Eshonai and the Kholin family in The Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson. Both are understandably driven to their paths, and at some points, it's difficult to decide whether the one most fitting of being called the antagonist is really all that bad. It's fascinating to watch as each character is drawn in further, some willingly, some not, as their respective factions come to conflict in the climax of the novel.

There are, arguably, two main characters in the novel, though the viewpoint character frequently changes to that of someone in a supporting role. Normyn was a farmboy who was thrust into the role of adventurer by a travelling band as a teen, shortly after a crisis in his village. He has grown up now, and nurses deep-seated survivor's guilt throughout the story. The author's choices regarding Normyn's actions- and inactions, in some cases- are logical given his issues. He is aloof, trying not to build relationships with others for fear of letting them down too. His goal is to go somewhere quiet, where he can be alone with his thoughts, and no one depends on him but himself.

Xylia is the second of the main characters, but again, her story is told through many facets, lending depth to her plight. She is of a race that was blessed by the world's gods long ago, and her people have lived seperately, each dedicated to a certain god or goddess. The one she worships, Imatel, encourages her followers to seek perfection of thought, manifested through art, be it martial, performing, or visual. Xylia is very talented in two of the disciplines, a rarity even among her own people, and seeks growth in her respective skills. Her trusted mentor guides her, bringing her farther and farther down a path from which there is no turning back.

I was particularly impressed by how skillfully the author weaves together the multiple viewpoints into a sparkling, multifaceted whole. Motives hidden to other characters become clear to the reader. I found myself agonizing over some of the choices that the characters made because I knew what they were getting themselves into, but they stayed true to pursuing their goals- Normyn's to his quiet life, and Xylia's to her greater skill. The antagonist is easily relatable, and it's particularly helpful that the reader gets to see how the thoughts and actions of others mould her fate. It's easy to get drawn into this book, and difficult to put it down. I read well over half of it in one sitting, much to the detriment of everything else I was supposed to accomplish that day.

The settings were well described and fit neatly in with the action. Concepts of magic were original and varied- some involved cards, some internal power, some symbols- but all worked with the person that wielded them. They didn't feel out of place or discordant with one another. I never felt that the exposition got bogged down or overdone. Characters' voices flowed seamlessly from thought to action to dialogue. This author has clearly taken his time developing his craft and editing this novel. There were no errors or breaks in plot or character that detracted from my enjoyment of this novel. Aside from a scattered handful of minor typos (for example, "The Fouled stranger moved with shockingly speed..."), this novel is spot on. The only think I honestly think he could've done better on was giving it a stronger, more intriguing title. I can't recommend it enough.

[Francis Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

For having a rather unassuming title, First Steps is an epic story in all the best senses of the word. You have a prophecied hero with powers beyond their understanding or control, a chaos-worshipping cult bent on plans both nefarious and ineffable. There are gods moving their mortal followers like pieces on a chess board, and a whole multitude of factions and major players all pushing and shoving to rule the land known simply as “The Wilds” and all beyond it.

While all of this might sound like too much to pack into a single novel, Daher does an amazing job doling out pieces of his worldbuilding. I spent the majority of my reading time simply wanting more-more-more, all while Daher wove an intricate narrative and built characters that are so fleshed out I could have practically reached into the pages and throttled them at times due to the frustration they brought upon me.

The story is told from a multitude of perspectives, with two clearly major characters alongside two others who served to fill in gaps in the narrative. The first of the major characters—and by far my favorite—is Normyn Stormcloak, a character who I found myself enamoured with immediately, despite the pretentious spelling of his name. As the story opens Normyn is alone in the wilderness, bereft of friends or purpose. He is the prophesied the “Hero of the Wilds”, a destiny for which he wants no part, desiring nothing more than to live a quiet life in obscurity. Of course, characters like this rarely get what they want, and between his destiny and the mysterious Power that courses through his veins he finds himself doing the one thing he detests—continuing the cycle of violence, bringing death and destruction to all that he meets.

On the other side of the fence is Xylia, a character utterly focused on the advancement of her own skills, first by working through the rigid caste of her society, and then by pressing against those bindings on her own path. Xylia is a “Blessed”, those given strength and beauty by the god that they worshipped, setting them apart as almost another species compared to the “fouled” that live out their meager existence in the Wild. This drive to better herself, along with a general lack of humility, takes Xylia in a rather dark direction, eventually forcing her along a path that, if not exactly one of darkness, is likely only a few shades away from it.

Rounding out the story is the aforementioned cult, a group dedicated to spreading chaos across the wilds so that their mysterious master can feed upon it and become stronger. Each of the main characters has a connection with this cult, one that changes as the story develops, and one that I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes in future volumes.

So that’s the basis of the story, but what about the quality of the writing itself? I’m happy to report that this story flows smoothly from scene to scene, with only the most minimal number of typographical errors. Between that and the beautiful cover, this work stands apart.

Probably the greatest strength of this book are the characters. Normyn and Xylia play well off each other, although they only directly interact in a single scene. While Normyn is defined by his guilt and regrets for his past actions, Xylia is uncaring about both others and the consequences of her choices, a sort of ends-justifies-the-means attitude. While these differences take them both in the directions you would expect, Daher does it in a way that feels fresh and engaging. These felt like well-rounded characters with believable personalities, something that I don’t often see with first-time authors.

This is not to say the book is without faults, and while the complexity of the tale is one of its strengths, it is also on occasion its weakness. Because many of the perspectives are split across cultures as well as characters, there are times where similar forces are referred to by multiple names, and while Daher makes some attempts to connect these around the middle of the story, they still left me a bit confused over the first hundred pages or so. However, none of these nitpicks were ever so great that they threw me out of my immersion.

So, for a TLDR, this is an amazing first book by an author that I can’t wait to see what they do next, a complex tale of gods, men, and the Powerful that stand somewhere between.

Review originally posted to r/Fantasy on Reddit.

[Nicole Archuleta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story

Such a nice surprise to find this book. Really enjoyed the character development and the world building. Looking forward to the book 2!