Review: Fortune Favors the Cruel

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Fortune Favors the Cruel is a compelling start to the Dark Maji series. This book encompasses what I suspect to be the bulk of the world-building and overall plot trajectory. The world that has been created by Kel Carpenter is lush and darkly alluring. There are light, dark and gray maji, as well as mundane non-magical people. The landscape changes as our main characters traverse the realm, but the author brings each territory to life with just enough description to give you an idea and let your imagination fill in the rest.

In this first installment, my favorite territory that was traversed was Cisea, where the Cisean people lived in the tree tops and were ruled over by King Thorne. I hope we get to see more of these people in the future, as I want to know more about their customs and the male/female dynamics, as they seem quite interesting and complicated. I’m also curious about the clothing and masks/armor that they wear.

Our heroine, Quinn Darkova, aptly named, is dark and mysterious. She has a rare magic, and has had an extremely tragic life. While we don’t yet have her entire back story, her scars and brands spoke for themselves. I liked that Quinn didn’t let her history break her, and she refused to hide from the cruel things she endured. With Quinn’s dark power and assertive nature, she comes off as more of an anti-heroine… and it was a refreshing change and drew me in as a reader.

Complementing Quinn perfectly is our anti-hero, Lazarus Fierte. He is just as dark and mysterious as she and, despite his best efforts, the chemistry between them cannot be denied. Lazarus possesses an iron will, however, and he is determined to resist the pull until he carries out his mysterious plan. His character and abilities are intriguing, and I hope they are explained more fully as the series progresses.

Lazarus has gathered a band of vassals (Dominicus, Draeven and Lorraine) which are as varied as their personalities. They make for great secondary characters, and add their own special something to the story. I enjoyed watching the relationship between Quinn and Lorraine evolve, and Lorraine herself gave me the warm fuzzies with a tinge of sadness. Draeven and Dominicus are less developed thus far, so I am eager to learn more about them in the coming books.

If you are a fan of dark fantasy and political intrigue, I do not think you will be disappointed with this book.

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