Similar to many starter installments to an epic fantasy series, Hair takes his time to introduce the world and many characters of the series first, and I usually love this; generally, slow-paced books always worked better for me. Hair also does well with the secondary characters, their PoV scenes don’t clutter the narrative, yet include as much detail as the main characters. The inherent capabilities are coupled with personal affinities to one (or two) of the four classes: Thaumaturgy (Fire, Earth, Water, and Air), Hermetic magic of healing, morphism, animism and sylvanism, Theurgy (spiritualism, mysticism, mesmerism, and illusion) and Sorcery divided into wizardry, clairvoyance, divination, and necromancy. The book lacks a character glossary, (something that I think is going to be essential for book 2) so I had to resort to the old school method of writing down the character names and what their role in the story was.

So Steve sends me this huge book, almost 700 pages long, that looks like yet another epic fantasy wannabe. The continents involved here encompass various nations, many of which are described here with great thought and detail. I probably should have given up after the first hundred pages or so, when the shallowness of the worldbuilding and the thinness of characterization became apparent, but it’s been several years since I left a book unfinished, and I didn’t want the first one to be one of my fantasy trips.The bridge opens for two years, every 12 years due to the tides - we learn more details later from Meiros himself. People of color are discriminated against, homophobia is rampant (the word "cocksucker" was used with the subtlety of a toxic gamer), and the one intersex person that appears is treated as a vile, pitiable thing. Yet, while no religion is safe from the wrath of the secular mind, the book is not devoid of quasi-religious preaching on many ideological issues deemed to be of importance by the author; the idea of the key magic artefact in the book which can effectively make something out of nothing defying the laws of logic (entirely unacceptable! Conversely, the majority of the characters living in Antiopia were just simple people looking to be left alone. The first thing you notice will be the obvious parallels in earth geography and naming conventions (shihad=jihad, Hebusalim=Jerusalem, etc) and similarities in religions, races, and cultures.

It certainly tested my patience for a while, but the immersive capability of the engaging writing and the superbly written characterizations in Mage’s Blood impressively pulled me into Urte. I was very eager to get started and had high hopes that I would be deeply engrossed in this book and ultimately the rest of the series going forward. I really liked that he's not your standard 'hero' character, he's actually friends with the others who are far 'better' at magic than he is, but seeing his pov and thoughts was great for the story and I learned, quickly, to like him and his story too. Then again, I love the strange and unique settings in recent books like THE WAY OF KINGS ( EBR Review) or THE BLINDING KNIFE ( EBR Review). The Moontide Bridge lies deep below the sea, but every 12 years the tides sink and the bridge is revealed, its gates open for trade.

Since it was a release from Jo Fletcher books, I was interested in it purely based on the blurb details as well as the recent excellent and diverse releases Jo Fletcher books had so far. The Magi are hell-bent on ruling this new world, and for the last two Moontides they have led armies across the bridge on 'crusades' of conquest. The story begins with the Third crusade about to get underway, but the people of Antiopia are ready and will go to any depths to defend their home from invasion.