Along the Razor’s Edge by Rob J Hayes (The War Eternal: Book 1)

“Are we all just monsters waiting for the opportunity to show it?”

You’re going to get angry reading this book. And that’s advantageous. Eskara Helsene, please. Before the age of fifteen, she was taken away from her family as a youngster, subjected to torture for her education, enlisted in the military, and made to commit murder. Then the true horrors start. Because Eska is transferred to The Pit, an underground mining prison hidden beneath thousands of feet of rock, after her kingdom loses a battle and becomes a prisoner of war. That’s where our story starts, actually.

“There is pleasure in being numb, in retreating from the world and feeling nothing. It is matched only by the agony of emotion returning.”

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Eska is a fighter who never gives up and never breaks. One of her strongest qualities is also one of her most annoying ones. She fights tooth and nail for every inch she can, despite the fact that the odds are stacked against her because she has been pushed around and hurt her entire life. However, her rage and resentment toward the world and herself put her in increasingly dangerous positions. She lacks logical thought, is arrogant, and is an adolescent. She is so overcome with hatred and seething fury that she will avoid taking the simple route in order to prevent giving her adversaries any indication that she is giving in. It is very irritating as a reader. However, it is also masterfully written, allowing you to see the world from her point of view and comprehend, if not entirely concur with, why she chooses to continue down her troublesome path.

I might not have been able to finish Eska’s story if it had been in the hands of another author. As a fan of a lot of his earlier work, I can state without a doubt that this is Hayes’ best book to date. He has pulled out all the stops and produced something genuinely spectacular with this tale.

Why do I believe that? Let’s get started.

“We cling to things, familiar things, not because they are good for us, but because we are scared that the unknown might be worse.”

Eska is an elderly lady who recounts the events of her youth, and the form of the story is similar to Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind. Eska survives and triumphs over the terrifying tests she endures, but Hayes makes the most of his decision to adopt this style of storytelling by pulling off a number of deceptive manoeuvres. Eska can first recount her experiences in The Pit, but he can also cut between that time in her life and her early years to show how she developed into one of her kingdom’s most potent Sourcerers. As the story goes on, Hayes connects Eska’s experiences at school and with other people to how she handles her current situation in prison. As a result, we have a clearer understanding of her motivations and reasons for acting in certain ways.

“I have always found it strange that people equate having testicles with courage. Threatening a man’s balls is often the fastest way to make him cower.”

But what makes Hayes’ flagrant tease throughout the novel even more exciting is how it builds tension. Eska is an elderly woman who occasionally gives out information about future events before they actually occur. And every chapter or two, there are a few shocking revelations that are slipped in. Eska would narrate, for instance—and this isn’t genuine, but it’s of a comparable delivery—”That morning I was more fatigued than I’ve ever felt… but not as exhausted as the time I created time travel while performing the Thriller dance with the Mongoose King. I’m getting ahead of myself, though. What the what? There are countless head-scratching occasions that hint at amazing future happenings. Others are just hinted to in this book and, hopefully, addressed in volumes two and three, while some occur in this one. I’m not sure how Hayes will tie all the tangled plot strands together over the course of the next two novels because there are so many shocking revelations, but if he does, consider me thrilled. And with all of these details and revelations, a masterfully written protagonist, and an all-around captivating plot, it is clear that this is a novel that begs to be read quickly.

“Lust is a flame that burns everything it comes in contact with. It consumes until there is nothing left to feed it, and then all that’s left behind is ashes and scars on all those it touched.”

This story impressed me in so many ways: the intriguing, believable, and profoundly flawed characters; the versatile storytelling that enables the author to reveal both the past and the future to strengthen the present; the quotable wisdom and insights that stand on their own; the most potent narrative voice since Tomas Piety; the slow-burn world-building that reveals unexpected depth; and the burning desire to find out what will happen.

You’ll get angry walking along the Razor’s Edge. It will cause you to scream at two in the morning, pump your fist, stop and think, and hold your breath. Because it is a truly fantastic story, it will accomplish all of these things and more. It involved more than just reading a book for me. It was an encounter.