Review: First Light - Michelle Frost

First Light by Michelle Frost
Lynn's rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the world of Sindorus, everything is bleak. Where even color is illegal. There are three main characters Idrith, where not by his own choice was sent to live out his life in Amyth, a monastery. Here he suffers from headaches and an Abbot that enjoys making Idrith's life miserable. Until one day Idrith discovers a secret room. With windows of colors like he has never seen. Now he is looking for answers.

Then we have Daen, a Northern women that was raised by her father. Taught to read and write. She was an artist that spent a lot of her time drawing. She was promised to a nobleman in marriage. Over the years he has kept putting off the marriage, which makes her and her father happy. Needing a way to make money and buy herbs for her ill father, she starts selling her paintings which leads to someone sending her color paints to make make her painting with.

Last we have Aztar, a nobleman, whom dreams of being the youngest controller for Zah-Rel. Aztar is a cousin to Idrith and the fiancé of Daen.

Harmion is the person who brings these three lives together. He encourages Idrith to look for answers, Daen to paint with colors and points Aztar the way to answers about Rae.

By the end of the book it all is coming together and the past comes alight.

Pretty much the first half of the book gives you the background of each character and sets the story up. Learning the prejudices the people have against each other that live in other areas of their world. How they have blindly followed along without knowing the truth. How it only takes a few people to start questioning to make changes in their world. Once I got about half way I really started to enjoy the story. The story does wrap up in the end but yet there is enough for a sequel. So either way you are not left hanging.

Michelle Frost weaves the tale seamlessly, it just flows along. At one point I wasn't sure there was any way to finish the story satisfactory by the end. But she accomplishes this and then some.

Wonderful story for lovers of fantasy/ steam-punk novels.

First Light (First Light)

by Michelle Frost (Goodreads Author)

On the harsh militant world of Sindorus, where even colours are considered sinful, three people living very separate lives are about to have those lives change forever. As deceptions are torn away, and ancient secrets brought to light, they each must struggle to find the missing pieces to the puzzle...answers that will unlock their true destiny.

Idrith, bitter and trapped in a life he never chose, is the first to discover his own fear-filled mystery. Obsessed with finding the truth behind the lies he turns to the one person he has always tried to avoid -- the mysterious pilgrim, Harmion.

Aztar's military promotion comes with an unexpected burden. A serious problem threatens the security of the entire Northerner regime and it seems that their only hope may lie in the hands of someone he was raised to think of as his enemy and inferior. Each day they struggle together to find a solution, but at night Aztar struggles alone as the secret he's kept hidden since childhood returns to torment him.

In a world where most women have no control over their lives Daen was allowed to grow up unrestricted and far better educated than normal. Now her father's health is failing and the running of their family estate lies in her hands...and with it the security of everyone she loves. Knowing that desperate situations call for courageous action, Daen is about to take a step that will change all their lives forever.


About the Author

MICHELLE FROST has written everything from reviews on mustard and shampoo to horoscopes and an astrology advice column for a small South African newspaper. She won second prize in the Klein Karoo Arts festival, 2001, for a short story later published in the book e-rupsie/e-ruption.Michelle has had other short stories and poems published in various publications and countries. This is her first book.

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