{First of 3: The Chronicles of Josan. Fantasy}

The priest, brother Josan, keeps a lighthouse at the far extreme of the Ikarian empire. He knows that he has suffered a great illness and is lucky to have recovered, if slowly, and be able to perform even these simple duties.

Lady Ysobel Flordelis is a merchant trader for her house. She has ambitions to found her own house and has risen far and fast. Although she would much rather be manning the deck of one of her own ships, she is the new Seddonian trade liaison to Ikaria. When she is shipwrecked on Josan's island en route to her new post, events are set in motion that start to waken memories and cause Josan to leave the lighthouse and travel across Ikaria towards the capital of Karystos in search of answers.

The book is written well enough, although it got off to a slow start before it began to get interesting around chapter 6 and about halfway through I did wonder where the plot was taking us as the focus seemed to be on a rebellion that not many people were actually interested in. There was an interesting plot twist that manifested about three quarters of the way through that I really hadn't anticipated.

It feels as though this book is a set up for ones to follow, and it would be interesting to see where they go.

I think (though it's been a couple of weeks between finishing this and writing the review) that this is a 3.5 star*** ( )

Good, but I liked the Devlin trilogy of hers better. ( )

Josan is part of the Learned Brethren and has been posted to a remote lighthouse. Many years ago he had an illness and he seemed to be permanently scarred. However he now finds that he's starting to understand things he never knew he knew.

When Lady Ysobel Flordelis washes up shipwrecked on his island this sets things in motion and draws him into the politics of his world and shatters what he knows about himself.

It's an interesting start to a series and I really wanted to know more. I found a lot of the details quite interesting and the characters were interesting. Josan has to make some very hard decisions and he doesn't fail to actually face up to them. ( )

Plot: The story follows two central characters, one of whom is trying to discover his past and nature while the other works on setting up a revolution. Both plots are handled well and never lose momentum, and bringing them together in the end works out. The small and large surprises are balanced and the story builds up to them so they don't come completely out of the blue.

Characters: Nicely done. Enough layers for the central characters to keep them from being heroic and perfect. A good cast of minor characters, though the occasional stereotype creeps in. What is missing is character interaction, which could have come with a little more emotional involvement at times.

Style: Good prose, though it comes with occasional bumps and potholes that throw you out of the flow. The amount of description is kept reasonably low. Worldbuilding is convincingly done and works out. Dialogues feel a litlte short at times and can have a stilted air.

Plus: It's fantasy, but without epic battles, monsters, all-knowing magicians or anything of the sort, which makes it very refreshing.

Minus: Interactions could have had more depth.

Summary: Pleasant to read; not exactly challenging, but with a few nice twists and turns. ( )

The First Betrayal by Patricia Bray is the first book in the Josan Chronicles. The second book called The Sea Change is scheduled to be released in July, 2007. I stumbled upon this gem while looking through Amazon recommendations, and I must say I am quite pleased I took the risk of getting this sight unseen.

There are some things that need to be discussed prior to the actual review. Yes, this is a fantasy book. However, it is not a traditional fantasy novel in the terms of what people expect to see in a fantasy book. Meaning, if you are looking for a book that has wizards hurling fireballs, a vast assortment of monsters rampaging the countryside, and large scale battles with gallant knights - this book may not for you. You will find none of that within these pages.

The plot of this book has a couple different layers to it, which are all written very well. The first plot like follows the monk Josan as he is the lighthouse keeper of a distant peninsula to keep ships from crashing against the sandbars. As the story unfolds we find the reason Josan is there, or shall I say the reason Josan believes he is there. A certain sequence of events takes place that turns Josan's world on its head causing him to make some decisions that have larger consequences. The second plot is one of political intrigue and a group of people trying to give rise to a rebellion and coup of the current queen of Karystos. Throughout the book we learn that there was a similar rebellion attempt six year previous and the ramification of that failed rebellion still linger today. Both plot come to an unexpected conclusion.

The main character of this book is the monk Josan. There is also a myriad of other characters that all play important roles within this book. While the plot of this book is solid and well written, it is the characters that steal the show by far. If you enjoy books where character development is not only present, but one of the driving forces then you may enjoy this book. The character development of Josan is second to none. Ms. Bray does a fantastic job of building Josan from the ground up so that the reader not only understands him, but also begins to care about him as well. Another favorite character of mine is Lady Ysobel Flordelis and the role she plays in this novel. She also develops quite a bit as a character - but I won't delve into spoilers so I can't say much more. All of the characters in this book are well written and I felt I had a decent understanding of each and every one of them, which based on the number of pages in this book (342) says a great deal about the quality of Ms. Bray's writing.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a fresh take on the fantasy genre. This book proves you don't need fantastic battle, hoards of monsters, and wizard duels to be a good book. The political intrigue was written very well, the characters are some of the best I have ever read. This is an engaging book that will help the hours fly by. I have read a lot of fantasy book over the course of time, and I have no qualms saying that this will most likely be on my list of top five books I read in 2007. It's that good. I can't wait until the next one comes out. ( )