March Read: Oath of the Brotherhood

Today’s book review is on Carla Laureano’s Oath of the Brotherhood. This was one of my most looked forward to reads of the year for multiple reasons, and in some ways it did not disappoint. But in others? Well. You’ll have to read on to find out.

This is my first review done in my new style, so a quick reminder of what that is. Since this is Christian fiction, I will not be doing a content review (though I will note if I saw anything questionable) but this will just be my personal review. There will be spoilers, as well.

So without further ado, my review on Oath of the Brotherhood by Carla Laureano!

Synopsis (Taken from Goodreads)

When evil threatens, who will find the faith to fight it?

In an island kingdom where the Old Ways hold fast and a man’s worth lies entirely in his skill with the sword, Conor Mac Nir is a musician and a follower of a forbidden faith–problematic for any man, but disastrous for the son of the king.

When Conor is sent away to a neighboring kingdom to secure a treaty, he learns that his ability with the harp is a talent that traces back to the magical foundations of a once-united Seare. But his newfound home is soon placed in peril, entangling Conor in a plot that has been unfolding since long before his birth.

Only by leaving both kingdoms behind and committing himself to an ancient warrior brotherhood can Conor discover the part he’s meant to play in Seare’s future. But is he willing to sacrifice everything–including the woman he loves–to follow the path his God has laid before him?

Personal Review

I’ve never had a love-hate relationship with a book like this before. Some things I absolutely loved. Other things aggravated me so much I had to put the book down–just to pick it back up again.

So to make this easier and more structured than any common old rant, I’m going to list what I liked and what I disliked and explain a bit about each.

What I Liked:

• Male Main Character

This one was the main reason I picked up the book. A fantasy book which doesn’t have some kick-butt heroine as the main character! A breath of fresh air!

There is a good portion of the book where the love interest is the point of view character, but they are less than that of the main character, Conor. I absolutely loved getting to read a book with a male lead rather than a female lead, as I was getting a little tired of so many females dominating literature. And I relate more to the male characters, even if I am a female myself.

• The Brotherhood

Another concept I looked forward to reading about was this ancient warrior brotherhood. And it did not disappoint! I’ve always loved reading about groups of knights bonding together in brotherhood, and even historical groups of elite knights like the Knights Templar. So this people group was super neat, from their culture to how they fought and lived. It reminded me very much of the Knights Templar and Hospitaller, at least in hierarchy.

• The Mentor and Ally

I did enjoy Conor’s character, don’t get me wrong. But my favorite characters in the book had to be two people in the Brotherhood–the Brotherhood head, Liam, and Conor’s friend and the next head of the Brotherhood, Eoghan.

Liam is calm, secretive, but wants to do right and quietly orchestrates things behind the scenes so everything falls into place. He’s a bit stuck in his ways, but he also allows Conor to go his own way (and it’s mentioned that he seems to be the only person who understands Conor’s calling, as well).

Eoghan is probably my favorite since he, for awhile, employs my favorite trope of “hidden nobility”. While he’s not nobility, he does keep quiet that he is Liam’s apprentice, training to be the next head of the Brotherhood, until Conor stumbles upon him practicing some magnificent swordsmanship. Eoghan also is very self-sacrificial. In order to help Conor fulfill his calling, Eoghan binds himself forever to the Brotherhood, even when he wanted to be free from it and forge his own path.

• The Irish Celtic Inspiration

I’m a sucker for anything medieval, so this, along with the rest of the elements mentioned above (and the Christian aspect mentioned below) is what made this a much anticipated read. The Irish Celtic inspiration was a nice addition–at times, the terminology became overwhelming, and while there’s a glossary at the front, I’m someone who likes to infer rather than look at a glossary, what a name or word means. That being said, some of it I could infer, and it was a nice touch to what could have been an otherwise more mainstream medieval fantasy novel. (Not that I would have minded that, either!)

• The Christian Elements

The Christian elements in this are very thinly disguised. Basically, the names of Jesus and God are changed to something different, and angels are called Companions and demons have their own names. There’s a unique touch of magic too, but it is aligned either with God or the devil (his side represented by the demons and a “Red Mage” who is said to use blood magic. This is not described beyond that, nor do we see any sort of spells or anything, though there is mentions of the evil magic (like demons) looking for “new hosts”.) Of course, God’s “magic” is much more powerful than the evil one’s, and keeps it at bay.

The characters also realistically struggle with faith in God, and pray and talk to Him. One girl is even resurrected when Jesus, by His in-story name, tells her there’s still stuff she needs to do.

What I Disliked:

• One of the Ways the Mentor was Portrayed

This requires a bit of story detail to explain. In the story, the love interest, Aine, drowns in a lake before being resurrected by Jesus. Conor has a vivid dream of this, and goes to Liam, the mentor mentioned above, to ask him about it, because Liam has a gift of seeing things like that. Liam merely states Aine is in God’s hands and that Conor needs to let her go to focus on God’s plan and the path in front of him.

Yet multiple characters call him a liar for telling Conor Aine died. First of all, he never said she died, Conor just assumed that’s what he meant. Secondly, even if he had said that–Aine did die. She was just brought back. Either way, Liam did not lie–and he was spot on about Conor needing to focus on God’s plan rather than some girl. Which leads me to my next and largest dislike (hate?) of the book.

• The Romance

Now, I’m very picky with romance anyway. Especially when there’s romance in a male character led book. I probably should have expected not to like the romance. I probably should have expected that, since this is a woman author, and most women authors put romance majorly in their stories (not that men don’t, but usually their stories are more action focused rather than romance focused) that this story would have more romance than not. But I thought, with a male main character who joins a group of warriors known as The Brotherhood, there couldn’t be that much romance.

And… there wasn’t. Not face to face romance, with both characters together, that is. But there was this annoying pining, this constant thinking of both of them about the other, and their motivations both being about each other.

I wanted to like the romance so bad. Like I said, there are some romances I do like, albeit few and far between. And I might have liked it. But the author chose the wrong girl for it. At least, for me. Let me explain.

In the story, there are two sisters. Niamh is the oldest, the full blooded sister of a king (and therefore the princess). Aine is the younger half sister. Niamh is described as sullen and rude, whereas Aine is described as reserved.

This is all fine and good until the story progresses. “Reserved” Aine is not reserved at all. A day or two after they meet, Aine and Conor are together almost all the time. A reserved person (like myself) takes much longer to warm up to people than just a day. Especially a stranger whose family has been at odds and war with mine for years. Aine even kisses Conor’s cheek, and in the words of someone who I told this to, no, that’s not reserved, that’s a flirt. And later on, it’s described the “shy” girl has grown into a commander. As if being reserved and quiet is a character flaw to grow from. (Also, as shown above, she was not shy.)

Also, Aine is a free girl, being a half-sister. She had a vision of Conor, so that’s why she came to her brother’s court, and has some healing gifts among others. She can leave pretty much whenever she chooses, marry who she wants, and so on.

Niamh, the “sullen and rude” one, on the other hand, is a full-blooded princess. This, consequently, means she has no control over her life. And just because she doesn’t jump up and accept Conor, the heir of the kingdom they’ve been at war with for years, doesn’t make her rude and sullen, it makes her relatable and reserved. This girl is the reserved one. She’s the one who has higher stakes–her brother is using her as a bargaining chip to secure alliances–she has no control over her life, but she wants control, at least in matters of love.

And yet she’s called rude and sullen. Nice.

Another thing about the romance. As I mentioned above, the constant pining grew annoying. Conor and Aine are teenagers when they meet–sixteen and seventeen, maybe? They know each other for only a few months, but when they leave each other, they’re “in love” and kiss. They’ve only known each other for a few months! (Yes, teen romances are a huge pet peeve of mine, so maybe that’s why I’m so rant-y here, but bear with me.)

Two to three years later, they finally meet again. Both have changed. A lot. But literally, the first night of their first meeting, they agree to get married when the current story conflict is over. Absolutely no getting to re-know each other (not that they really knew each other in the first place) no questions about anything (other than if they still feel the same way about each other, which–yes, of course they do because they’ve been fantasizing about each other for two years, come on!) just, they agree to marry on the spot.

My biggest pet peeve about this is literally written in the book. Remember what I mentioned Liam said above? About Conor needing to focus on God’s plan rather than Aine? Well, in my opinion, that never actually happens. Conor’s motivations are always about Aine, Aine, Aine. Even when it’s supposedly God leading him to someplace.

For example, when Conor realizes what his calling is and what God wants him to do, his first thought is not “I’m going to go carry out this mission because God called me to it and to save lives” his first thought is “Aine, I’m coming.” Which again, ties back to why I feel like Aine is his motivation in everything, not God. And yet I feel it’s portrayed as the two are tied together, that God’s will for his life is just Aine. That Conor never really surrendered Aine to God and focused solely on God and allowed God to lead him and Aine together if that was His will, and if not, to happily follow His Will. But that’s apparently okay because Aine is God’s will for his life, so yay!

At least for Aine’s part, she saw that she was dwelling too much on Conor and it was distracting her from God’s calling on her life. That was one point in her favor.

And it backs up my main point. The romance, I felt, was a major distraction from the call of God on each of their lives. I never felt like, with Conor especially, that they were 100% sold out to God and let go of their infatuations with each other. Which makes the final question of the blurb rather ironic: But is he willing to sacrifice everything–including the woman he loves–to follow the path his God has laid before him? Well, he doesn’t need to sacrifice the woman he loves because she is God’s path for him, apparently.

This is, unfortunately, yet again reinforced by the very end. Conor is given ONE LAST CHANCE to redeem himself, to choose to go after his God-given calling and stop this war. Or he can go after his kidnapped lady love. What does he choose? In the answer to the rhetorical question above, Conor clearly is not willing to sacrifice the woman he loves to follow the path God has laid before him. A very very disappointing end to the story, if I may say so myself.

Content: There were two uses of the Ba- word, but they were used as their literal meaning, not as a cuss word.

Rating: I’m going to have to give this a very hard 3.5 Stars, just because I absolutely love the concepts mentioned in my liked section (many of those are my favorite things to read about in general) but the romance was so hard to reconcile myself to, and as I mentioned above, I had to put the book down at times (and I was personally hurt about how being reserved was looked at as a flaw or being rude).

Will I be reading on in the series? Maybe. Just–not right away. Maybe in a couple years, when I can reconcile myself to Conor and Aine and their relationship which drove me batty. But from what I’ve seen about the rest of the trilogy, I have a feeling that the next books will only annoy me further. So I might not. Still, I would recommend this to someone who doesn’t mind most romance subplots, as it is an intriguing (albeit for me, infuriating) book.

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Thank you for reading my rant review! Have you read this book? Do you plan to, if you haven’t? Do you know of any books with the above Liked elements in them for me to read? What about books with no romance (which I’m starting to feel maybe I need?) Let me know in the comments below! God bless! ~ Kay Adelin