Fiction: The Thousand Eyes by A.K. Larkwood

      The Thousand Eyes is a fantasy adventure mostly told from the point of view of Suthmili, a human renegade-mage, and “Tal” Talasseres, a feckless former assassin and elf-like Tlaanthothe.  The story begins with the two of them and a tusked, orcish Oshaaru named Csorwe breaking into an ancient ruin. 
     Suthmili struggles to keep her patron goddess Zinandour from taking over her body whenever she performs magic, a secret she hides from her lover Csorwe. 
      More interpersonal conflict simmers between Tal and Csorwe, who were rivals formerly in the employ of the wizard Belthandros Sethennai.  They put aside their mutual animosity only while on the job. 

      The job surveying ancient relics goes terribly wrong when they discover a soldier suspended outside of time in the heart of the ruin.  The soldier, Cherenthisse, is an Echentyri serpent stuck in humanoid form. 
​      Cherenthisse convinces the others to help her find an ancient temple of her goddess: ​Iriskavaal, Lady of the Thousand Eyes—whom she hopes will transform her into her true serpent form.  

      Oranna, a priestess of the death god The Unspoken One, helps them navigate to the temple, believing that it contains an important artifact she wants to access.
      Then the wizard Bethandros Sethennai shows up, also determined to find the artifact.  His appearance creates significant inner turmoil for Csorwe and Tal who both felt betrayed by him after years of loyal service.
​      When the group finds the artifact, the surprising outcome is tragic.

      Then the book skips ahead fourteen years.  This jump forward was disconcerting and distancing, but once I settled in again I was able to reinvest in the story. 

      A new character is introduced: Tsereg, a fourteen-year-old Oshaaru (orc) fugitive bent on destroying the reigning empress. 
​      Like Oranna, Tsereg serves The Unspoken One, eldest of the gods.  She’s wonderfully determined and wholly committed to her cause.

      I missed seeing the world through Csorwe’s eyes, our main narrator in the first book, The Unspoken Name, although we do get a little of her point of view toward the end.  I didn’t find the narration of Suthmili or Tal as compelling as Csorwe's, although Tal has a transformative character arc that added greatly to the novel’s pleasurable conclusion.  And the complex romantic relationships between the characters also add depth to the novel,  as does Suthmili's unwavering dedication to Csorwe.

      The  novel explores different variations of god-mortal connections.  In this world, magic is performed by accessing a god’s power, but that generally comes at a price.  Oranna develops “mage-blight” after her prolonged exposure to The Unspoken One. 
      She says, “I have the mage-blight, and I’m dying of it.  I watched my teachers at the House of Silence succumb, one after another.  Joint and muscle pain, chills, fatigue, fragile bones, incoherence, and death.  Much to look forward to.”

      The only way to sidestep this blight seems to be by allowing the god to fully incarnate in one’s mortal body, but that brings the danger of possession and annihilation of the mortal personality.
      The Thousand Eyes wasn't as enthralling as The Unspoken Name, yet it still has much to enjoy.  There are unlikely alliances, betrayals, and double-crosses throughout the novel, and the final climax is both unexpected and satisfying. 

---

For more stories of god-mortal alliances, read The Unspoken Name (also by A.K. Larkwood),
The City of Blades, City of Miracles, Paladin’s Grace
Books with embodied gods: The Spear Cuts through Water, The Witch’s Heart, Fevered Star

---