Axel’s promotion isn’t as gratifying as he expected it to be. Now he’s on a quest to find the happiness he’s always lacked.
Title: Knightfall
Author: C.L. Embry
Genre(s): Fantasy
Word Count: 80,000
Publisher: Pendulum Publications
Publication Date: 10/5/2024
Summary:
Serving as a castle knight isn’t as gratifying as Axel envisioned. When not enduring torment from the other guards, he is exasperating the very nobles he swore an oath to protect, and he can’t help resenting what his life has become. Filled with bitterness about his past, he finds himself unable to break free from the repetitive patterns that lead to the same tired outcomes.
However, everything changes when he witnesses the execution of a mysterious alchemist. Determined to escape the oppressive confines of his miserable life, Axel becomes obsessed with mastering the art of gold transmutation.
Unsatisfied with his job and plagued by repeated failures in his relationships, he embarks on a quest to locate the last known alchemist, who vanished more than a century ago. In his reckless pursuit, Axel risks life and honor to learn the secrets of alchemy and find true happiness by awakening to a new way of living.
My Review:
The promotion from Watchman to Black Guard is not as gratifying as Axel expected from his career as a castle knight. The public execution of a mysterious alchemist is the only fleeting spark in his bleak life of bitterness and dissatisfaction. As a last-ditch effort to save his knighthood, Axel’s commanding officer tasks him with escorting a young baron home to give Axel a respite from the kingdom. When Axel botches that mission, his last hope is to find the previously known alchemist in his reckless pursuit of happiness.
“Life is nothing but a series of causes and their ensuing effects. An effect on one situation will be a cause in another. There is no luck or chance.”
Axel finds himself adrift in the melancholy of his life. Plagued by repeated failures in his past, his callous approach to life immediately endangers his new position as a Black Guard. As Axel navigates his journey to return the young baron to his home, the reader peels away the layers of his past.
“The mind perceives what it needs to be right so that it feels safe. This habit reinforces those beliefs, strengthening the illusion.”
Author C.L. Embry does an excellent job making the setting come to life. The secluded valley with the “field of lotus flowers” is detailed with just enough description to ignite the imagination. Instead of describing the area, Embry breathes life into the setting as if it were a character. Whereas Axel’s mind is constantly overworked and overprocessing information, the lotus flowers become a lifeline of compartmentalization. Axel was told by his mentor to try not to think about a certain color in the array of lotus flowers. The act of being told not to think about something became his sole focus. Embry takes the simplicity of lotus flowers to explain the perception of a thing and what the mind believes to be true.
“Your thoughts and beliefs lead directly to your experience. You are the cause, and your life is the effect.”
Overall, it’s an interesting story. Axel’s personality made it a little difficult for me to stay engaged, which is the reason I couldn’t rate it more than 3 stars.
ARC received from Reedsy.com