I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Wheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells Series: Standalone
Published by Tor on 2024 November 19
Genres: Fantasy, Mythology
Pages: 311
Format: E-Arc
Source: Netgalley
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
In Duvalpore, where the Wheel of the Infinite must be remade every century or reality will suffer, the Wheel's guardians cannot cope with the damages that appear, and only the outcast Maskelle and Rian the swordsman can find the source of the problem.
Before reading this book, I did not even know who Martha Wells is until a quick search in Goodreads revealed that she’s one of those old beloved classic high fantasy authors. My bad. As far as I can remember, my whole world back in 2000 solely revolved on J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series…and well, the occasional Roald Dahl here and there. I refused to read anything not related Harry Potter. But anyway, back to the Wheel of Infinite, I did not know that it’s a reprint either when I requested the eARC from Netgalley. All I know is that the synopsis was really interesting and I just knew that I had to request it. I’m glad that I did because I loved it. It’s standalone, has a fascinating magical system, has very interesting characters, a mythos that felt so real, all packed in an average number of pages without making my head ache with so much info dump.
In the Wheel of Infinite, we follow the story of Maskelle and Rian who are from different kingdoms but both are exiled and are most likely desperate on the run from their haunting pasts. Maskelle was once a revered high ranking priest in Duvalpore but after acting on a false vision, she had lost the trust of her god, lost her powers, and became some sort of a pariah in Marai, the home of the highest ranking priest in the Empire, the Celestial One and well, Maskelle’s boss. Rian was once a soldier of high ranking Lord in Sintane and it was his great sense of self-preservation that ultimately lead him to escape his imminent death and cross paths with Maskelle. The story started off as a travelling adventure wherein the two accompanied an acting troupe encountering different paranormal obstacles as they are approaching Duvalpore.
Right off the bat, the Wheel of Infinite had immediately made it clear that the whole story is centered on the importance of gods’ and priests roles on the everyday lives of the people living in the world. The story is definitely is heavily focused on metaphysics that it’s interesting to see whether Wells can wrap up the whole package without boring the average reader. And well, the author did deliver for with the Wheel of Infinite, she was able to spin a tragic tale that is more than just spouting of sanctimonious philosophies. With all their powers and omniscience, the gods are not invincible and given the right amount of trauma, they’d go mad and eventually, go on a rampage destroying the citizens they have sworn to protect. This is what Maskelle has learned after being back in Duvalpore and being tasked to solve mysterious murders and dark signs on the Wheel of the Infinite. Otherwise, the reality will be warped and everything that was good will be destroyed.
I could not stress enough how I enjoyed this book because it has the right amount of length, the right amount of romance between two unlikely individuals whose ages are prolly in their mid to late forties, the right amount of humor peppered with sadness emanating from the tragic pasts of our characters, astonishing revelations and a conflict that is almost impossible to resolve but addressed wonderfully. It is really amazing because I’m usually a sucker for multi-installment high fantasy series because you know… there’s this belief that high fantasy series should be lengthy to keep you entertained and to keep you invested in the characters, in the plot, in the world building, in the lore, etc. But the Wheel of Infinite just broke that belief and here I am, gushing about how good this book is.