Price of a Thousand Blessings

Price of a Thousand Blessings was one of my most anticipated books coming out this year. Fantasy with a focus of the fantastic, a gay lead who isn’t totally consumed by a romance plotline, and an appealing cover. It didn’t quite hit the heights I was hoping for, but I’ve already purchased the sequel, and this is exactly the type of story I wish traditional publishing were willing to pick up more often. 

Elevator Pitch:
Cymin is a monk, orphaned at 4 years old and fostered at a religious temple that turned him into one of the most skilled mages of his generation. He now represents the East Deity, the rising sun, in this year’s festival. It’s his last year before being sent to work at the Storm Towers to repay his debts to the government. This year is special though, as the ancient immortal Wraiths have come, once more ready to select apprentices after centuries of isolation. Unfortunately, Cymin ends up sacrificing his own future to stop a bomb from killing him (and everyone else at the arena) skyrocketing his debt and placing him in the control of National Security as a spy to investigate the mysteries of the Wraiths by tagging along with their journey home. 

What Worked For Me
Hale crafted one of the best Magitech settings I’ve encountered. It’s fairly common for these fantasy worlds with modern elements (trains, electricity, etc) to feel gimmicky. They’ll use pun names, tongue in cheek references to pop-culture brands, and generally give the world a lighthearted feel that can clash with a more serious storyline. Not the case here. A moving picture star plays a prominent role in the story. National Security uses magic to turn themselves into faceless slendermen, and the society’s mandatory patriotism suffices every part of their culture. I haven’t read anything quite like this blend, and I loved how the more classic fantasy elements of gods and spells mixed with modernity in a way that felt natural instead of cheap.

On the sentence level, this story is delightful to read. It’s got lush descriptions, and Cymin’s internal monologue is exactly what I’m looking for in a main character. It’s the type of story I’d turn on while doing some cleaning and sort of lose myself in the flow of the story. Escapism at its finest, without descending fully into wish fulfillment – though to be clear, a story where you get sucked up into a grand adventure and are maybe super special is at least a little bit wish fulfillment. 

What Didn’t Work For Me
There were two main issues I had with this book: characters and pacing. On the character front, I liked the few characters who got development and attention. Cymin, his sister, the mysterious wraith Lathonde: all great. However, for ⅔ of the story, Cymin travels with a group of around 20 people, and Hale doesn’t do a good enough job differentiating them from each other. On the surface there are differences: a few swordsman mages who like to have their shirts off, a girl so shy it gets in the way of communication, etc. However, when one spoke, I constantly found myself forgetting whether the character was a Wraith, apprentice, or filmmaker. They just ended up blending together.

On the pacing side, this book is a slow burn: romance, plot, character arcs, etc. The prose never felt like it dragged at the sentence level, and I loved how the world unfolded naturally. However, I kept craving for more to happen. The first and last 50 pages were exciting, but the middle 300 felt like an extended narration of Cymin’s day. An enjoyable narration in a delightful world, but not one that began to lose me because I was craving for the stakes to raise. The primary culprit, I think, is the spy elements. Cymin has ostensibly been recruited by National Security, but in reality his instructions never went far beyond ‘get close to the Wraiths and get them to trust you.’ I wish Hale had been able to integrate a few small ‘missions’ to help raise the tension and stakes in the story. When I got to the end of book 1, I felt like I’d read Part 1 of a full length novel. However a Part 1 that is 450 pages long probably should have been condensed. In the end, I’d have liked a bit more tension and conflict in this book, whether it came in the form of action, intrigue, or interpersonal drama.

In Conclusion: a frustratingly slow-paced book with too large a cast, but with gorgeous writing and a setting I fell in love with.

• Characters: 2
• Worldbuilding: 5
• Craft: 4
• Themes: 3
• Enjoyment: 4