It had a creepy evil wizard, a stone-hard chief, a sensitive and heart-breaking hero, Enneck,  and his love interest, the also heart-breaking Miner, who was punished for love with incredible cruelty.

 

It has no sex and very few tension - it is more about two lonely souls who become close until they are the world to each other.

 

The world-building was a bit confusing, but did support the plot.

 

And major kudos for inventing Stasis - it is majorly creepy and awful.

Okay. So I've only read this book multiple times and just realized I DID NOT REVIEW IT FOR SOME UNFATHOMABLE REASON. What is wrong with me?! Good thing I remember enough to write SOMETHING down...

Praesidium is a polis situated adjacent to a bay, ruled by the Chief, who happens to be Ennek's father. As the second son, Ennek has had the freedom to explore his own selfish interests while his older brother is raised to become the next in succession.

I could gush and pour lots of praise about Kim Fielding's ability to craft such a magnificent fantasy world. And by "magnificent," I don't mean all rainbows and sunshine. Because the author has developed a world where cruel things can happen.

Like stasis.

And when Ennek finds the person who has haunted his dreams since childhood, he can't help but start something he could not take back. Because Miner, the prisoner who has lied in "stasis" for 300 years, becomes more than a curiosity. And in keeping Miner away from prying eyes in this homophobic society, the Chief and the Wizard of the polis, Ennek will have to shed the life of indulgences to protect what is truly important to him.

So there is magic.
There is romance.
There is even the start of an adventure.

There is no sex, though that's okay. Because I love everything else about this book/series. My only complaint that knocked this from a 5 star read to a 4 star is that it does take a while for Miner to come into the picture. There's a lot of Ennek and world building at first, so it does start slow. But once Miner is there, I became a very happy reader.

*gushes some more*

This is good.

3.75 stars. I really wanted to give this one a higher rating, but I had some issues with it.It had a slow start. For about the first 1/4 of the book, it's mainly background information and character development. It does pick up, but it takes a little bit to get there. The other problem I had was the sense of time/overall setting of it. At times, it almost seemed as if the world was similar to ours in some type of fantasical type place, and others, it had almost medieval feel to it with castles and such. And if it weren't for the author telling me, there are places where the character ages years, but yet his 'voice' doesn't seem to really change much. It was a bit off putting. That said, I did enjoy it and I'm interested enough to continue with the other two books in the series. The concept of prison for some, by placing them in a stasis (sort of a magically fueled death of sorts) was interesting. I'm curious to see how life goes for both Ennek and Miner.