The Provenance (Book One of Astar’s Blade) is a history of a fictional world. Particularly the area of the Mid-Run Valley and a few other locations within the world. This fictional history is told through two time lines, the present period of the world and the distance past of the world. The stories follow both the actions of the world’s deities and their children, and the life of a young man whose family is cursed with the vision of ghosts.
As the story progresses, you learn about how the past worked to create the world that the rest of the story takes place it. You experience everything from flawed gods with an ancient Greek mythology feel to them, to a young man’s desperate climb of a mountain to learn what ghosts so desperately want him to know. Is he simply mad or is there really something waiting for him to learn?
The Provenance is a great story. It is not very often that an author offers such an in-depth history of the world they have built. Often you are merely given as much knowledge as a current plot requires you to know. Sneak peaks in to different aspects of the world the main character sits in. The Provenance, however, pours two histories at you which tie together in to a wonderful story line allowing you to learn much of the world. If other novels by Joe Lyon provide as much detail in to their stories as this one, I will be hooked to the series for life.
The story of The Provenance flows well until the end, where my one issue arises regarding this story. The ending seems far too sudden, as though it was thrown in rather quickly. Despite this single issue, reading about the journey that leads to this climax makes up for sudden ending, and also leaves one interested in future books of the series. There are some questions that I hope the other novels answer.
Fans of fantasy should pick up The Provenance and any other work by Joe Lyon they may get their hands on!
You can find out more about The Provenance on Reedsy Discovery https://reedsy.com/discovery/book/the-provenance-joe-lyon#review