The Silvered by Tanya Huff

10/10

Tanya Huff's The Silvered has to be one of the best books I have read in 2013, which is saying something as I read a lot of good books last year. Set in the land of Aydori, the book focuses on Mirian Maylin, a low level mage whose parents are trying to marry her off to any member of The Pack in order to raise their social standing. The Pack are werewolves who protect the land of Aydori with their high powered mages, who specialise in one of 6 areas: Water, Air, Fire, Earth, Metals and Healing. This has kept them strong, protected and they are at peace with the people of the surrounding duchies, but Aydori now finds itself in a war against the Kresentian Empire, who have decided that werewolves are abominations against their religion.

The Silvered is very detailed and moves with a good pace from the very beginning - when we discover the situation in which the characters find themselves in - to Mirian and Tomas’ epic quest into the heart of the Empire, following the kidnapped members of the Mage Pack. The two have to learn to rely and trust each other, as the trip is long and arduous, and they have a lot of things they must learn if they mean to survive.

I had not read anything by Tanya Huff before and I was most impressed by the way she found to portray the horrors of war realistically, as well as showing the atrocities that can be caused by armies and individuals who are just following orders. This doesn’t mean to say you are dragged from one shock to the next, instead Huff shows the value of humanity, of believing in yourself and having to sometimes forget the horror that has gone before and just live in the moment. I found myself haunted by this story and the need to know what was going to happen to these characters was so strong that I instinctively found myself rooting for them. If Huff ever revisits these characters or this world I would gladly read it.

I really enjoyed the time I spent with the characters and even though the narrative can be quite grim and dark in places the characters still shine so that you hope that there will a glimmer of a happy ending for them. It is also good that although the main characters are Mirian and Tomas we are shown many other characters' perspectives, such as the captured Mages and what they are going through and their will to survive and Emperor Leopold, who is forever trying to expand his Empire by whatever means necessary. Each character has a distinct personality, from the lowliest of townspeople to the mightiest of men.