Book Review - Shadows of the Northlands by Vishwesh Desai

The Shadows of the Northlands

From the back cover:
This is the Empire.
The greatest nation in the known world.
And is at war

When the crown prince hears about cities and villages attacked and razed to the ground, the land blackened and left infertile, the already shackled military commands the maverick bounty-hunter Merin and the slick courtier mage Rikkard to find the root of the destruction.
However, as they tackle this mystery, they discover an ancient hatred spanning centuries, with a dark secret linked to Merin and the painful past behind the satirizing cavalier. A swashbuckling tale of suspenseful fantasy and horrifying mystery that is loaded with humour, Shadows of the Northlands will leave you riveted from cover to cover.

Book Details:
Title: Shadows of the Northlands
Author: Vishwesh Desai
Publisher: Estrade Publishers
Pages: 476+
Cost: 300 INR

My Review:
From the blurb, one can get to know the genre of the book. Yes. Fantasy!
It always helps to read a fantasy and disappear from the real world for a while. This hyped me up, and I sat down to read this nearly 500 pages book.
The first few pages are dedicated to the introduction. You are slowly taken into their world. But, in the first few pages, what made me a little less enthusiastic in the journey was the 'words'.
Yes! Words! I know that if I am supposed to read a book, I must be well versed. I thought so.
But, those few pages made me look up to the dictionary for few words for which I was not able to decipher the meaning, which made me even more curious. With such trips to the online and offline dictionaries, I ended up learning about the Kingdom better.
After that, it didn't give me such a rough path. Why has the author oozed all his vocabulary in the first few pages? It was impressive. But, yet demanding. Also, it could only be me, for the distance between literature and my brain is becoming wider and wider by the year.
The book also has plenty of pages to cover. But, it didn't feel like a mammoth task. Once I got into the story, I was hooked.
The characters took charge from there, and I was into the story, until the end. Whether it was their journey or their conversations, it was well written.
But, the shock was waiting for me at the end. As a rule, I do not Google about the book or the author until I have completely read the book.
And as it was, I read the Foreword at the last. I was really awestruck reading it. I will leave it as a suspense for you all. But, it was worth it.