"The extraordinary Jes Jarldane is under dire contract to his Divine-king as a bounty hunter, one of the king's chosen 'Sons of the Son'. Jes himself is unaware of the massive and secret power hidden within him; a power that will be unleashed when he is sent to hunt down the Divine-king's missing wife, the King-Maker, Zahra Veeta. Hunting this elusive prey alone through searing deserts and towering mountain ranges, Jes' ordeal forces him to confront his true self; a tortured self so powerful and destructive that he will strip away all the falsehoods of the 'Men of Truth'. He will strip away all that remains of life on Earth, leaving only a long open-ended destiny that mirrors the Eternity of the Sun, the creative power of the Sun, and its ultimate power of destruction. All of this hidden within the body of a boy, the Son of the Sun..." But there's far more to Jes than just a mere bounty hunter; he was so abused in his younger life that he has lost all knowledge of himself, and so, when the Divine-King sends him on one last hunt--for the King's missing wife, the King Maker, Zahra Veeta, Jes journey's alone out into the searing deserts of his land, where under the power of the sun, he finds that long lost hidden knowledge of himself; and it is a knowledge so powerful, he could bring the entire world to a complete end...or, he can rebirth it. What will Jes choose?

All the land spread out before him as he walked the desert, and the sands swept on into the boundless distances. Behind him came Deva and her women, trailing Adare and his two companions. The followers brought up the camels, packed and ready for the final leg homeward. As the day wore on, the divisions behind Jes grew wider and wider. Deva and her women walked far to his right, while Adare and his men walked far to his left, all with an intensity of atmosphere between them that he could feel worrying at his back. He could feel them watching him, one side in possession, one side in protection. Somehow, as the day turned to evening, he knew there would be conflict between Deva and Adare. He knew he must stand in the middle, just as he walked now, centre of them all. Night came, colder than ever. Stars like frozen crystals sparked fiercer than diamonds as the wind blew in icy gusts across the sands. The absence of the sun gave freedom to the forces of space, endlessly dark and cold above. The small troop divided into opposites and Jes stood still and watched them making camp, and when they had settled, they looked at him, imploring him silently, Make fire, make your sun come to warm us. Deva’s eyes, black and shining, showed the deepest need. So cold now, she had wrapped herself in layers of clothing, her beautiful hair covered by a fur-lined hood. She stood in the whipping wind, staring into his eye. Going to him then, Deva pushed into his arms, where Jes wrapped his cloak around her and kissed her lips. She whispered, “Make the sun, please Jesse, make your sun come and warm us. Your power is not to be feared; you are not a god but a man with powers beyond our own, use them, learn to control them. Use your willpower and warm us, warm me. I love you.” “You love what you do not understand,” Adare interrupted, pushing between her and Jes, talking into her face. “You dare to love a god? You, a mere woman, daughter of a witch, corrupter of god’s flesh? No mere man is my brother. He is a god and you tempt him to use his powers for your own weak needs. Withstand the cold and set him aside.” Looking between Adare and Deva, Jes could not decide. He saw and recognised Deva’s need for warmth, to see the power of his sun and he remembered…remembered Rain. Make the sun, Jesse, make your sun. Beside him now stood the very man who had killed Rain for the making of that sun. “I can’t,” he answered Deva. “I cannot control it.” “You can! I have seen you control it. Remember in the forest? How you brought the sun on my face? You can control it. You do not need to fear your brother anymore. With your sun you can free yourself from him, from the Divine-king and his nonsense prophesies, from all that binds you. Make it come and show him that your power cannot be manipulated for the ends of others. That is Adare’s true intent: to manipulate you for his own ends.” “And what is it that you do now, woman? If not manipulate for your own ends?” Adare snarled at her, “Speaker of Heresy.” “At least I am no inquisitor,” Deva replied to Adare, softly, sadly. “No murderer of innocent women, of knowledge. I am a witness to all of you men of truth. The Sisters of Suniva died because of you, Ohn Adare, Divine-king’s High Inquisitor. The Sisters here are survivors of your inquisitions, your manipulations. We are all your victims, Jes most of all. You will never stop in your quest for power, never.” The wind blew stronger around them and Jes turned to Adare; he said, “Inquisitor? The temple in the mountains, raped and destroyed, that was you? Yes, of course, doing the king’s dirty work as you told me. That was the work you were doing for him, hunting and killing innocent women. And you and your Men of Truth call me the Black Sun. You call me that because you fear I will destroy you and your power.” He advanced on Adare. Adare stepped away, shaking his head, begging, “No, you do not understand. Destroy not our world, but all of the world, all of the world, Jes, all of it.” Adare dropped to his knees, snatched up Jes’ hands and pleaded, “Save us, do not destroy us. I beg you, I beg you my brother, my beloved brother.” And he kissed his brother’s hands in a savage act of contrition. “Forgive me. I cannot go on without your forgiveness, and if you will not, finish me now. Finish me before the king claims me in his Sacrificial Fire. I do not want to die that way.” Deva intervened, saying, “If you forgive him, Jesse, you will only free him to carry on with his evil. Forgiveness does not banish evil, but gives it permission to carry on. Let him go into his king’s fire, let him die that terrible way…the way he killed the Sisters.” And it all seemed too intense for Jes to decide between them.

Rating:

Reviewer: Stacey

Jes is hunting. That is his job, Bounty Hunter. But Jes is no ordinary bounty hunter, he is the king’s bounty hunter, sworn to serve him for life. But Jes doesn’t believe in his task anymore- dragging heretics before the king to be killed and made sacred in the sacred fire. He wants out, and his latest target, he believes, will buy him freedom. He finds his prey, his own brother Adare, a black robed priest of the king’s religion and a heretic, preaching against the king. Jes does his job, capturing Adare and bringing him before the king, suppressing the disgust and self-loathing rising in him at the process. But the king denies him his wish to be free, instead commanding Jes to prepare his own brother for sacrifice, even walking him up to the sacrificial pyramid, all the while Jes’ doubt, anger, and disgust rising. But before the pyre can be lit, one of the king’s wives drugs Jes, knocking him unconscious. He awakes to find the king has a new target, and if he values his own life, and the life of his mother, he will comply. But his hunt is filled with danger and experiences Jes never imagined. It changes his life and the lives of everyone on Earth forever.

Son of the Sun is a deeply moving, intensely emotional journey, a profound vision of a future in peril. The emotion that pours from the characters, especially Jes, is so insightful, so intense, that you almost get swamped in the revelations that come upon him, but the fluidity of the story keeps it moving at the same time. It’s powerful and makes you realize just how different this world could be in the wrong hands. If you're open-minded enough to take in the revelations in this story (of which many of us are already aware, but which become all the more amazing when seen through Jes' eyes) this story will resonate deeply for you. There are simply no words suitable to describe the intensity of this story - it’s one of the best I have ever read. Ever.

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