Acacia, by David Anthony Durham

Acacia is a wide-sprawling book of fantasy. It begins with four royal children who are all very different. They are the children of the King of Akaran, on an island paradise.

When their father, the King, is assassinated in a pre-emptive strike in the coming war, the children must flee. They’re secreted away to different places in Durham’s massive world - previously determined by their king’s father in case of such an eventuality – and the book resumes years later when the children have reached adulthood.

They’ve all had seriously different upbringings, which gives four unique outlooks and four unique storylines as the book goes on. The Mein are set to take over the world using their army of unknown monsters from beyond the borders, and the royal children must discover who they are to stop them.

This book encapsulates a lot. There is so much going on. Each of the royal children has their own story – then there is the story of the Mein – plus half a dozen other short stories that all tie into each other.

The amount of dedication is phenomenal, and I would say more interesting even than the Wheel of Time. This only books one, but so much happens that you wonder if Durham couldn’t have fashioned himself his own 14 book series.

The themes are more adult than most fantasy novels, which makes it a better read for me. There is gratuitous violence, drug-addicted nations, graphic nudity, among other things. His writing is superb.

Never once did I feel bogged down by too much information or redundant scenes. But it’s not fast. That’s the only complaint I have. Even though everything feels important, it moves at a snail’s pace. I give it a 8/10, just because it took me so long to push through the whopping 750 pages.