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This book alongside 'The Winter of the Witch' shall be the second book (in a row) where I give it five stars. I give this book five stars because I have never read something like it before, but I've heard of similiar stories in faerie tales. The authors (husband and wife duo) have taken a trope and turned it on its head.

The focus of the story, or our 'hero' is someone that I would never want as a hero. Frankly, I was quite afraid of how they would make the character likeable. The character is a 25 year old man who is leader of a troupe of soldiers in a city that plays off both medieval period and Rome. He reminds me a bit of Jaime Lannister when you first meet him - he is rude, handsome, sleeps with the married women of his generals, and frankly, gets away with anything and everyone. You meet him in a tavern, drunk as fuck, and showing off his excellent skills at the dagger (he has a woman with her back to wall and he throws 15 daggers outlining her frame - none hitting her). He loves when people fear him and remain afraid of him because of the power he holds.

One day, he sees a woman in town with her fiance. He chooses then and there to woo her because he had never fallen in love with someone so beautiful. She wants nothing to do with him and she dismisses his advances. Because this angers him, he eggs her fiance on and has him engage in a duel in the public square. The fiance accepts, but our 'hero' is a proud and talented swordsman that he inadvertently kills the fiance. This does not go unlooked by our 'witch' or 'magician' of the story who then challenges our 'hero' to a duel, bests him, and the marks his face with a scar... from that point on, everything changes... and our hero, well, his curse is one that is quite interesting. Is it mental or is it supernatural? Or is it both?

I loved that I truly hated this character but watched him go from top of the world to rock bottom within chapters (the chapters are long btw) and at one point the curse affects him so deeply that he wishes to kill himself to end it. The story reminded me of a vague, loose Beauty and the Beast... where the cursed one must learn to change or be forever doomed to be the way he is.

There is also a mysterious group of followers who believe the end of the world is to come and this may or may not be connected to the mysterious stranger who cursed our 'hero'.

What of the woman? What becomes of her? Does she meet him again? Are things the same or are they different between the two of them?

I mentioned the parallels between mental and supernatural, and there are so many ties to mental and human strife that I don't want to spoil the curse but just tease you enough to read the review and grab yourself a copy of the book. I will say that the final chapter had me on the edge of my seat and I finished the book wanting, pleading for it to be made into a movie. The only character I was able to cast in my head was the part of the Wanderer (the witch) as Mads Mikaelson.

So, if you were this intrigued by my review and you are looking for something fresh and unloved by the fantasy communities - pick this book up. If it weren't for the newly translated into English book by this couple I would have never known about it. I didn't rate Visa Nostra very highly (I think the translation was quite awful) but this solidified me on their books from now on. I can see why they won so many European Sci-Fi/Fantasy awards and I eagerly hope for more of their books to be adapted into English if they're as good as this one - hopefully by the same translator or equal that of.