The Downs (Belen’s Review)

Title: The Downs
Author: Kim Fielding and K.C. Kelly
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: September 30th 2016
Genre(s): M/M Fantasy, Dystopian
Length: 3 hrs and 37 mins
Reviewed by: Belen
Heat Level: 2 flames out of 5
Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5
Blurb:

As the son of a wealthy man, Enitan Javed has spent his life frivolously – drinking, fighting, and making love. But after his father dies, Enitan is unjustly accused of murdering him and is given the harshest sentence possible. Judged irredeemable, he is banished to the Downs. As even young children know, nothing lives in the Downs except demons who delight in torturing the condemned. Brutalized by the men who transport him to his fate, Enitan has nothing left but his thirst for vengeance.

His plummet to the Downs nearly kills him, and Enitan finds himself battered and helpless in a frightening, mysterious land. But many surprises await him there, including a strange man named Rig. And the realization that the demons he must face aren’t at all the ones he expected.

Kim Fielding builds an amazing dystopian fantasy world full of deadly things, including the darkness that can eat at Enitan’s soul if he lets it, and she does it in a quiet unhurried pace that offers redemption, hope, revenge, and love.

Slow and steady. That describes both the pace of the story and Rig, the man who heals Enitan after he’s thrown to the Downs.

Wrongly judged for a crime he did not commit, Enitan is brutalized before being hurled into the Downs, a place where criminals and banished are thrown to die. When Enitan survives the fall, he is found by Rig, a gentle, but scarred, giant who helps heal Enitan’s body.

I loved that Rig has his own scars, both physical and spiritual, but Enitan helps to heal him as well.

“We don’t see the stars often in the Downs. When they do shine, it’s like a beautiful gift. Rare and unexpected. Everyone wanders outside to gape, and some people get so enamored they bump into houses and trees. We call them star-blind…That’s me. You make me star-blind.”

Beautifully narrated by K.C. Kelly, I was drawn into the story immediately and never lost focus for a single moment until the end. I loved his choice of character voices, his pacing, and almost soothing tone. This was just an absolute treat to listen to.