Pantheon

A rare thing in a positive review: I'll start with the flaws. Pantheon has the classic "first book in a series" problem — too much setup, too many names, too much terminology thrown at you in the opening pages. Kymir, hara, nevu, darma, Sebel, Jingsehi, prefectures, Mystic Order… Landeros overwhelms you before winning you over. I say this from experience — it happens to me too. You can feel the enthusiasm, but it should be tempered to avoid giving readers nervous tics!

But then…

When Atty rides Lightfoot, when Yaphet dreams of the massacre of his prefecture, when the fighting erupts and the blood flows (and flows!), the book finds its rhythm and never lets go.

Pantheon showcases fantastic faunal worldbuilding! Landeros's creatures are memorable: the hara (feathered running birds), the nevu (hunting dogs with razor teeth), the cutlass walkers (raptors with scythe-like claws?). This isn't your usual fantasy bestiary — it's a believable ecosystem.

A theme I've already noticed in Landeros's work is racial tension, and he handles it very well: both Atty and Yaphet are brown-skinned Sebelians in a world of greys. They're called "mudskin" and "droppings." Their difference is obvious, undeniable, and it marks them as outsiders within their own culture. It's an elegant way to explore discrimination without being didactic.

The book wobbles a bit from excess. There are entire chapters of religious politics when a single scene would suffice (this is, of course, a HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE take, so take it with a grain of salt!). At times, the dialogue explains instead of showing. And above all, some chapters, which I won't spoil, arrive too late to truly integrate; they clearly feel like setup for Pantheon: The Phantom (the sequel!) rather than a conclusion to this volume.

These are, however, execution issues, not vision problems. Landeros has built a world I want to return to, with characters I care about.

Landeros knows what he's doing — he's not just a writer who wants to write. He's a writer who HAS something to say. And that makes a huge difference.