Willamette Sutta. Adamant in Dust. Solid Glory Writs, 2024.
For a shorter review, see 
Adamant in Dust by Willamette Sutta
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Adamant in Dust is the first installment of what looks like will be a fantasy story with some scope. Without giving too much away, there is a complicated dynastic plot, a mythical beast, a quest, and a “dark lord” type. While some things have become almost stereotypes in fantasy, Adamant in Dust has a bit of an oriental twist to it.
While many of the main characters are royalty, or royal wannabes, we really take note of Fu Ma (Chinese for “noble mother”), an ageless wise woman with martial skills. She comes from Meiwen, this novel’s orient (“beautiful justice” in Chinese) but she is helping out the more occidental kingdoms of Pennith and Bertingold.
Part of the story involves a quest over a mountain range a little reminiscent of the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West. In that medieval fantasy, the small band of adventurers travel through the Himalayas on their way to India. It seems every mountain has a demon that they have to fight. It is not quite the same in Adamant in Dust, but there are echoes.
In one of the other medieval Chinese romances, The Tale of the Three Kingdoms, there are a series of foreign invaders who attack from the north. So it seems here as well. These foreigners in the Three Kingdoms look really alien—some have yellow eyes, some have eyes with two pupils. So some of the invaders here have yellow eyes as well. (When I was a kid, there was a western novel called Yellow Eyes, but it was about a mountain lion.)
Adamant in Dust contains both contemporary politics and ancient prophecies that the main characters have to deal with. The King of Bertingold has two daughters and no sons. The King of neighboring Pennith has a son Teyrnon, his only heir. Both kings would like their offspring to marry. This would strengthen both kingdoms, maybe like when James of Scotland became King of England. But there is also an ancient prophecy (Fu Ma seems to understand these better than most) that promises a kind of golden age when a marriage between the two kingdoms takes place.
Such things are never easily accomplished. Princess Peregrine, the older of the two sisters, simply is not attracted to Teyrnan. Sadira, the younger of the two princesses, says she is willing to marry Teyrnan, but then she elopes or is abducted by the handsome knight Sir Launfal. (Did Helen of Troy go willingly with Paris? Depends on whom you read…) Oh, yeah, Launfal sometimes rides a wyvern.
Such creatures are the creation of Malchor, the evil ancient ruler in this tale. He lives in the frozen far north and has kept somewhat to himself for a number of generations, but seems intent to not only thwart the plans of the two kingdoms, but to begin a conquest of the other lands in the world of Miran, the continent or planet where our story takes place.
An enchanted Silmaril-like stone gives Malchor some of his power. Each king had such a stone, and so did Malchor. If someone could combine the power of all the stones (there were at least four), he or she could have true supernatural authority. Some of the stones had been broken, and fragments apparently show up from time to time. Others seem to have disappeared.
How much does Fu Ma know? What are Launfal’s motives? Will the prince marry at all? These remain to be discovered. Once we get past the introductory material, there is a lot of action. The battles are described clearly and strategies are planned out plainly, even if they do not always work. (The fog of war is real here.)
Fantasy readers will get a kick out of this, and Adamant in Dust may even pick up a few fans of historical romance. There are certainly some reminders of Lt. Wickham in Sir Launfal. Whether Teyrnan finds true love remains to be seen. Peregrine seems more impressed with Adlaren, the prince’s clever and courageous bodyguard.
The author has kindly included a Glossary of Characters at the end. Unfortunately, I did not know this until I had finished the book because I was reading on a Kindle. There are a myriad of names—though only about a dozen are really important. For Kindle readers, I recommend finding the glossary and bookmarking it so that you can consult it if necessary. For those with a paper pages, leaf through the book to locate the glossary. Most readers will find it comes in handy.
An excellent and thorough review. I found it very helpful, thank you.