Warning: Slow moving book

27 is David Anthony Durham's Acacia Book One The War With The Mein. The first one hundred pages are verrrrrrrrry slow going, and I almost bailed out, but I was determined to finish this. By the middle, it was very interesting: the king of Acacia has been assassinated by one of the Mein, a people who were dominated and sent into exile centuries ago. The king's four children are hidden away in distant countries to save them from the Mein, who sweep through the country, destroying the Acacians by introducing a deadly plague. The eldest daughter, Corinn, is captured and kept in the palace as a trophy. She ends up as the mistress of the Mein leader, Hanish. The eldest son, Aliver who ends up a desert warrior, Dariel, the youngest, who ends up a pirate, and Mena, the younger daughter, who ends up the living representative of a raging goddess, bond together to retake their father's throne, promising to end slave trade, build a utopian future. Unfortunately, the end of the book is a real downer. I won't spoil it, but I don't think I'll go on with the series.