Book Review:: The Gray Sheep | S. M. Somerset

The Gray Sheep by S.M. Somerset is a complex fantastical world with a rich history and plenty of conflict.

The Gray Sheep by S. M. Somerset Book Cover

Cosette is doing her best to continue running her father’s jeweler shop in a war-torn country as he recovers from an illness that isn’t getting any better with her uncle in another part of town. When she gets word of his decline, she decides to risk everything to go see him, even though the space between them is occupied and extremely dangerous.

Resourceful, thoughtful, and quite stubborn, Cosette is a worthy heroine. This story is deeply political, as all the marketing materials promise. To be honest, some of it was a little too much for me, and it tended to linger in sections I felt could do with more urgency. The language was urgent in these spaces, but the actual sentences still took their time leaving a strange feeling of needing to move forward, but not being able to because there were just too many words to get through in the scene.

I really admired Cosette’s bravery and determination, and several of the characters she encounters were interesting, and at times unexpected.

Overall, I think people who enjoy the political side of fantasy will enjoy this, or even sweeping historical epics might try their hand at it and be delightfully surprised.

As a whole, it strikes me mostly as quite an accomplishment!

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title::The Gray Sheep (The Lochsmith Book I)
Author::S. M. Somerset
Genre:: Historical Fantasy
Publisher::Indie
Length:: 582 pages
Published::May 5th, 2026
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars