This is a reasonably fun, light, enjoyable read about a world where magic comes from wine and grapes and the Vinearts are wealthy and powerful, but forbidden from involvement in politics. A young slave, Jerzy, is taken from the fields to become an apprentice Vineart, how very fantasy, except, we learn, that this is how all Vinearts are created, necessitating a rather brutal system of slavery to both work the vineyards and supply the Vinearts, a perfectly designed and deeply nasty cycle accepted unquestioningly by our hero, thus far, at any rate. With Jerzy we learn how the magic works, and then the plot slowly develops involving a form of magic that should not work by those rules. It's all a bit careful and painstaking, but towards the end Jerzy is sent forth from his sheltered existence into the wider world. As of the end of this first volume we're not much the wiser, but our hero has acquired some companions and is on the run while more dark deeds are afoot.

It's not in the first rank of fantasy writing, but it is clever enough, diverting, and I want to see both what happens next and whether the slavery cycle will be properly examined, let alone broken, though it's hard to see a hero as timid and unsure of himself as Jerzy doing much other than agonising about it for a while and moving on. Hopefully he will grow and change and cultivate some backbone.