Winter Be My Shield (Children of the Black Sun, #1)

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Winter Be My Shield (Children of the Black Sun #1)

by Jo Spurrier (Goodreads Author)

4.15 of 5 stars 4.15 · rating details · 87 ratings · 26 reviews

A complex, adult epic fantasy from a new Australian author ... original, dramatic, unputdownable ...

Sierra has a despised and forbidden gift -- she raises power from the suffering of others. Enslaved by the King's Torturer, Sierra escapes, barely keeping ahead of Rasten, the man sent to hunt her down. Then she falls in with dangerous company: the fugitive Prince Cammarian...more

Paperback, 464 pages

Published January 6th 2012 by Harper Collins (first published 2012)

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May 29, 2012 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-debuts

…the blizzard was her shield – without it she would never have come this far.

Sierra has escaped the clutches of the King’s Torturer, Lord Kell and his apprentice, Rasten. For two years she has been imprisoned and abused to break her spirit and her mind. Sierra, a Child of the Black Sun possesses a special gift, a power that feeds off and grows from the sufferings of others. So powerful is her ability, Kell will stop at nothing to bring her back.

After a failed coup ten years ago Prince Cammarian...more

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Jun 15, 2012 Tehani rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: australian, fantasy

I really needed some proper high fantasy to refresh myself from all the other stuff I've been reading (most of it very good, but traditional fantasy is my true love, and I need reminding of that sometimes!), so I pulled this off the TBR shelf. I received it in the goodie bag at the Aurealis Awards, courtesy of the publisher, and didn't know anything about it, or the author. And it's always nice to discover and enjoy a new Australian writer!

I did enjoy reading this, though I did find it a little...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Winter Be My Shield came recommended by Robin Hobb, and that was enough for me to pick it up. What I found was a good, solid, fantasy book. If that doesn't sound like high praise, it is. And for a debut novel, I was really impressed. If you're like me, and you're a long-time fantasy fan who gets a bit weary sometimes (too accustomed to the tropes of the genre, too easy to tell how the story will unfold.. etc.) then I would recommend this book to you.

The story follows a powerful mage, Sierra, who...more

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May 28, 2012 Tsana Dolichva rated it 5 of 5 stars

Winter Be My Shield is Jo Spurrier’s debut novel and the first book of Children of the Black Sun trilogy. I was lucky enough to receive an advanced review copy of this book from Harper Voyager.

Set in a country where winter lasts about six months and involves piles of snow (much like the cover depicts), the story follows Sierra, Cam and Isidro. Sierra is a powerful mage but was enslaved by the sadistic Blood Mage Kell and forced to feed him power while he tortured various prisoners. She was parti...more Winter Be My Shield is Jo Spurrier’s debut novel and the first book of Children of the Black Sun trilogy. I was lucky enough to receive an advanced review copy of this book from Harper Voyager.

Set in a country where winter lasts about six months and involves piles of snow (much like the cover depicts), the story follows Sierra, Cam and Isidro. Sierra is a powerful mage but was enslaved by the sadistic Blood Mage Kell and forced to feed him power while he tortured various prisoners. She was particularly valuable to Kell because the nature of her magic is such that she gains power when people near her are in pain. You can see how that might be handy to a torturer.

At the start of the novel, she escapes and falls in with other fugitives including the disinherited Prince Cam and his foster brother Isidro who is crippled after suffering torture which Sierra witnessed.

In the country of Riclan, where the action takes place, people with magical abilities are considered tainted and cursed by the gods. Children who show magical talents generally have their powers shackled even then are still considered dangerous and unlucky. Spurrier uses this to great effect to explore ideas of prejudice and discrimination. Despite the fact that Sierra only harms people that are trying to kill her, people are afraid of her and, more interestingly, have difficulty accepting that she isn’t evil. Almost no one offers her any consideration, even after she saves their lives. It’s very frustrating (in a good, well-written way) to see characters make stupid decisions because they’re afraid of her or because they want to profit somehow. It’s also satisfying when it comes back to bite them on the arse.

There are a lot of shades of grey in terms of character in Winter Be My Shield. There are the sympathetic central characters and there is the torturing Bloodmage, Kell. But everyone else is caught somewhere in the middle. The characters that mistrust Sierra and try to hurt her aren’t necessarily bad people (OK some of them are), mostly they’re just acting based on how they’ve been brought up or past bad experiences. Kell’s apprentice, Rasten, is also more complicated than he originally appears to be. He was captured and broken (under torture) by Kell at an early age so how much of what he does is really his fault?

It was delightfully frustrating to watch (and heckle at the page) characters throw away their best hope of not dying (ie Sierra and her magic) out of misguided notions of evil. You know it’s a good book if it evokes such strong reactions.

Spurrier also brought up interesting questions in the way Isidro, the man crippled by torture, was treated. Those closest to him, like his brother Cam, were willing to do a lot to look after him. Other people with less of a connection see him as a useless burden. Of course, he’s sympathetic to the reader, but how much can one really blame the people who want to look out for themselves? Answer: it depends on how they go about it.

It’s been a little while since I read such an involved fantasy novel that wasn’t a sequel and/or by an established author. Winter Be My Shield is a striking debut and I look forward to reading the sequels (and hope it’s not too long a way between them).

5 / 5 stars(less)

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May 07, 2013 Rochelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: aussie-author, aww-challenge-2013

An amazing epic fantasy. 5 out of 5 stars.

I loved this book. To say this book was well written is an understatement. Jo Spurrier is a very talented writer whose writing style is utterly captivating, her voice holding me in awe in some places.

Winter Be My Shield is a richly imagined and dark tale of Sierra, a woman with a very rare and lethal power – she gains power from the suffering of others and can tear a person to shreds with a bolt of that power. In her land, Mages, people like Sierra, are...more An amazing epic fantasy. 5 out of 5 stars.

I loved this book. To say this book was well written is an understatement. Jo Spurrier is a very talented writer whose writing style is utterly captivating, her voice holding me in awe in some places.

Winter Be My Shield is a richly imagined and dark tale of Sierra, a woman with a very rare and lethal power – she gains power from the suffering of others and can tear a person to shreds with a bolt of that power. In her land, Mages, people like Sierra, are despised, and thought of as demons. If a child with the ‘taint’ is discovered they are put through rituals to suppress the power within them.
Sierra has been held captive by the Blood-Mage Kell and his apprentice Rasten. They work for the king as tortures and use Sierra to make their own power stronger.

Sierra escapes, using the harsh winter to aide her escape and hide her tracks – The bone-chilling winter described in this book was so vivid that it leapt of the page and wrapped around you. Her path crosses with the fugitive Prince Cammarian, ‘Cam’, and Isidro, Cam’s foster brother that has suffered at the hands of Kell, leaving him crippled.

Kell sends Rasten after Sierra, offering a large reward for her capture. He will stop at nothing to get her back and Sierra will do anything not to be recaptured.
Sierra finds she doesn’t have many friends in the world, fear turning many, almost everyone, against her, which means she fights to keep the less than a handful that she does have safe at any cost, even if it means doing the unthinkable and trusting one of the last people she ever thought she’d trust.

This book contains a cast of fault filled, human characters that walk the line between being good and bad. It is these characters and the relationships they form that will draw you into their world and captivate you and leave you dying to know what their fates hold, even the seemingly evil Rasten will have you warming to him by the end.

This is a must read book and I cannot stress that enough. I am shocked that it has only 87 ratings on Goodreads. More people need to read this book. If you love epic fantasy than this book is for you.
I cannot wait for book 2 in this series which comes out on June first.(less)

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Apr 01, 2013 Chrissy rated it 5 of 5 stars

i literally picked this book up at random when i was at a mind blank at what to read next and OMG it did NOT disappoint.

From the moment i started to read this i was drawn in, the scenery was described beautifully and the plot was a breath of fresh air.

The story is set in an era filled with mages and magic...although not the ones you are usually faced with. Sierra a child of the black sun (an extreme rarity even amongst her kind) who's source of power was fuelled by the pain of others, an unlimit...more

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Jun 06, 2012 Shaheen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: aww2012, netgalley

I was expecting this novel to be great based on Tsana's review, but I hadn't anticipated exactly how much I would enjoy it. I had to read it over three days, and when faced with a few moments of spare time I found myself cracking the spine to read a few paragraphs. A vivid and engaging book, I have to give Jo Spurrier my respect for writing something I couldn't get out of my head!

The strongest element of the book are the characters and their varied relationships with one another. The protagonist...more I was expecting this novel to be great based on Tsana's review, but I hadn't anticipated exactly how much I would enjoy it. I had to read it over three days, and when faced with a few moments of spare time I found myself cracking the spine to read a few paragraphs. A vivid and engaging book, I have to give Jo Spurrier my respect for writing something I couldn't get out of my head!

The strongest element of the book are the characters and their varied relationships with one another. The protagonist Sierra is treated horribly because of her powers, and the stubbornness of some characters in persisting with the belief that she is a demon, even after she saves their lives, astonished me. In fact, Sierra's treatment at the hands of the other characters frequently had me seething, and at one point I had to stop reading because I was close to shouting. At a book. Any book that incites such a strong reaction is evidently well written!

The only character to accept Sierra without judgement is the crippled former warrior Isidro, but he has his own issues to deal with as those around him seem to confuse his broken limb with a broken mind. They treat him like a simpleton and refuse to let him do anything by himself, much to his frustration. However, each character is basically good inside, and this combined with their realistic motivations makes it difficult to outright dislike any of them. I found Rasten to be the most interesting character, despite his initial portrayal as pure evil. As a young man kidnapped by the Blood-Mage Kell and groomed through torture as an apprentice, Rasten has a conscience and genuinely seems concerned for Sierra's well being, all the while admitting that if Kell ordered it, he would kill her. He is a complicated character whom the reader slowly warms to and I now find myself intrigued by him. I hope he features heavily in the sequels.

In my mind, the mark of truly skilful writing is when a reader does not have to refer to any maps or appendices throughout the story. I always study a map before beginning a book, but I found myself relying heavily on it for the first half of the novel. This slowed down my reading pace and took a little bit of enjoyment away from my experience. The second half of the novel was more engaging because of my familiarity with the world. As the story hurtled towards its conclusion I found myself wishing it wouldn't end!

Winter be my Shield is a brilliant debut by an obviously talented writer and I look forward to reading the sequels. This is a book that will be enjoyed by connoisseurs of Fantasy but would also make a good starting point for those who are new to the genre. Definitely a book you don't want to miss!

You can read more of my reviews at Speculating on SpecFic .(less)

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Jul 02, 2012 Angelya (The Oaken Bookcase) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, aussie-authors, reviewed

Review originally posted on The Oaken Bookcase on July 2, 2012 as part of the Discover Australian Fantasy feature.

Welcome to the land of Ricalan – the snows are thick for six months of the year and the occupying Mesentreian empire are barely holding invaders at the borders. Sierra, a sorceress barely in control of her considerable powers, is on the run. Prince Cammarian and his brother Isidro are also in hiding, but there are invaders about and nowhere is safe. Winter Be My Shield is a story of...more Review originally posted on The Oaken Bookcase on July 2, 2012 as part of the Discover Australian Fantasy feature.

Welcome to the land of Ricalan – the snows are thick for six months of the year and the occupying Mesentreian empire are barely holding invaders at the borders. Sierra, a sorceress barely in control of her considerable powers, is on the run. Prince Cammarian and his brother Isidro are also in hiding, but there are invaders about and nowhere is safe. Winter Be My Shield is a story of magic, love, loss and sacrifice in a cold and dangerous world.

The magic system in Winter Be My Shield is awesome – power is built up through pleasure or pain, then released either in lightning or fire with brilliant, or in Sierra’s case, unpredictable results. The magical scenes are described so well, I could imagine in detail the lightning arcing over her hands as she tries to hold the power in – awesome stuff! It’s just a shame that Sierra blacks out during the major battle scene so we don’t get to see her full powers in action!

The story is told from the point of view of several of the main characters, switching between chapters, and sometimes within chapters. This does allow us to see what’s happening when characters aren’t together, but I felt it meant that the character development was spread quite thinly. The characters we spend the most time in the heads of are Isidro and Sierra. Even so, I still thought I didn’t really know Sierra by the end of the story, whereas I felt I knew Isidro better through all his suffering.

This book is not for the faint of heart – there’s plenty of blood, guts and torture so it should appeal to fans of the A Game of Thrones “low fantasy” style. It’s not quite on the same scale as A Song of Ice and Fire though – even though the world is large and reasonably well described and the political intrigue is there, the story is not as complex or confusing.

I really did enjoy reading Winter Be My Shield. Although it was a slightly longer read than other books I’ve read recently, it was exciting all the way through. My only gripe is that it seemed like it was building up to a big showdown at the end and then it kind of finished without warning. Hopefully it won’t be too long until the next in the series is released!

This is a sizzling debut from Jo Spurrier and I can’t wait to read more of her work.

Warnings: Plenty of grisly combat, torture and general blood and guts. Also, sex scenes and bad language. Did I mention it was gritty?(less)

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Jan 05, 2013 Lauren rated it 5 of 5 stars

My favourite book of all time.

I was devastated once finishing it to find out that i will have to wait till 2013 (hopefully) to read the next installment!!!!

Since I've read this book, I can't stop myself from comparing other books to it- and none have ever come close.

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Aug 08, 2012 Kimberley rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed it. Takes about a chapter or so before you get into it, but after that you don't really want to put it down.

I felt the end could have been written a little better though - its as though the author has written the story and chosen to cut it in 3 to make a trilogy. The book cannot stand alone and be great book. Its a third of a book.

I can't wait to read the other 2 thirds though!

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Mar 16, 2013 Karla rated it 4 of 5 stars

Thoroughly enjoyed this (I read it in a day because I didn't want to put it down).
Well-written, excellently developed world, concept and characters. Always good to see Aussie writers getting published. Sad to have to wait to June 2013 for book 2.

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Sep 16, 2012 Orchid Ch'ng rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed reading this debut high fantasy novel. I found the novel to be vivid and engaging and can't wait for the remaining 2 installments in this debut trilogy. Definitely recommended for those that love high fantasy.

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Sep 07, 2012 Declan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Through My short span on this earth, I've read a lot of high fantasy; some of it, some of it not so much. Winter be my Shield sits in the high tier of high fantasy, i love it, read it in one sitting and would highly recommend it.

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Apr 04, 2013 Debbie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Debbie by: LSG

Shelves: fantasy, 2013

I ordered this book direct from Australia because I wanted to read it that badly. It was totally worth the price plus shipping. Spurrier has created this fascinating, complex, political, and harsh world that (while never wanting to live there) I fell right into. Her world building was superb, and subtle. And the plot was great. I got hooked into the story and wanted to scream because the ending just ended and I wanted the next book so I could find out what happens next.

The book did have it's fla...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Sven rated it 4 of 5 stars

Well written. I connected easily with the main characters and the story never lagged. Another original bit of fantasy which I find very refreshing. Can't wait for the second one.

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Nov 16, 2012 Hope rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was given this book by the publishers after a 20 minute talk and the first thing that came to mind when I read the blurb, was oh no. but than I started reading it. and WOW it was amazing! I can't wait to read the next one!!!!

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Jul 28, 2012 Hayley Poynton rated it 5 of 5 stars

Loved it! Sucked into the great and epic story from the first chapter. Some similarities to the Game of thrones series, but a very fresh story. Can't wait for the next one!

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Jun 16, 2012 Alison rated it 4 of 5 stars

Full review to come, but OMG, best fantasy I've read in ages. Think Te good bits of Robert Jordan, JV Jones, Sara Douglas....just darn good story telling, with great characters.

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Aug 05, 2012 Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Great first novel.Full of magic and adventure with a cast of legendary characters.Can't wait for the next instalment.

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Sep 21, 2012 jo mo marked it as to-read

Recommended to jo by: Tsana Dolichva

Shelves: recommended, high-fantasy, aussie-nz-author, fantasy, dual-or-multiple-povs, series, must-read, requested

very frustrating, can't seem to get my hands on a copy. (view spoiler)

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Jan 28, 2013 Dark Matter rated it 4 of 5 stars

My review is here http://www.darkmatterfanzine.com/dmf/...

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Aug 08, 2012 Rochelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

FANFREAKINGTASTIC!!! Loved this book, just hope it is not a huge wait for the next 2! One of my favourite female writers that is for sure!

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Feb 24, 2013 Sasha rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: a-ma-zing

This book is absolutely amazing! I picked it up and literallycouldn't put it down until I was half way through it. Incredibly addictive. When I wasn't reading, I couldn't think of anything else other than this book. I am so not looking forward to the horrible gap of time that alays seems to never end while waiting for that pesky next book to come out. Forget counting down the days to Christmas, I'm counting down the day's to book 2!!!!

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Jun 11, 2012 Dee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: a-kind-of-magic, grit, world-fantasy

A new fantasy that balances a swords-and-wilderness setting with a charming absence of prophecy; these people just trying to live their lives are complex and compelling enough.

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Dec 27, 2012 Tenae rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Lovers of fantasy novels.

Shelves: books-i-own

If ever you need a high quality fantasy novel, I suggest you turn to this book. It has everything you would want and expect from a fantasy novel. I'm so glad I decided to buy this book.

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Shelves: 2013-challenges, australian

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About Jo Spurrier

Jo was born in 1980 and has a Bachelor of Science, but turned to writing because people tend to get upset when scientists make things up.
Her hobbies include knitting, spinning, cooking and research. She lives in Adelaide with her husband and spends a lot of time daydreaming about snow.

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Black Sun Light My Way (Children of the Black Sun, #2)

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