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The Black Mausoleum (Silver Kings #1)

3.71 of 5 stars 3.71 · rating details · 31 ratings · 7 reviews

Two years have passed since the events of the Order of the Scales. Across the realms, dragons are still hatching. Hatching, and hatching free. Skorl is an Ember, a soldier trained from birth to fight dragons. He is a living weapon, one-shot only, saturated with enough dragon-poison to bring down a monster all on his own. Misanthrope, violent and a drunk, to fulfil his purp...more

Hardcover, 368 pages

Published August 16th 2012 by Gollancz

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Nov 01, 2012 Robin Carter rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

The first thing that strikes you about this book, and the whole series is the amazing art work. So many books sit gathering dust on the shelf in bookshops, with bland covers rehashing some old formulaic imaging. Not so the fantastic visuals on this series.

This is not your average series with dragons, this is a whole new world, with just as much imagination and skill in world building as the greats like Tolkien. Every aspect has been examined, thought about, written and brought to life. Character...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Raymond Just rated it 4 of 5 stars

Stephen Deas' most recent foray is every bit up to his usual high standards. It's a fast-paced read, especially for a high fantasy, and the plot is deftly woven. The characters are very well fleshed out, each distinct and intriguing in his or her own right. The only trouble I find in reading Mr. Deas engaging series is that there is really no character to cheer for, no one to get behind and connect with. Everyone is amoral to one degree or another, and although it makes for great and gritty sche...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Manrix rated it 5 of 5 stars

Daring and new, I'd say. The ending of the first trilogy left the world in ruins, and now those who remain must try and survive.
Easily the most imaginative novel in the series so far, and on of the most imaginative novels I've read the last few years. There is so much in the world that you get a tantalising glimpse of; so much you want to explore; so much you just want the story to delve further into.
The main characters are an interesting mix, and show genuine growth throughout the novel. Most...more Daring and new, I'd say. The ending of the first trilogy left the world in ruins, and now those who remain must try and survive.
Easily the most imaginative novel in the series so far, and on of the most imaginative novels I've read the last few years. There is so much in the world that you get a tantalising glimpse of; so much you want to explore; so much you just want the story to delve further into.
The main characters are an interesting mix, and show genuine growth throughout the novel. Most of them are new faces, but Kataros, the alchemist from the Memory of Flames trilogy makes a reappearance.
Skjorl, an Adamantine Guardsman, is every bit as brutal and pragmatic as one would expect, and he just fits the role so well. One of the hardest soldiers ever trained, stuck in a ruined world, his intentions are far from pure and innocent, and his bestial nature serves the brutality of the story. The other Guardsman, Jasaan, sometimes seems a bit too much un-Adamantine, as he serves as a sort of counterpoint to Skjorl. At certain points, you just can't help agree with Skjorl; how did Jasaan become an Adamantine Man (and survive the two years since the Adamantine Palace burned?)
Kataros, who could have easily been a woman trapped in a man's world, uses her magic and her cunning to bind people to her, furthering her own end. Never quite safe from either the dragons or her companions, she nonetheless plunges on.
Siff is a very strange and interesting case, about whom I can't say too much. He is an outsider, though nothing like Kemir was. He carries a strange and terrible secret with him; one that confuses even him.
Very interesting postmodern touches, with its delinear chronology (though it is always indicated when an event takes place), showing events from several perspectives, etc. It makes for an interesting and varied read.

There is so much mythology to these novels that I just can't wait to read more about, waiting for the next novel is a pain. Luckily, Deas is a fast writer. But I just can't stop being afraid; will he ever expand on all those agonising secrets he hints at in the novels? Will we ever find out?(less)

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Dec 28, 2012 Ranting Dragon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: stephan

http://www.rantingdragon.com/review-o...

I’m generally not in the habit of spoiling earlier books in a series. However, Stephen Deas’s latest dragon novel is something of an exception. While it is set in the same world as his A Memory of Flames trilogy, and is thus highly influenced by the events therein, it is a stand-alone novel in most ways. If you’re thinking of jumping into Deas’s dragon stories, The Black Mausoleum makes a great starting point with all its sheer epicness and wonderfully gri...more

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Dec 29, 2012 Claire rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, fantasy, from-library

Well Mr Deas I think that I can forgive you the cliff-hanging ending to the last trilogy now. This is a non-stop rollercoaster of a book; I gulped it down.

The first trilogy dealt with the rise of the dragons due to the stupidity, arrogance, bitching and in-fighting of the dragon lords. Dragons in this universe are total killing machines with very few weaknesses and amazing strengths (reincarnation, telepathy, not to mention the usual fire, claws etc) and had been reduced to bestial slavery due...more

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Oct 18, 2012 PaulineMRoss rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: genre-fantasy, price-full, 4-star

I was fairly grumpy about the first three volumes of the Memory of the Flames umpteenology, mainly because the author not only killed off virtually every character along the way, and in the most cavalier fashion, but also destroyed most of the infrastructure of his created world. Mind you, it was an exciting ride, without a second’s breathing space between bouts of mayhem and destruction, the dragons were mind-blowingly awesome, and the first chapter of the second book remains one of the best op...more I was fairly grumpy about the first three volumes of the Memory of the Flames umpteenology, mainly because the author not only killed off virtually every character along the way, and in the most cavalier fashion, but also destroyed most of the infrastructure of his created world. Mind you, it was an exciting ride, without a second’s breathing space between bouts of mayhem and destruction, the dragons were mind-blowingly awesome, and the first chapter of the second book remains one of the best openers I’ve ever read (seriously). And somehow, for some reason, the thing just wormed its way into my mind and wouldn’t let go. So here I am, wondering just where things can go in this post-dragon-apocalypse world.

I wasn’t expecting to see any of the characters from the earlier books, since they’re all dead. Or at least, they’re probably dead, and in the unlikely event they survived, I’m sure the author would kill them off promptly. But actually, there is a survivor (yay!). Kataros is an alchemist, one of those previously in charge of keeping the dragons tame and under control, and now, not surprisingly, blamed for the ensuing catastrophe. Skjorl is an Adamantine Man, a highly trained soldier, manfully determined to fulfil his oath to defend the world from rogue dragons, now free and on the rampage. Siff is unconscious, but has information Kataros thinks is important. I don’t remember whether the two men showed up before, but Kataros spent some time with previous main character Kemir. Until he got killed.

This is a very different book from the first three. The complex social and political structures have been largely swept away, the vast array of squabbling characters has gone too, and even the places are different - they may have the same names, but the elegant towers and courtyards are gone and all that remains is rubble. I did wonder before I started reading just how much world there was left to discover and story to tell after the devastation, but happily the answer is - a great deal. There’s the vast array of interlinked tunnels underground, for a start, some hiding mysterious secrets. There’s the whole history to be uncovered, and the nature of the Silver King of legend. Then there are the strange Taiytakei from overseas - what are they all about? There’s also just a hint of zombie in the background, too. Real or myth? Quite a few myths turn out to have some truth in them here, so who knows. Maybe they’ll be crucial to the plot later on, or maybe the author just wanted to sneak in a zombie reference. Anyway, it’s not long before our hapless trio are knee deep in weirdness.

With such a tight focus on a limited cast, it’s essential that the reader feels some connection with the three main characters. Frankly, I’m not sure that this works, since none of the three is particularly likeable. Actually, that’s not even close - they all turn out to be truly horrible people, with few redeeming characteristics. However, the tension between them is palpable (translation: each of them wants to kill the others, but they also need each other, so there’s quite a lot of hissed abuse and resentful co-operation going on). So there’s plenty of entertainment from watching the interaction and waiting for one of them to snap. Plus, there’s enough interest in the dragons and the backstory and the alchemist’s powers and Siff’s history to keep the pages turning. I loved some of the imaginative touches - the glowing tunnel walls, the golems in the door, the floating castle... There’s obviously a whole heap more about the Silver King, the Taiytakei and the hole in the realm of the dead to be revealed in future books, but these snippets are tantalising.

And, as always, there’s plenty of action. The struggle to survive and to adjust to the new world order form the backdrop here, where dragons rule the world once more and humans scuttle about in the dark trying to avoid being squashed or burned or eaten (and not just by the dragons), and it’s an interesting thought: what do you do when your function in life is gone? Once you were essential and respected and had a sensible lifetime career ahead of you, and now you’re worse than useless, you’ve failed so completely that the world has changed for ever. Do you get cynical and bitter and do whatever you have to do to make life bearable, or do you keep on doing what you’ve always done, clinging to the old ways for as long as possible? Or do you look for revenge? This is certainly a more thought-provoking book than its predecessors, but it’s a fairly grim tale, with limited humour and without the zest which made the earlier books so much fun.

If this paints a fairly depressing picture, it really isn’t. I quickly got swept up in the quest to find something - anything - to combat the overwhelming power of the dragons, and even the treks across the desert wastes, on the brink of starvation, never seemed dreary or dull. This was helped by the short chapters and the rapid jumps from one character and location to another, including time-hopping to fill in the how-we-got-here backstory, something I normally hate but which is very effective here. An aside: the points of view are tightly in character; Skjorl, who never swerves from his highly trained Adamantine Man viewpoint, always refers to his companions as the shit-eater and the alchemist, even internally, whereas Jasaan, less dogmatic, talks about outsiders and gets to know the dragon-riders by name. This is terrific detail.

There’s a great deal revealed here about the alchemists and their strange blood magic, which is all good stuff, and there’s a nice twist at the end which is perfectly logical and I should have seen it coming, but I didn’t. The whole end section is awesome, actually. It still feels, however, as if there’s a great deal more magic out there still to be revealed, as if we’re just paddling around in the shallows of what’s really going on in this world. The Taiytakei seem to be the key to it, somehow, and hopefully we’ll see more of them in future books. The goings on in the realm of the dead are interesting, too. I very much like the idea that there’s a fixed number of dragons in the world, and when one dies, it’s reincarnated in an egg somewhere.

A few minor grumbles: the author still hasn’t come up with a truly sympathetic character, the devastated world is implausibly empty of indigenous wildlife (what do snappers eat when they can’t get humans, for instance?) and we don’t see nearly enough of the dragons (but the awesome cover image almost compensates for that). But none of that matters. For me this book worked much better than the previous three. It doesn’t quite have the outrageous hell-bent-on-self-destruction air, or the wild physicality of all the dragon-riding and amazing sex (occasionally at the same time), nor the hordes of scheming and double-crossing dragon kings, queens and speakers. It’s a more serious and down-beat book altogether.

However, the restraint involved in following a small number of characters on a single, clearly-defined ‘quest’ (for want of a better word) creates, I feel, a much more intimate, closely-woven story, which really explores the characters and some of the underlying themes to greater depth. This is a tautly-plotted action-packed story, with perfect pacing and a terrific blend of character-driven incident and convincing world-building, a totally enjoyable read that I raced through in a couple of days because I just didn’t want to put it down. A good four stars.(less)

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Jan 30, 2013 Francesca Davies rated it 4 of 5 stars

ahhhhHHH dragons

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About Stephen Deas

Stephen Deas is an engineer in the aerospace industry, working on communications and imaging technology in the defence sector. He is married with two children and lives near Writtle in Essex.

Also writes as Nathan Hawke

More about Stephen Deas...

Books by Stephen Deas

The Adamantine Palace (The Memory of Flames, #1)

The Thief-Taker's Apprentice (The Thief-Taker's Apprentice #1)

The King of the Crags (The Memory of Flames, #2)

The Order of the Scales (The Memory of Flames, #3)

The Warlock's Shadow (The Thief-Taker's Apprentice #2)

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