Adrian Collins's Blog, page 224

REVIEW: Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell

Death of Kings, the continuation of Uhtred of Bebbanburg’s tale is another roaring and shield-wall frenzied addition to The Saxon Chronicles. Writing that is as sharp as Wasp-Sting, dialogue that makes even the sternest of nun’s laugh, Uhtred’s band will leave you itching to read more.

“There are seasons of our lives when nothing seems to be happening, when no smoke betrays a burned town or homestead and few tears are shed for the newly dead. I have learned not to trust those times, because if the world is at peace then it means someone is planning war.”

You will I suspect, have heard of Bernard Cornwell and his phenomenal story-telling. He has written about pretty much everything, and all of it that I have read (11 books) and watched (3 Seasons of The Last Kingdom) is incredible. You’ll want to acquaint yourself with Bernard as soon as possible, and be prepared, fore as you begin your journey into Bernard’s world you will become a Saxon warrior in 9th Century Britain, or one of Arthur’s trusted warriors in 5th C Britain, or an archer for England in the 100 Year War.

Bernard is a master of writing. His pacing is perfect, his protagonists are full of charisma and inspiration, and what makes it EVEN cooler is that it is all based on real events. That’s right. This all happened! Well, most of it anyway. (Bernard has traced his lineage back to 9th C Britain and discovered an Uhtred of Bebbanburg in his family tree).

“Men do not relish the shield wall. They do not rush to death’s embrace. You look ahead and see the overlapping shields, the helmets, the glint of axes and spears and swords, and you know you must go into the reach of those blades, into the place of death, and it takes time to summon the courage, to heat the blood, to let the madness overtake caution.”

Now, Uhtred has fought for the Alfred the Great and the Saxon’s for many years, showing loyalty that many did not expect of a Saxon boy raised a Dane man. He has stayed with Alfred, desperate to reap the benefits of his position enough to amass a war band to take back his home Bebbanburg from his uncle. His continues to face this struggle alongside the reality of fighting against the hordes of Danes and other Scandinavian warriors.

Death of Kings has a different format to the previous instalments and is in turn slightly slower, but do not worry, Bernard Cornwell’s staple witty characters have many moments to shine, especially in his famous battles that he writers spectacularly. This book is full of emotional scenes between characters that have been favourites since Book 1, The Last Kingdom (which I shall review in the next month or so). Uhtred’s relationship with Alfred is one that I have appreciated much more the older I get.

“Serpent-Breath was famous…Wasp-Sting, short and lethal.”

Uhtred is a glorious character that has aged very well. He is formidable in battle and quick to anger and one of Bernard’s strongest characters. I love how he is still similar to his younger self, but has changed slightly from experiences and age. I am always on Uhtred’s side. I just wish all of the Saxon’s and Danes were too!

“Wyrd bið ful aræd.”

5/5 – Death of Kings is another magnificent instalment. And what’s even better is that Book 6 is only halfway through (so far)! Saxon’s vs Danes, Uhtred stuck in the middle, death is all around, everyone wants a piece of Britain. Storytelling at its best.

Buy Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell

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REVIEW: Docile by K. M. Szpara

I received an uncorrected proof copy of Docile in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank K. M. Szpara and Tor for the opportunity.

Docile is the story of Elisha. He is a young gentleman who volunteers to become a Docile to pay off his parents’ debt which is at a catastrophic amount of £3,000,000. If he had not proposed this then his mother and father would have been placed in debtors prison. A docile is essentially a slave. They become the property of the patron who pays off their debt in exchange for a set time of service. For the £3,000,000 to be cleared Elisha is to be the property of his patron for life. Most individuals who are forced into this life of slavery tend to take a drug called Dociline. It’s a drug to make the dociles obedient. It leads them to have the charisma of a robot or a zombie yet most beneficial for the takers is that they don’t really know what horrible tasks, duties or punishments are being forced upon them. It is a brainwashing drug. Elisha, having witnessed the effects of Dociline on his mother vows to refuse to take the drug, which is one of his rights. He will be completely aware of what happens to him during his time as a docile which, of course, is for the rest of his life and may not be very pleasant.

In addition to Elisha’s first-person point of view perspective, we also follow the trillionaire Dr. Alex Bishop who becomes Elisha’s patron in the first-person too. Alex is the CEO of the company that creates Dociline and wanted Elisha to be his guinea pig for a new version he is hoping to release to market. When Elisha refuses to accept the drug, as is his right, Alex is frustrated yet decides to mould him as he wishes as he owns him for life and can do with him anything he wishes… and I mean anything.

This is a queer dystopian novel that is sometimes uncomfortable to read, extremely graphic in nature, is thrilling, beautifully written and yet is often a mind-fuck and has quite a few trigger warnings to discuss. Although other reviewers have referred to this as science fiction, it never really came across that way to me as what is presented is far too close to our current reality. Some of what happens here is not that farfetched when analysing where the human race could be heading in the near future. Docile features BDSM, explicit gay and group sex scenes, torture and punishments, suicide attempts, and rape scenes sometimes from the first person point of view of the rapist. At this point, Elisha is a piece of meat that Alex uses whenever he fancies. It also presents love, friendship, family, and how people change, especially the two main characters over the length of the narrative.

Although it’s often uncomfortable to read and is probably the first novel I’ve read that has incorporated gay sex scenes that were this explicit and detailed I have to admit that Docile is a masterpiece of dystopian fiction. I’m pretty certain that I’ve read nothing like it. It was engaging and I completely lost myself in the narrative. It made me question our reality, the gravity of debt, my sexuality occasionally, and however horrid some of the actions committed by Alex were, I never really hated him. If anything I often felt sorry for him which shows Szpara’s talent to make me care about someone who I should have straight away written off as an utter bastard. It took me three days to read these 500 or so pages and the finale of this standalone novel is actually nice and fitting which was a surprise after many of the nightmare segments throughout. Docile is an exquisite, well-written and often uncomfortable mindfuck of a debut release. I’ll be following Szpara’s career closely. Recommended.

Buy Docile by K. M. Szpara

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REVIEW: The Mirror’s Truth by Michael R. Fletcher

Warning: Spoilers for Manifest Delusions book one, Beyond Redemption, included in this review.

After reading Beyond Redemption last year, I confess to a giddy anticipation of the sequel—The Mirror’s Truth. When GdM alumnus and friend Michael R. Fletcher offered me the opportunity to preview it, of course I jumped on it. It would have been crazy not to, right?

Readers of the first book will remember that it took place in a world gone mad, where the insanes’ delusions defined reality and where the more delusional you are, the more powerful you are. These powerful, deluded people are called Geisteskranken. One of the only sane people left in this deluded world, Bedeckt (an aging warrior), traveled the world with two powerful friends. First there was Stehlen the Kleptic who was a rogue beyond compare—stealing and killing whenever she wished without being caught. Bedeckt’s other companion was Wichtig the World’s Greatest Swordsman—as he told anyone within earshot. While Wichtig was very skilled with the sword, his particular Geisteskranken talent stemmed from his charisma and ability to convince his opponents that he truly was the greatest.

Our trio’s adventure revolved around kidnapping a godling to get a portion of his power and in classic grimdark style, Beyond Redemption ends with much killing and Bedeckt finds himself in the afterlife to end the book.

In The Mirror’s Truth, we open with Bedeckt finding a powerful mirrorist who somehow brings him back to the world of the living. His primary goal is to kill Morgen and thwart his plans for the world; however, Zukunft (the sexy, young female mirrorist who brought him back to life) has other plans setting him on a side mission to rescue a child in peril. Bedeckt has a soft spot for children having always lived his life by a certain set of rules (one of them being not to hurt women or children). Trusting in his mirrorist companion’s predictions, he allows himself to be diverted from his mission.

Meanwhile Morgen, knowing that Bedeckt is coming, has set both Stehlen and Wichtig on separate missions to find Bedeckt, telling them that Bedeckt abandoned them to the afterdeath and knowing that they will likely kill him for his betrayal.

The return to the world of the living is not easy for the three former friends as they soon discover that many years elapsed while they were in the afterlife, where time flows slower than in the world of the living. Wichtig, expecting to go find his young son—who is now a young man if he still lives—is devastated. For some reason, these lost-time storylines always hit my soft spot.

I really like what Fletcher did with this story as far as expanding on the divide between the three main protagonists established at the end of Beyond Redemption. I was intrigued by the way he explored all of their mixed feelings with each other, how they all made at least token efforts to move on and discovered that they had deeper bonds with each other than they were all able to admit to themselves. I particularly enjoyed that angle since self-deception is at the heart of the world that Fletcher has built in this series.

The Mirror’s Truth also introduces several more uber-powerful Geisteskranken who are near their pinnacle (the point at which their insanity peaks and they self-destruct in some way, shape or form) and provides some pretty insurmountable obstacles for our stalwart trio to overcome. One of them is a shape shifter who thinks he’s a huge dragon and enjoys dropping people and livestock from great heights—aiming of course for the other characters. Another of the three thinks she serves the earth goddess and bends the earth (mud and rock mostly) to devastating effect. Probably the most deviously clever Geisteskranken though is one who believes all people to be possessed by demons and kindly exorcises them—of course killing them in the process.

All of these well-adjusted people are on a collision course with destiny, the parallel storylines converging nicely at the end to provide an incredibly satisfying conclusion.

I found The Mirror’s Truth to be written well but still accessible. The plot moves quickly and so did I, finishing much quicker than I really wanted to. That is not a dig at Fletcher though, I had trouble putting it down once I was immersed in it. I found it refreshing that I was unable to predict the ending—something I unhappily tend to do quite often.

Fletcher definitely left room for another sequel here. But unlike the end of Beyond Redemption, where you had some theories on where it would go next, I have to confess I’m at a loss thinking of where the next storyline would go. However I will eagerly be grabbing the next installment to find out.

So, my recommendation for you is to do like Michael Fletcher or I would do and find a cozy corner and a nice bottle of whiskey to enjoy while you immerse yourself in his particular brand of insanity.

Buy The Mirror’s Truth by Michael R. Fletcher

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INTERVIEW: Justin Call

Recently, Elizabeth Tabler had a chance to interview Justin Call about his novel, Master of Sorrows. You can read our review of Master of Sorrows here.

For those who don’t know, could you start off by telling us a little bit about your new novel, Master of Sorrows?

You know, the blurb for the US cover really nailed (it also happens to have a line from your own review of the book right on the first page), so if folks have a chance to read that, they really should. I’ll assume that’s cheating, though, and say this: Master of Sorrows is about a boy who is conflicted about who and what he wants to become. It’s also a coming-of-age story set at a magic school, but those familiar fantasy tropes are also twisted and turned on their head. For example, instead of a school that instructs its students in the art of magic, the Academy in Master of Sorrows teaches its acolytes that magic is evil and must be confiscated, hoarded, and destroyed. Likewise, it starts out as a narrative about a boy hero who is prophesied to defeat the dark lord, but the reality is it’s an origin story for the dark lord himself.

That’s the series pitch, though, and that has led several eager readers to be disappointed by the first novel because the main character doesn’t become a villain by the end of the first volume of the series. Master of Sorrows also deals with a much smaller setting: the magic school, the boy and his mentor, and the ominous fate that looms for a protagonist who just wants to earn the respect of his peers and win the girl he pines after. The book takes place over about a week and all of the events occur within a relatively small setting. It’s also a bit of a “slow burn,” giving the readers plenty of time to get to know the world and its rules, and then as the plot thickens and the story escalates, everything the reader has learned becomes vital to understanding and appreciating the narrative and things start to move at the pace of a thriller. The setting is very grim, but it also has a bright thread of hope woven throughout (more Grimheart than Grimdark, perhaps). Finally, the story is intentionally written as a crossover between adult epic fantasy and YA fantasy, so you’ll find a lot of teens really gravitating towards this book despite the fact that the series as a whole is adult fiction.

Can you tell me a little bit about your journey as an author? Did you always gravitate towards writing, or did you find your way here from other interests such as gaming or reading?

I’ve always gravitated towards learning new words and telling stories since I was a little kid. I even dictated a short story for my kindergarten class that my mother typed up and I illustrated and my grandfather paid to have several copies bound into a hardback book. That sort of planted the seed that I could actually do this – make up stories and write them – and nothing I ever encountered in life has dissuaded me from that opinion. I wrote short stories in elementary school that were always much longer than whatever assignment we had been given (you might see a pattern here between that and my current writing), and I started writing my own fiction stories outside of school when I was about ten or so. I didn’t know what SFF fiction was until I was fourteen and stumbled onto it all on my own, but my interests certainly gravitated towards anything with adventure, magic, and wonder. I considered writing literary fiction when I was a student in high school, but more as a lark than as a way to make a living. I think I also knew that one day I would write a fantasy novel, because I had started writing one when I was a tween, and I played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons when I was a teenager, so developing plots, characters, and stories just felt natural. I continued studying writing in high school and college, but most of my greatest lessons in writing fiction were self-taught or came from books I read on writing. I dabbled in writing screenplays and considered doing that as my job after college, and for a long time I wasn’t sure if that was my calling or if I should instead be writing fantasy novels or designing board games. In the end, I decided to all of the above and just see what worked out for me. I had some small amounts of success in each field, but finishing the first draft of my epic fantasy novel (which would later become Master of Sorrows) was a huge confirmation that this was what I really needed to be doing. I still remain open to publishing and designing more games and writing some screenplays, but epic fantasy is where my heart lives and so it is natural that this has become my full-time job and primary career.

How was the process of writing the second novel in the series, Master Artificer, differ from writing Master of Sorrows?

I wrote Master of Sorrows over a period of about 17 years, although the bulk of the book was written in a period of about nine months. It had to be done that way (at least for me) so that I could understand the wider world I had created and so that I could do all the world building for the rest of the series up front. I also outlined several books for the series at that time (enough material for 12-18 books). Then when I finally finished my first draft of MoS, I had a lot of time to polish things for my editors and get the book in the best shape possible.

Master Artificer was much different because I already had all the groundwork laid out before I began, though that also meant I had about fifteen different outlines for the book when I initially sat down to write it. I also had a better idea of how much material would fit in book 2, but that still didn’t stop me from drafting way too much and leaving out several scenes that I had originally outlined (I’m getting better at overplanning, but I’m not there quite yet). Finishing the first draft of Master Artificer has also helped me see the overall trajectory of the series, so I can course correct for events that I have planned later in the series. Moving beyond the writing process itself, though, I can say that Master Artificer has several new character points-of-view (Master of Sorrows has basically one POV for the whole book), and the setting for Master Artificer is much, much larger.

Are there any pitfalls for writing a sequel that you fell into as a writer, how did you work around them?

I think the greatest pitfall in writing any book (outside of the writing itself) is a question of expectations. Does the reader expect a retread of the previous book (like you might see in a serial thriller) or do they want to be surprised by something that feels entirely different? Ideally the writer can present something that is both familiar and new – “surprising yet inevitable.” I’ve tried to meet those expectations by building on themes from my first book, specifically by introducing new tropes that once again seem familiar to the reader but then I twist those tropes and take them in unexpected directions.

A lot of sequels also run the risk of incurring the “sequel slump” or “sequel syndrome” where the second book feels like filler that just exists to move the protagonist between books 1 and 3 without anything meaningful occurring. I anticipated that problem when I sat down to write Master Artificer and I chose to tackle it by paying close attention to my character development. I didn’t want any characters at the end of Book 2 to feel like the same people that I had left with readers at the end of Book 1, but I also needed to make changes to those characters in ways that felt authentic and well-earned. Having that goal in mind, I can say that if you examine any character who survived Master of Sorrows and made it into Master Artificer, you will recognize that character has changed. The plot points surrounding those changes may vary in intensity or scope, but ultimately they each take the character one step farther along their arc. This is especially true of my protagonist, Annev, whose character has changed dramatically between Master of Sorrows and the end of Master Artificer.

How long is Master Artificer currently?

The first draft of Master Artificer is currently 321,957 words. For those sane, non-writing folks that don’t count the words in their books, I’ll say this: the number of words per page can vary depending on the font and formatting used by your publisher, but most people accept that 250 words per page is a fair scale to measure your page count. By that metric, Master Artificer is 1287 pages (more than twice the length of Master of Sorrows). However, Master of Sorrows was itself approximately 304 words per page, so I think that’s a better measuring stick. Using those measurements, Master Artificer would be approximately 1059 pages in length – which is still super long and almost double the size of MoS … but it’s not double the length and there will still be time for edits (which could shorten or lengthen the final novel).

How did you keep track of all the intertwining narratives and personalities? Did you keep it all in your head?

I use Scrivener to keep track of all that. When I drafted Master of Sorrows, I didn’t have Scrivener, though, so I initially created dozens of separate folders in Microsoft Word and then kept all of the drafts for each chapter within their own separate folder. This became difficult to keep track of, though (especially as story chapters got shuffled around), so I switched over to using Scrivener. Now I break my writing down into smaller chunks by first drafting all the character POVs separately (sometimes out of chronological order for the series but always in chronological order for the character). I also draft my stories in chunks or “Parts” of about 15-20 chapters or 150-175 pages. So I’ll draft all the chapters for all the characters in Part 1, then I’ll move onto Part 2, etc. It’s still mostly chronological that way, but focusing on one character POV at a time is much easier to maintain momentum, clarity, and continuity.

Are there any magic systems or mythologies that inspired you as you wrote Master of Sorrows?

Tons and tons. My master’s thesis touched on this (I wrote the first draft of Master of Sorrows as part of my thesis at Harvard), so I have a lot that I could say about it. Instead of repeating pages and pages of references, though, I’ll simply say that my inspirations have been very eclectic – from role playing games to religious texts, from classic mythologies to ones inspired by modern fantasy authors. I’ve taken a little from everyone and tried to create something wholly my own in the hopes that I can write a story that resonates with most readers without also feeling derivative.

Is there a fantasy novel that you would have liked to have written?

Honestly, no – but only because I think writing a fantasy novel is a very personal experience and know my experience would have differed greatly from the one that actually produced the novels I admire so much. I’m really happy to be writing my own books and my own stories, and I feel grateful that life has given me the opportunity to do so. Having said that, there are definitely some fantasy novels that I really admire and which I sometimes feel envious of their quality, their characters, or their substance. I love the Mistborn Era 1 trilogy, for example, and I really admire how Brandon Sanderson was able to create such a new and inventive magic system for his books. I also adore The Kingkiller Chronicles by Pat Rothfuss and I deeply respect his ability to tell such a satisfying story built on character development, worldbuilding and poetic language. I fell in love with the drow city of Menzoberranzan in the R.A. Salvatore’s Dark Elf trilogy, and I constantly find my mind returning to the mythology and pantheon of gods created by David Eddings in his Sparhawk and Belgarath books.

But I don’t wish I’d written any of those novels. Instead, I aspire to have my own novels placed amongst them.

How long did you take to write Master of Sorrows, from start to finish? I read that you wrote most of MOS on your iPhone. Is that true?

That is absolutely true. I would say at least half of the novel was written using Google docs on my iPhone while riding or waiting for public transit. The rest of it was written at my computer, the way most books are written these days. As for how long it took to write the book from start to finish, I’ll say that the first 200 pages took me about fifteen years to write because I wasn’t in any hurry and I had a lot that I wanted to learn about writing along the way. I also wasn’t writing full-time during any of those years and I spent a good deal of time working on mythology and worldbuilding. The final 400 pages of Master of Sorrows was written in about nine months, though, and then I spent another year or two revising everything I had written. I did it all that way because I have a hard time allowing myself to fail at anything, so I chose to spend my time writing one good book over a long period of time (and learning a lot from it) instead of writing several bad books over an equally long period of time. In the end, we all have to put in our writing hours, but some (like Brandon Sanderson) choose to do it by writing lots of stories in succession until they are good enough to publish. Others (like myself and perhaps Patrick Rothfuss or JRR Tolkien), spend a lot of time working and reworking a single story until that story is good enough to share with others. Having done that, I can say it was a profitable experience … but it’s also not one I care to repeat since I’d like to publish at least one book or short story every year. Once my children are both in school, perhaps I can even write two or three books a year (though I doubt I’ll ever be able to match Brandon Sanderson’s prolific writing pace).

You are the President and CEO of Broomstick Monkey Games, how do you balance writing with game creation? Does the imagination for writing both come from the same place or is the creative process different?

Creating games and writing stories are very different beasts, though they also have large areas where they overlap. Designing magic systems for my novels, for example, feels very similar to developing a game system for my board games. You spend a lot of time thinking about mechanics and balance, how clear the rules are and how intuitive they will be for readers/players to learn. On the other hand, game design and development is very iterative. You try one thing and see if it works. Usually some part of it works but another part breaks down, so you try something different and try to find different ways to solve the problems with the game. One of the easiest ways to solve those problems is by adding more and more rules to cover more and more exceptions, but that just creates an unnecessarily complicated, bloated game. A much better solution is to find some way to cut out rules – to remove ambiguity and improve clarity by using less instead of more. That creates a more elegant game system and it is largely the same process one must follow when writing a story: you write a first draft (a prototype) and identify where the story (or game) breaks down; you find solutions to those problems and fix them (or you think you’ve fixed them) and keep making small adjustments until you are happy with the final product. Then you need to introduce your story (or game) to some respected beta readers (or game testers) and adjust things based on their feedback. The biggest difference between the two processes, though, is that building and designing a board game necessarily involves the cooperation of others. You will playtest that game with your close friends and family and make a hundred adjustments, and then you’ll playtest it with a mixed group of friends strangers and make more changes, and then you’ll share it with some total strangers and ask them to do a blind playtest using only the rulebook and no input from you whatsoever. That means there is a LOT of interaction with other people, which is then balanced by the solitary activity of going home to edit your rules, reprint cards, and make a revised prototype for your next playtesting session. When you write a book, though, you don’t get to experience it with the reader. They read on their own (usually alone) and you’re lucky if you get any feedback (constructive or otherwise). When you sit down to write the book, you do so in a void where no one else understands the world you are making and no one can really offer you any help or advice. Even if you attend a writing group and share your story there, it’s just not the same experience. Game development, as a rule, is a social activity, whereas writing is a solitary one.

What are you reading right now?

I’m currently listening to The Blinding Knife on Audible, which is the second novel in The Lightbringer Series by Brent Weeks (I do most of my reading via audiobook since I can do that while driving or doing house chores). I’ve also got a copy of Kingdom of Liars by Nick Martell that I’ve been trying to read for weeks but I’ve been unable to do so while wrapping up my first draft for Master Artificer, and I have an ebook for Neon Leviathan by T.R. Napper that I’m trying to get to as well.

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions today. GDM.

Read an exclusive Grimdark Magazine article The Lost Chapters – Devils Bargains.

Read Elizabeth’s first interview with Justin Call by clicking here.

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REVIEW: The Whale Road by Robert Low

The Whale Road is a fearsome tale of a band of vikings hunting relics, drinking hard and fighting harder. Robert Low is another of the Norse-period writers on my favourite shelf.

“By Odin’s Hairy Arse!”

Robert Low has crafted a wonderful story of a Norse band sailing the whale road here. It is full to the brim of the sea-chest with authentic language, sayings, the imaginable harsh environment, the rough characters, and one that made me laugh every time I read “by Odin’s Hairy Arse!”

Orm Rurikson is a young Norse raider in training and is quickly inducted into the ways of the Oathsworn, the band who sail the seas aboard the Fjord Elk. The Oathsworn are a band of sell-swords and The Whale Road is the first part of Orm’s story within the war band. The Oathsworn – in a time of the White Christ growing in popularity – have been paid to find the sword of Attila the Hun and his infamous hoard of gold and silver.

“We were still on the whale road, in the wind that keened and thrummed the ropes.”

A short book at only 340 pages, The Whale Road is ram-packed with action, bloody fights, and shield-walls. There aren’t many moments to pause for breath as Orm is thrust into the new-world of relic hunting. Orm is a solid character and was well-written, with plenty of humorous and enjoyable interactions between him and the rest of the Oathsworn (well…those that last). Robert Low certainly has a way of keeping you guessing what is going to happen next and indeed, who is going to be slain next. The Oathsworn were the best part of this story, full of fun and dry humour. The audible narrator also did a cracking job.

It is hard to find a truly fantastic Viking-period novel, with Bernard Cornwell and Giles Kristian wearing the crowns at the moment. Robert Low’s promising debut of The Whale Road certainly is treading the same path, with great characters and plenty of gritty action. I just wanted more! I will most certainly continue with the series and look forward to seeing where Orm sails to next.

“Strange how we had longed for the feel and smell of land when afloat and now longed for the touch of ship and spray now that we were ashore.”

4/5 – A stormy tale of Vikings at sea, with enough hack silver and hacking off limbs to make every Norse-lover smile. Robert Low’s Oathsworn starts with a mighty shield-wall bang and bearded warriors that say all sorts of profanities. For lovers of Bernard Cornwell and Giles Kristian, check this out!

Buy The Whale Road by Robert Low

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REVIEW: A Time of Courage by John Gwynne

I received an advanced review copy of A Time of Courage in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank John Gwynne and Tor for the opportunity.

A Time of Courage is the final entry in the Of Blood and Bone trilogy and the seventh story that takes place in Gwynne’s phenomenal fantasy world The Banished Lands. After completing and adoring all of Gwynne’s work I am running out of ways to describe how exceptional a writer he is. I will not say too much here regarding the actual storyline here as I don’t wish to spoil anything for people who are yet to read this or those fantasy fans who are yet to discover John’s work.

Wrath is one of my top five fantasy books of all time and A Time of Courage is very, very close to hitting those same lofty heights. One aspect exceeds all that the author has written before and that is the incredible battle sequences featured here. You won’t find many book reviews where the blogger doesn’t comment on how spectacular the fights and skirmishes are that Gwynne writes but what is presented here blows everything that has come previously away. Especially the final battle, the epic showdown of “good vs. evil” which has been seven books and millennia of history in the making. The finale takes up about twenty-five percent of the novel and I’m content to say that it is probably the greatest final battle I have ever read in fantasy.

When Gwynne writes I often feel completely like I am part of the world and events. During the battles it’s is as if I have been given an adrenaline shot – I read at seven-hundred miles an hour and I am sure my heart beats much faster than it normally does. This is heightened by the way the author often ends point of view chapters with a twist or a bang! This normally occurs when he switches POV scenes to numerous characters who are at the same meeting, event or battle to see different viewpoints which aids to build up the pace and excitement expertly. Gwynne’s writing is addictive and it’s always so easy to just read one more chapter and then look at the clock and realise it’s four hours later.

In addition to the action segments, these books shine because of the amazing characters, their relationships with each other, whether friendly or utterly bitter, and the presentation of hope – that good will succeed in this very violent and often brutally unfair environment.

There are five point of view perspectives that are presented. We will be familiar with following the half-breed warrior Riv, the horse-tribe King Bleda, the Demon King’s fiance and sorceress Fritha, and the tracker and revenge-seeking Drem. I had to chuckle quite often as the latter always finds himself right in the middle of scenarios and encounters and he seems to get saved at the last second by half a dozen different characters throughout the narrative! The new point of view perspective is from another player on the “evil” side. This is the viewpoint of Jin, Bleda’s ex-betrothed who has a vendetta that can only be settled when she murders him.

After falling in love with the characters in The Faithful and the Fallen, when I started this series I never believed I would care about this new ensemble as much as I did about Corban, Storm, Veradis, Maquin etc… By the end of A Time of Courage, I can confirm I shouldn’t have been worried. The whole ensemble is excellent. As well as the point of view characters standout players include the talented, charming yet cocky warrior Cullen, the legendary giant Balur One-Eye, and The Order of the Bright Star leader Brynne. I couldn’t finish a John Gwynne review without commending him on how excellent he presents animal characters. Talking crows, a loyal white bear, a half-woman/half-wyrm are just a few examples.

The finale and the way events are wrapped up is exquisite. There are extremely sad moments littered throughout the novel and some tragic events are presented as the conclusion approaches. Some of your favourite players will not see the final page, and some die in horrific fashion. Others die in the most shocking and unpredictable scenes I’ve seen for a while. I’m not embarrassed to say that I cried quite a few times and that shows Gwynne’s skill as an author to make me care so damn much!

There isn’t really anything else I need to say. A Time of Courage is bloody incredible and Gwynne will have a fan in me for life. I know it was only January when I completed this but I will be amazed if this isn’t the best fantasy book released in 2020.

Buy A Time of Courage by John Gynne

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Five Black Library authors to watch out for

In the Grimdark Fiction Readers and Writer’s Facebook group, there’s been a growing trend of seeing more of our favourite grimdark / dark fantasy and sci-fi authors being added to the Black Library stable of authors. For the moment, these authors seem to be restricted to short stories, as if Black Library is testing the waters with these authors to see if the style that is absolutely killing it in novels for publishers like HarperVoyager and Ace will result in the same kind of awesome stories–just in the grimdark 40K universe or the Warhammer / Age of Sigmar world.

So, here’s a quick spotlight on authors we think you 40K and Warhammer fans should be keeping an eye out for, and what else they’ve written (if you’re feeling adventurous).

Michael R. Fletcher

Fletcher is a magnificent author of all things gritty AF, with his barnstorming fantasy debut, Beyond Redemption being one of this publication’s favourite books of all time. It’s little wonder that Black Library have dipped the toe into Fletcher’s style, and I’d be pretty surprised if we didn’t see a lot more of him through Black Library publications.

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Other works from Fletcher outside of Age of Sigmar that you can check out include a myriad of short stories and novels of dark fantasy, noir SF, and one very different work about millennials.

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Peter McLean

With Peter McLean’s Priest of Bones depicting such magnificently damaged post-war characters it is absolutely no surprise that he’s written seven pieces for a franchise that revels in such stories.

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If you like these stories, then you just absolutely have to check out some of McLean’s other works such as the absolutely unmissable Priest of Lies.

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Richard Ford

Now Richard Ford is a bit more of an old hand for Black Library, with his stories coming out four-odd years ago, but his works are definitely worth checking out. Outside of his Black Library works Ford has a pair of magnificent fantasy series well worth your time.

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If his Black Library stories are your jam, then definitely check out his brilliant Steelhaven trilogy and the War of Archons trilogy.

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Rob J. Hayes

When it comes to indie authors, Hayes is pretty much the gold standard for grimdark fantasy. His gritty as all fuck style of writing with plenty of hard-bitten military characters makes him perfect for guard-style 40k characters, and I can’t wait to get my hands on Anarchy’s End.

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Hayes has a range of series for you to check out including everything from trilogies like The Ties that Bind and It Takes a Thief… to stand alones like Never Die, and collections of short stories like The Bound Folio.

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Filip Wiltgren

Filip’s publications so far seem to be focussed on short stories, and I’m a big fan of him having picked The Bed of the Crimson King up for publication a few years back. He’s been in two Inferno! issues so far, and I hope to see more of him.

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You can find more of Filip’s stories in a range of online magazines such as Future, Metamorphosis, and this here publication.

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There’s more coming

From what we hear on the grapevine, there are more and more of these dark fantasy and noir SF authors getting added to the Black Library stable (it’d be great to see authors like Anna Stephens, Deb Wolf, and M.L. Spencer writing for these guys), so keep an eye out for these new names, check out some of their other stuff, and here’s hoping they add some serious awesomeness to the 40K and Warhammer / Age of Sigmar verses and your reading experience.

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REVIEW: The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

The Sisters Brothers is a tale of one man wanting to be better, a tale of the quirky realities of the Wild West and one that made me fall in love with this style of story-telling.

“…but I could not sleep without proper covering and spent the rest of the night rewriting lost arguments from my past, altering history so that I emerged victorious.”

I really must take my hat off to Patrick deWitt. His prose captivated me from the first chapter, only a few pages long, and took me on one of my favourite book experiences to date. This is the first western book I have read, though I am no stranger to the theme, through films, television and the games I have played, such as Red Dead Redemption 2. The Sisters Brothers however was something completely new and I implore anyone and everyone to at least try this book.

“…I am happy to welcome you to a town peopled in morons exclusively. Furthermore, I hope that your transformation to moron is not an unpleasant experience.”

Written in the 1st person we follow the journey of Eli Sisters alongside his brother, Charlie as they accept a new job from the man known as The Commodore. The Sisters Brothers are notorious hired killers in 1850’s America. Their journey takes them from Oregon to California and many places in-between as they head out to kill a Gold Rush prospector called Hermann Warm.

Charlie, the older and leader of the two is a drinker and a lover of violence with no other ambitions. He is paid more than Eli, gets the better horse, and makes the decisions.  Eli is a man who is wanting to change, seek a new occupation and generally be better than his previous self.

“Here is another miserable mental image I will have to catalog and make room for.”

The plot is simple and unique, with the appearance of a simple gun-job but the reality of a realistic job where characters think for themselves. What I loved about this book was how utterly bizarre it was alongside how it was completely believably. Every single word. It all caught me off guard but at the same time was expected. Read it! (The film is also good, but not quite near the level of the book).

There is dark humour and light humour and offbeat humour that made me laugh it was so ridiculous and humour that made me think of the sad truth. It is full of touching moments and sincerity that is rare to find in a book, especially one about guns for hire. There is death, lots of death, and brotherly squabbles and hurt feelings and a one-eyed horse. The animals in this book have a tough time of it to be honest.

“…things I had come to find humor in would make your honest man swoon.”

The language is what made this book one of my favourite ever reads. It feels so period but also thick with wit and full of careful thought and awareness of life. The characters are so real and Eli is one of my favourite PoVs ever. There are hilarious stories and strange encounters and well-written gunfights. The plot didn’t need to be spectacular, the writing took it to a whole new level on its own.

“I do not know what it was about that boy but just looking at him, even I wanted to clout him on the head. It was a head that invited violence.”

Even if westerns aren’t your thing, you’ll soon realise The Sisters Brothers is your thing. Take a gamble and read it because it is a masterpiece that begs you to read and savour each and every word. There are many relatable moments, which I found due mainly to the fact that I have two brothers and was able to appreciate the small details (though I could not relate to the arguments about whether to shoot someone or not…)!

“Returning his pen to its holder, he told us, ‘I will have him gutted with that scythe. I will hang him by his own intestines.’ At this piece of dramatic exposition, I could not help but roll my eyes. A length of intestines would not carry the weight of a child, much less a full-grown man.”

5/5 – The Sisters Brothers is unique, hilarious, heartbreaking and a triumph. A story that is seeping with heart and humour. It is one of the most quotable books I have read. Anyone who loves real characters with gritty and black humour will love it. Savour every word! This is a book that I will read many times over my life. I loved it.

Buy The Sisters Brothers by Patric deWitt

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REVIEW: The Unspoken Name by A. K. Larkwood

A.K Larkwood’s debut novel, The Unspoken Name, the first novel in The Serpent’s Gate series, is all about choice. There is absolute power in hitting bottom; you have faced death, the end, and come out on the other side. After that, the world is open to you choice-wise.

“By the touch of thy hand shall the black lotus bloom

Thus shall we know thee, handmaid of desolation

By the corruption of the seas

By the fading of all things

Thy name shall be forsaken and thou be my bride

Thus spake the Nameless One upon the plains of dust

            from The Book of Unmaking”

“You have looked your foretold death in the face and turned from it in defiance. Nothing in this world or any other deserves your fear.”

This is one of the main aspects of the lead protagonist Csorwe, and I think of The Unspoken Name in general. This story delves deeply into the nature of what choice actually is. Are our actions in this world truly choices? Or do we choose to do things based on what is expected of us?

Larkwood’s debut novel, the first of a grand new series aptly named The Serpents Gates stars the character Cswore. Csorwe is in a lot of ways unoriginal, at least at first. She grows up in what I can only think of as a cult where every 14 years, a girl child that has been groomed to become the bride of a god is devoured in sacrifice to appease the god. The first 14 years of her life have been entirely without choice. Choice, as a concept, is a wholly foreign concept. Csorwe has been brainwashed her entire life. This great honor that has been bestowed upon her by this wrathful god.

Her life’s only meaning is in its death. In the last hour of her life, she is approached by the wizard Sethennai, a wizard, he offers her a choice, “serve me, and I will save you. Don’t and accept your fate.” Csorwe, having never been offered a choice in anything, she is offered what could be the most pivotal choice of her life. She accepts life and defies a god. She takes her young life and runs for it. Sethennai needs Cswore to restore his position as ruler of a great city named Tlaanthothe. It is difficult as a reader to make the connection as to why Csorwe, basically a babe in the ways of the world, is essential in this great wizard’s quest to gain his city back. Especially since, again, Cswore is groomed as an assassin and bodyguard, and it takes years to get her ready. And, still, what looks like a choice and an opportunity to live her life finally on her own terms is not what she thinks it is. She is bound to Sethennai by obligation and her honor.

The narrative The Unspoken Name has two plot arcs. It is almost as if two novels were joined together, each could have stood on their own as a book in the series. The first arc is of Cswore’s escape, education, abduction, and finally, assistance in Sethennai’s quest of restoring his position as ruler of Tlaanthothe. This arc is exciting and encompasses the first 30 or so percent of the story. After this arc concludes, we jump forward five years. Cswore and Talasseres, who is a fascinating side character and is both Cswore’s foil and companion for much of the novel, are on the hunt for the Reliquary of Pentravesse for Sethennai. The Reliquary is an object of mystical and religious importance that Sethennai and Oranna are both searching for. Anyone who obtains the Reliquary will gain knowledge of the Pentravesse. A source of high power. Sethennai and Oranna are brutal and efficient characters in very different ways. Each stops at nothing to achieve their own goals. While Sethennai behaves like a razor blade cutting into and removing things in his search for the Reliquary, Oranna acts much like a cudgel and bashes into things and people with brutal raw force. Both Tal and Cswore get in the crossfire.

Another integral part of the second arc in The Unspoken Name is the developing romantic relationship that occurs. It becomes a complete expression of choice. The choice to live, to love, to die, and to protect. All vital and singular expressions of Cswore’s budding ability to make choices for her self and her future. Her choices, Whether it burns the world down or not, it is her choices to make. It helped create a strong second half to this book that saved the pace and brought the full reader speeding into the conclusion.

“The desert called the Speechless Sea was of black sand, scattered with shards of volcanic glass that sparkled like the stars. A chain of hills emerged from this desert, as though the night sky was punctured by a row of vertebrae. Built on these was the city of Tlaanthothe.”

World-building in this story is exceptional, although occasionally, it is just a little bit murky. The setting of this story is a series of worlds, an almost infinite amount of them, that are accessed through gates. Each setting is entirely different culturally and geographically. It is a heady mix of ever-shifting landscapes that are a serious nod to writer A.K Larkwood’s imagination. The part that was a bit murky to me was the character’s physical attributes. Csorwe is described as having tusks. Unless other descriptions are given, Cswore is immediately orc-like. The same goes for Sethennai. He is described as having pointed ears, which immediately makes me think of an elf. Maybe this is a function of my fantasy context from reading other books. But, it seemed like a missed opportunity for more complicated and exciting physical characteristics of the characters.

Is the power of choice enough to build a substantial epic series around?

The answer is a resounding, yes!

Choice is one of the most primal things humans can make. Your choices make or break your future. This debut novel is excellent and worth reading, even if it is just for the world-building alone. Is it perfect? No, there are plotting problems, and as I mentioned above, issues with suspended disbelief. But it is a great book that ended on a high note. This, in turn, will lead to the second book in the series perfectly.

You should absolutely check out this debut novel and jump into this world.

Buy The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood

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REVIEW: The Vagabond King by Jodie Bond

In Jodie Bond’s debut novel, The Vagabond King, a devastating raid by an army of immortals leaves Prince Threon with a murdered family and a stolen kingdom. But when the deposed royal sets out to claim his vengeance, free his people, and restore himself to the throne, he discovers a struggle on two fronts: human and divine. While armies of men do battle, the gods wage a war of their own, pulling strings and playing cosmic chess with mortals as the pieces. In the midst of it all, the former prince is left with little but the clothes on his back, a handful of misfit allies, and the burning desire to take back what’s rightfully his.

The Vagabond King is told in the third person with Threon and a selection of others acting as its primary POV characters. One of these is Savanta, an inventor who dared to create a Da Vinci-esque flying machine and enter the domain of the sky god, Zenith. Transformed into a winged, grey skinned creature of the air and forced into Zenith’s service as punishment, Savanta desires little more than to end her divine indenture and return to the daughter she left behind. On the other end of the theological spectrum, Azzania is a priestess of the Void. While Azzania’s own religion refuses to acknowledge Zenith and his brethren as deities, she, Savanta, and Threon find common purpose in fomenting rebellion against the earth god Deyar’s aforementioned army of immortals and the empire it serves. Lleu, one of the undying soldiers in that legion, acts as the final POV character. Born to a father from the empire and a mother from Threon’s occupied kingdom, Lleu faces intense internal conflict and an addict’s struggle with the life-extending vish drug.

While I thought this was a solid and enjoyable fantasy tale in many regards, I felt like it didn’t do enough to break the mold and distinguish itself from the rest of the genre. What The Vagabond King does offer in good, solid (if slightly predictable) plot and steady pacing, it somewhat lacks in surprises and inventive worldbuilding concepts. Threon himself is a likable enough primary protagonist, but one of the major issues I have with him is the way the majority of his character development happens off-page. He begins the novel as a pampered noble on the night of the raid, and his narrow escape is followed by a five-year timeskip that glosses over his transition to such a radically different life.

That said, there was a lot I enjoyed about this book as well, particularly from the perspective of a grimdark reader. Bond’s gods are pleasingly ruthless and manipulative, and Zenith in particular has a way of stealing the scene and grabbing readers’ attention whenever he shows up with his acid wit and cloak of stars. The author also does a good job of depicting the ugly realities of war, even when it’s the protagonists doing the violence. At times, The Vagabond King felt like it had the aesthetics and feel of classic 80’s fantasy with its band of plucky underdogs going against a tyrannical empress (complete with a pair white tigers). These fantastical elements were juxtaposed nicely with the gritty realism of addiction, slavery, and the realities of resource scarcity. The novel’s ending is strong and surprising and closes the book on a high note. Overall, I would give this book a solid 3.5 stars. If you’re looking for a fun adventure in the vein of Dragonlance or the Forgotten Realms with a little more modern grit, this might be the book for you.

Buy The Vagabond King by Jodie King

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