Adrian Collins's Blog, page 234

The GdM team's favourite reads of 2016

This year saw an absolute truckload of grimdark material hit the shelves and now that the year's wrapped up, it's time to once again go to the GdM team for their picks of 2016.

Matthew Cropley | Red Tide by Marc Turner

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Red Tide is a flawlessly executed fantasy novel. The first two books in Marc Turner’s Chronicles of the Exile were fantastic, but Red Tide exceeds them by drawing both discrete plot-lines together in a perfectly structured adventure. It’s my top pick for 2016 because I simply can’t think of a single criticism. Red Tide is a page-turner from the very beginning, filled with moral ambiguities, grit, visceral action, deep characters, wondrous magic, and horrifying monsters. It also succeeded in genuinely surprising me several times, and by the end all I wanted was for the next books in the series to be out already.

Kristy Mika | Those Below by Daniel Polansky

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The best I've read from 2016 is Those Below (The Empty Throne #2) by Daniel Polansky. You know those photographers that go into complete disaster zones, where something absolutely catastrophic is occurring, yet they can take photographs that are stunningly beautiful? "Oh! See how pretty that nuclear bomb looked as it destroyed a civilisation! How spectacular!" is the best way I can describe it! The juxtaposition between Polansky's beautifully written prose, and the utterly ugly destruction perpetrated by the characters within the plot, made it the most disturbing book (duology really...) I've read in a long time.

Cheresse Burke | Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

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Crooked Kingdom, the stunning second half of the Six of Crows duology, is not just my favourite Grimdark read of the year, but possibly one of my favourites of all time. Bardugo gives us six compelling, emotional characters, who sacrifice morality, secrets and goodwill to settle their scores and pull the heist of a lifetime. The heist is also impeccably put together, making for a tight plot and deft writing that made the book seem far shorter than it actually is. If you don't like your bitter with a dash of sweet, the Six of Crows duology may not be for you. But I can't think of not recommending this book to anyone.

Durand Welsh | The Great Ordeal by R. Scott Bakker

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The Great Ordeal, definitely. It's an assault on the senses, grimdark style. The prose is exquisite, the characters mean as starving pitbulls, and everyone is yoked to events spiralling towards apocalypse.

Mike Myers | The Wheel of Osheim by Mark Lawrence

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Amazing conclusion to one of my favorite stories. Snorri and Jalan return from Hell and, oh, the places they’ll go. The conflicts get more complicated, the foes get more terrifying, the settings and situations get weirder, and the Wheel rolls on. Lawrence just keeps getting better. Superb writing, grand ideas, wide scope, great characters. Vivid and memorable. Can't wait for Red Sister.

Shawn Mansouri | The Vagrant by Peter Newman

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While I kept to short form and manga the majority of this year, I was struck by the image of this cover when Newman’s new novel hit the shelves (reminding me so much of Koike and Kojima’s Lone Wolf and Cub). Newman’s post-apocalyptic world is mostly science fiction with bursts of dark, gritty fantasy. A goat and baby soften the sometimes somber and stoic lone wanderer on his way to the Shining City. Did I mention he doesn’t speak and carries a sword that sings and has wings and a newborn in his arms all while the world is teeming with demonic/alien forces? This book has it all. Cleverly written, cerebral at times, and just the right length (400 page I believe) to not worry about completion of a long series in the future. The ending leaves room for a sequel but doesn’t promise anything. With a cast of characters for just about any reader, The Vagrant hit the top of my list for best Grimdark read in 2016.

Jinx Strange | Beyond Redemption by Michael R. Fletcher

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Beyond Redemption is flawed, delusional and catastrophically likeable, much like its best characters. Starting with the interesting premise that certain people's delusions can shape reality, what Michael Fletcher does masterfully is create people who are damaged and sympathetic without going flat. It is by no means a perfect book, but Beyond Redemption is my top grimdark read for 2016 because I thought about it whenever it wasn't in my hands. The Mirror's Truth comes out in December, and it is going to the top of my list.

Editor's note: I recognise this was published in 2015. Jinx was such a raging fan, and he did read it in 2016, and we all rave about this book, so I just thought, "bugger it" and went with it.

Adrian Collins | A Blade of Black Steel by Alex Marshall

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I continue to be a massive fan of the Crimson Empire series with A Blade of Black Steel hitting all the right notes. It's another barnstorming ride of action, intrigue, hilarity and downright brutality. Marshall's prose continues to crack me up on a regular basis. It's witty, cheeky, silly, fun, and downright brutal. A truly enjoyable voice. As with A Crown for Cold Silver it's downright refreshing for the topics of drugs and sexuality to be dealt with so well. They are there, but not on a pedestal, just a smooth part of this crazy world of Marshall's.

Buy these titles

Interested in these titles? Grab a copy using the links below.

 

Grimdark Magazine #10 featuring Anthony Ryan up for Pre-Sale!

Dust off that imagination and get ready for action because Grimdark Magazine #10 is going to blow you away.

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Pre-Order Grimdark Magazine Issue 10[image error] 

This issue features The Lady of Crows, a Raven's Shadow novella by Anthony Ryan where you'll run into some old favourite characters and see the world through a typically badass protagonist. The Lady of Crows grabs you by the collar and pulls you through a gripping story in the kind of whirlwind story we've come to expect from Ryan. For fans of the Raven's Shadow series, this is a must have accompaniment to the overall story.

Issue #10 also features the first in a new series of author articles with Jesse Bullington (The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart and, as Alex Marshall, the Crimson Empire series) kicking us off with Worlds Without End: Keys to Rich, Believable Worldbuilding.

John Gwynne (The Faithful and the Fallen) and Deborah A. Wolf (The Dragon's Legacy) both stop by for a chat with our bloke in the trenches Tom Smith, and Matthew Cropley has penned another article for this issue, this time on The Future of Grimdark.

Finally, we review The Mirror's Truth by Michael R. Fletcher and The Forgetting Moon by Brian Lee Durfee.

Pre-order for our 13th January release using the below link!

 

Grimdark Magazine Announcement

Some big changes are coming to Grimdark Magazine!

Having been on the market for two and a half years now, we've learnt a thing or two, and as we've grown, so has grimdark and our community! As a result, Grimdark Magazine is making some changes and growing to keep serving you the very best in grimdark fiction, reviews, interviews and genre coverage.

Subscriptions

FINALLY. It is surprisingly difficult to set up a digital subscription service in 2016. We were waiting on Amazon to step up, but it's become clear they aren't going to. Patreon, however, has become increasingly popular as a subscription service to magazines, and we think it will be a great way to let YOU manage YOUR subscriptions and allow us to easily deliver to and communicate with subscribers.

Patreon is growing in popularity, but a lot of people haven't used it before. Here's what you need to know about Patreon:

It's easy to sign up and easy to cancel at any time.
You only get charged when we publish an issue (quarterly) - just like a subscription. You're looking at $16USD/year.
More support means more rewards for everyone!

Click on this link to head on over and check out our new Patreon page to see what we mean!

Price Increase 

Frankly, we've held ourselves back by trying to compete on price with magazines like Clarkesworld and Nightmare, who have thousands of general-interest readers. The economy of scale just doesn't work for us (yet) to keep paying the pro-rates that we do, and constantly striving for excellence. Lowering our quality is not an option, so we have to raise our price.

We love grimdark for the same reasons you do and we're part of the community. Grimdark is still a relatively small, but supportive community, and one that we invest in and care about. This price increase simply reflects what we need to provide at the quality we do, grow our magazine, grow our community, and stay on top of grimdark as it grows and changes.

The fact is, GdM is YOUR magazine. It is here to serve you, cover what you want, and build the community that helps our favorite fiction thrive. That's worth $4 once a quarter.

In our time we've provided short stories from some of grimdark's premier authors including Mark Lawrence, R. Scott Bakker and Michael R. Fletcher, while also getting non-grimdark authors to give our way of things a crack--authors like Adrian Tchaikovsky and Aliette de Bodard, to name just a couple! Let me tell you, we have no intention of slowing down. We are always setting our sights higher; we are looking to dramatically expand our website and non-fiction offerings, and to address grimdark as much as a way of life as a literary phenomenon.

The new pricing will go into effect as of issue #10.

New Website 

We've been running our e-commerce store for a while now, but with the introduction of Patreon have made the decision to move from the e-commerce platform to a simpler platform that works better for online content and links directly to either Patreon, Amazon, Apple, Kobo, etc for your purchases.

Keep an eye out for this in the future.

Conclusion 

There's plenty happening at GdM, but you can sip your beer safe in the knowledge that the customer experience remains forefront in the goals of our business model. GdM will provide more articles, more voices, and keep putting out our brand of dark and cheeky awesomesauce.

2016 / 17 Xmas and New Years submission closure

From the 15th of December to the 31st of Jan, GdM will be closing its unsolicited fiction submission window. Our team have worked their guts out for another year and it's time to give them their evenings back for a bit.

Same as the last two years, we'll be wrapping up the stories already submitted as best we can before putting the feet up on the stilled chest of a vanquished foe (who was probably a friend until three minutes ago when they made a lighthearted joke about our BBQing skills), cracking a beer pulled fresh out of the ice in our dragon skull esky, and enjoying the sun (or snow) for a bit.

All submissions received between 00:01 15th December 2016 AEST and 23:59 31st January 2017 will be deleted, unread, no exceptions. Submission queries for submissions made prior to the closure will be addressed accordingly.

The team and I would like to thank all submitting authors for sending their work to us this year. Thank you to those whose stories we purchased for trusting us to do your story justice. Thank you to those who waited for us to respond. Thank you to those who found value in the feedback efforts of the GdM reader team.

Happy holiday season, authors!

Review: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

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Review: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Review by Adrian Collins

 

Spoiler alert: If you haven't read Six of Crows, don't read this review.

After enjoying Six of Crows so much, I leapt straight into book two. With what I do here at GdM meaning the series on my to read list are often broken up by ARCs, it's a rarity that I get to do it, but I couldn't help myself on this occasion. I'm so glad I didn't wait.

We pick up almost immediately where Six of Crows left off. Inej is in trouble. Kaz is trying to pick up the pieces of his last failed heist and get his crew together to get her back. Jan Van Eck has put a target on Kaz's head and is leveraging Inej's imprisonment to get Kaz to hand over Kuwei Yu Bol and the secret to Jurda Parem so he can control the grisha (mages), the farms that make Jurda, and hit new heights of power in the economic instability he will create in Ketterdam.

The story once again jumps between Kaz's crews' points of view, giving us insight into each character's view of the world, hiding and revealing plot points to some and not others, and--importantly, as a point of difference between Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom--delves far deeper into the lives of our protagonists than previously shown. This, I think, is where some readers will be irreversibly hooked, and where others who loved the relentless pace of Six of Crows may find themselves not as engaged in the reading experience. For me, I found myself in the "irreversibly hooked" camp as we found out more and more about why these broken people are who they are. 

This slight change of pace peppered throughout provides some breathing time for a longer read than Six of Crows, as when we're not in these reflective moments, the story progresses at Bardugo's standard breakneck speed. Overall, the story is gripping, reminiscent of Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series in nature, but darker, with more broken and engaging characters struggling, fighting to grow. There is plenty to get your teeth into plot-wise, and when Bardugo brings it back together at the end I finished the book completely satisfied. A bit crushed, by a certain twist she snuck in there if I'm being honest, but I loved the ending even more for having my heart stomped on a bit--that sort of thing is a reason people like me love to read this kind of fiction (tip of the glass, Leigh, for that one).

Bardugo's writing is clean, easy to rush through because of it (I had to back track sometimes because I got too excited to find out what happened next), and full of imagination. She definitely knows how to get her hooks in to you.

Crooked Kingdom is a brilliant read: engaging, well-planned and wonderfully written. I highly recommend it for lovers of dark fiction, and think most grimdark fans will thoroughly enjoy it.
 

Review: Cthulu Armageddon by C. T. Phipps

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Review: Cthulhu Armageddon by C.T.
Matthew Cropley

To begin the foreword to Cthulhu Armageddon, C.T. Phipps poses the question ‘what would you get if you crossed Mad Max with the Cthulhu Cycle?’ The book to follow well and truly delivers on the answer.

Cthulhu Armageddon follows the story of Captain John Henry Booth, a world-weary ranger in the ‘United States Remnant’ some two-hundred years after ‘The Rising’, the event in which the Great Old Ones such as Cthulhu rose from their ancient slumber beneath the Earth, ushering in the fall of civilisation and a new age of horror and magic. The world is a blasted desert, filled with mutants, gods and monsters, and Booth braves it all for vengeance upon the dark sorcerer that stole his life. Booth is accompanied by a reformed torturer, a little girl, a tribal priestess, and a trusted comrade.  It feels a lot like an old western, or King’s ‘The Gunslinger’, and there are clear influences from the Fallout and Wasteland game series.

The post-apocalyptic world, inhabited by the biggest and baddest creatures H.P. Lovecraft ever dreamed up, is definitely dark and hopeless. The nihilistic, horrifying reality of the Cthulhu Mythos has burst forth from the deeps and squashed humanity underfoot, and seeing the way in which the world has dealt with that is compellingly grim. There’s a lot of grit, and the level of violence feels appropriate. However, while the larger cast have their fair share of morally ambiguous traits, Booth himself is actually quite morally upstanding and righteous, despite his claims to the contrary. He’s the type of hero who seems to be the last good man in a world gone mad, and while he’s certainly violent and aggressive when prompted, he always tries to do the right thing, and values friendship, inclusiveness, and human life, and he often thinks things such as ‘cavalier disregard for human life bothered me more than their reverence for the Great Old Ones’. This means that, as a huge fan of grimdark, I didn’t find myself drawn to Booth as much as I would have liked, and there were occasional tropes, such as sparing the life of an enemy only for him to return and mess everything up, that grated.

Booth does have his share of badass moments, and he’s incredibly skilled with firearms, close-combat and explosives. He’s also a good leader, pilot, and even, when he needs to be, magic-user. While this often makes for good reading, at times he can seem almost too good to be realistic. For example, when confronted with six aggressive fish-men, he narrates that ‘the average hybrid possessed twice the strength of a normal man and was three times as durable. Sixty seconds later, they were all lying on the ground with broken kneecaps and shattered jaws.’ For me, this was one of a couple of instances where I would have liked to experience the blood, sweat and pain that should come with fighting against such overwhelming odds. It makes Booth a less human, sympathetic protagonist in these moments, and lowers the stakes. However, on other occasions the fights can be tense, edge-of-the seat affairs, and some readers appreciate larger than life heroes. Booth’s primary motivation in the story is his squad, and these characters are introduced at the beginning, and all succeed in feeling like genuine people, despite the fact that many of them appear only briefly. This ability to create attachment to a character is a great asset to the book, and little details such as one character’s seemingly feigned southern accent disappearing when she’s surprised endeared me to them. None of the side-characters are expendable cannon fodder, and one in particular, Richard the Hawaiian shirt-wearing ghoul, is a riot. One thing I found strange is that at certain points Booth claims to have ‘only one desire and one desire only: to return to [his] family’, yet he seems to dislike his wife, and his children never appear in the book except for one short vision at the end. As motivating elements, their absence felt odd. However, it doesn’t get in the way of the story, since Booth is already adequately motivated by his squad mates and anger at the world which has wronged him.

The world was, for me, the best part of the book. It’s like a crash-course in the Cthulhu Mythos, from shoggoths, to elder things, to the outer gods. I’d only read a few Lovecraft stories before reading Cthulhu Armageddon, but the book made me excited to delve deeper into the twisted world of nihilism and horror. Cosmic horror doesn’t seem like it would mesh well with a Mad Max style wasteland, but it actually fits perfectly, adding plenty of colour to the post-apocalyptic setting, many of which can often be too bland and boring. Post-apocalyptic stories are something we’ve seen a lot of lately, and the addition of the Cthulhu Mythos as the world-ending event and constant threat make it so much more interesting than the classic nuclear war or undead scenarios we’ve seen a thousand times. Even when Booth passes through areas that stray close to the generic wasteland of the pop-culture apocalypse, it differs with the inclusion of gigantic statues to honour the Great Old Ones, or an otherworldly cathedral. My favourite setting of the novel was Kingsport, a town reminiscent of something out of the Fallout game series, with cobbled together buildings made from mismatched fragments of the old world. A district of Kingsport is run by Deep Ones, humanoid fish-people who Phipps casts as gangsters involved in a turf-war. The transplantation of unknowable horrors from Lovecraft’s mind into the roles traditionally filled by seedy humans works well, and Phipps’ wasteland is positively teeming with splashes of colour and magic not present in others.

Structurally, the novel is solid, but I did feel as if the magic and mystery was emphasised too much at the end, at the expense of full comprehension. The ending happens quickly, and didn’t present as many answers as I would have liked. However, a sense of mystery is certainly a key part of Lovecraft’s work, and perhaps other would feel cheated if it wasn’t used liberally in Cthulhu Armageddon. The book isn’t a particularly long read, but doesn’t feel too short either. It’s the perfect length for the stand-alone, action-packed wasteland romp that it is.

It’s written in first-person, which is a form I feel there’s not enough of. As such, we get a lot of Booth’s world-weary inner monologue, which is an interesting lens through which to view an awe-inspiring pantheon of twisted creatures. Occasionally, things can be over-explained, and the writing could be more concise. I also would have preferred it if more emotion was revealed through dramatic action rather than internal monologue, although this is perhaps more about my personal tastes. The only other minor issue I had was that there are a couple of errors speckled throughout, but not enough to significantly interrupt the flow of reading. Aside from all this, however, there is a lot of good writing and tight, gripping action scenes underpinned by serious emotional themes.

Overall, Cthulhu Armageddon by C.T. Phipps is a unique book, and definitely worth checking out. It’s a good introduction to the Cthulhu Mythos for those unfamiliar, and is filled with references that veterans would no-doubt appreciate. So, what would you get if you crossed Mad Max with the Cthulhu Cycle? You’d have to read it to truly find out.

REVIEW: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

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A Review of Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Adrian Collins

I have a new addition to my list of favourite authors. Straight off the bat and clear over the fence for six, I'm going to set the tone of this review right there. Abercrombie, Lawrence, Weeks, Martin, Lynch, de Bodard, Fletcher, Marshall--add Bardugo to this list, immediately.

Six of Crows follows a group of criminals--the leader Kaz, Inej the wraith, Jesper the sharpshooter, Nina the grisha (mage), Wyland the rich kid thrill seeker and Matthias the witch hunter--as they attempt to pull off a heist big enough to wrench them all from the lap of poverty in the Barrel (the slums) and to far better, and far richer, lives. The story's primary protagonist, Kaz, really drives Six of Crows by being the mastermind behind the heist attempt and by hiding clues about the action from both his fellow characters and the reader.

One of the things I love about this book, and a primary reason for my recommendation, is how well fleshed out the characters are. Each has a well thought out primary drive and goal, and a genuine reason to keep that hidden from everyone else in the group. By providing that level of intimacy with each character, Bardugo really ensures you invest in each character. And not in the way you get with A Game of Thrones where you get obsessively invested in a few characters and just itch to completely skip other characters' chapters until they become more interesting three books in, but in a way you are genuinely invested in every point of view from the outset. Some of the highlights for me include, of course,Kaz--his shark-like way of looking at the world is thoroughly enjoyable, even more so when you find out the reason for him being the way he is and see a chink in his armour start to develop--and, even better, the story between Nina and Matthias. Their history and its effect on their ability to trust each other (especially when neither is able to tell each other the truth) is thoroughly enjoyable, especially in the way it ties to the central conflict of the story. Even delving into Jesper and Wyland, who seem like more secondary characters than the first three I mention here feels gripping and enjoyable and engaging.

The flashback scenes I had mixed feelings about. On the one hand, they added incredible depth to the characters. On the other hand they felt like they appeared near half way through the book when, for my tastes, I wanted them earlier. but those scenes added so much depth to the story that I can hardly fault the author here.

As far as the writing goes, Bardugo provides clean prose that's easy to rip through at a pace that sometimes has you forcing yourself to slow down and properly make sure you're picking up what she's putting down so you don't miss anything. At least it did for me, but I'm thoroughly excitable.

When the ending came, I saw a decent piece of it coming--I imagine most dark fantasy and grimdark fans did as we tend to be cynical buggers--but still, I loved every line of it. Bardugo has provided a thoroughly engaging cast of characters telling an un-put-downable story in a dark world I couldn't get enough of. She is a grimdark Scott Lynch and I'll be damned if I don't think this doesn't hit it out of the park on the same level--if not more--than The Lies of Locke Lamora, an all time favourite of mine.

I highly, highly, recommend Six of Crows. Do yourself a favour and grab this book bloody immediately using the links below:

 

ANNOUNCEMENT: Omnicide Publishing Joint Venture

Grimdark Magazine and Dirge Magazine are combining top-shelf dark fiction with 
the best in engaging new media to create Omnicide Publishing.
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The joint venture’s goal is to create something new in the fields of:


Genre fiction
Publishing methodology
Small publishing business models

Omnicide Publishing will be announcing its first major project in 2017, led by Richard Lee Byers. So far, our writing team includes Jesse Bullington (Alex Marshall) and Michael R. Fletcher working alongside specialists and members of Grimdark Magazine and Dirge Magazine seconded to Omnicide Publishing.

The Grimdark Magazine team look forward to working with the Dirge Magazine team, creating alongside some of our literary heroes, and to presenting you with something we believe you’ll love and get behind.

Follow Omnicide Publishing on Facebook for further announcements by clicking on the like button below. Let your mates know by sharing!

Review: Path of Flames by Phil Tucker

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Review: ‘The Path of Flames’ by Phil Tucker
Matthew Cropley

 

The Path of Flames by Phil Tucker, the first instalment of the Chronicles of the Exile, is a self-published book that’s been doing well recently in Mark Lawrence’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-off. It’s a fun, escapist read that harkens back to traditional epic fantasy, while still providing subversive elements that move the genre forward.

The Path of Flames begins with a visceral cavalry charge from the perspective of a young squire, Asho, a member of the enslaved albino race known as ‘Bythians’. The world-shaking results of the charge give Asho hints that all may not be as it seems in his world of rigidly segregated races, floating cities and ancient magic. Asho journeys back home to Kyferin Castle and joins a rich cast of characters battling for survival in a world that’s been turned upside down. All the much-loved staples of traditional fantasy are present, such as tournaments, monsters and magic swords. Parallel to this is the story of Tharok, an orc-like creature called a kragh, and his struggle for dominance over his tribes. This plot doesn’t link in to the main story until the end, but it promises to become increasingly relevant over the next books. Overall, The Path of Flames is a fun read that presents classic epic fantasy reminiscent of David Eddings or Raymond E. Feist, in sleek modern packaging with subversive new elements. It may not be overtly grimdark, but it’s an enjoyable escapist read.

Not being grimdark doesn’t mean that The Path of Flames isn’t enjoyable to a grimdark fan. Many readers who appreciate grimdark fiction can also enjoy more traditional fantasy when it’s done well, and The Path of Flames is definitely an example where it is. It harkens back to more traditional fantasy with relatively clear ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’, with a few notable exceptions, in a high-magic yet subversive fantasy world. The fight scenes are visceral and gritty and several of the characters grapple with dark themes.

The two most central point-of-view characters are Asho and Kethe. Asho struggles with is background as a slave and bitterness over how he was mistreated in the past, and attempts to become a respected warrior despite prejudice. Kethe is his opposite, she’s the noble daughter of Kyferin Castle’s lord, with everything handed to her on a platter, yet she pours all her energy into becoming a warrior herself, while grappling with her mixed feelings about her murderous father. The progression and interaction of these two characters as the book progresses is just so damn cool. It’s the classic case of plucky youths discovering inner power and a magical destiny, but for Asho and Kethe it never feels derivative, and when they finally come into their own it feels earned. Both characters have light and shade to them, and succeed in feeling like real people. The other point-of-view characters all fulfil standard fantasy tropes, but manage to transcend them by being three-dimensional human beings. There’s Iskra, the troubled yet caring lady of the castle; Ser Tiron, the brutal knight with a dark past; Audsley, the bumbling yet well-meaning scholar, and Tharok, the noble yet brutal kragh. For grimdark fans, the standout will most likely be Ser Tiron, since he’s the darkest and most morally ambiguous character. Tharok’s cerebral, Machiavellian take on kragh politics is interesting, and something rare to fantasy ‘orcs’. A standout secondary character is Ser Wyland, the strong, charming epitome of chivalry and virtue. Such a character should rankle with a dedicated grimdark fan, yet I found myself liking him despite his seemingly clichéd knightly characteristics, and he genuinely feels like a real, nuanced person. Ser Wyland is the perfect example of how Phil Tucker has managed to take fantasy clichés and breathe new life into them.

The world of The Path of Flames seems, at first glance, to be a simplistic fantasy realm where one’s race and city of birth dictates status and basic characteristics. It’s reminiscent of The Lord of The Rings or something like Eddings’ Belgariad, where being born as part of the ‘evil’ race makes you evil, or being part of the ‘warrior’ race makes you strong. It follows the rules of ‘Ascendance’ where leading a good life means that you move up the chain towards the ‘better’ races, and vice versa. The interesting part about The Path of Flames, however, is that this racial system seems to be entirely fabricated by the ruling powers to more easily control the masses. This clever subversion of a fantasy trope adds an extra layer of complexity to the core narrative of the book, and makes the drip-fed discoveries as to the true nature and history of the world extremely interesting. The book also strikes a clever balance between high and low magic, and manages to reap the benefits of both with none of the detriments. Magic is common in the world, with portals, monsters, and ancient curses, but the characters know nearly nothing about how these almost commonplace things actually work, meaning that they retain their air of mystery. The frequent appearance of these magical elements brings an excitement and colour to the story. This world-building is always anchored to the characters and plot, and rarely becomes boring or superfluous.

The few times where the pace does slow down a bit too much come in the first third of the book, when the denizens of Kyferin Castle are being introduced. I found that a few of these chapters took too long and didn’t advance the plot much, such as the one where Audsley spends a great deal of time documenting a floating island of rock that is never mentioned again in the book. However, these chapters do introduce characters who become critical later on in the plot, and once the short period of character introductions is over, the pace picks right up again. Some readers do enjoy slower character-driven chapters, however, so their presence isn’t necessarily a detrimental factor. Conversely, there are several superb action scenes, such as a nail-biting chase with a demon. By the end of the book, nearly all of the characters, plot threads, and bits of lore that have been peppered throughout the story come together neatly, and Phil Tucker has done a great job of managing a relatively large cast as they operate in a world filled with complex lore. The end of a book can be the most important part, and by the end of The Path of Flames, you’ll be both satisfied with the story so far, and desperately hungry for the promised conflicts of the second book, ‘The Black Shriving’, which is already available on Amazon.

The writing style is the standard one would expect from most modern epic fantasy novels, with a limited third-person point-of-view that switches characters from chapter to chapter. The battle-scenes are a wonderful combination between tactically engaging and brutally visceral, for example: ‘Ser Hankel’s helm burst into molten metal and brains as a bolt caught him straight across the brow.’ Slower more emotional scenes filled with introspection are also well-written. There are a few minor spelling or formatting mistakes that can jolt the reader out of the story, but it doesn’t take much to be sucked back in again, and they’re not frequent enough to be an issue. Excluding this, the quality is great for a self-published novel, and it’s fantastic value for $5 AUD, a third or less of the price of a traditionally published fantasy novel.

If you want a magical story that brings you back to older fantasy while still adding to the genre, The Path of Flames by Phil Tucker is for you. If you’re still ravenous for stories that are as dark, gritty and morally ambiguous as it can get, then it’s probably not. If you’re like many grimdark fans and can appreciate both, try it out, chances are you’ll have a fun ride.

 

Review: The Last Quarrel by Duncan Lay

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Review: The Last Quarrel by Duncan Lay

Jewel Eliese 

The Last Quarrel is a fun, easy-to-read novel that hits you with some action-filled, staccato-paced chapters and a jolting end.

Our two protagonists and main viewpoints are Fallon and Prince Cavan. Fallon is a middle-aged, family man living in the seaport village of Baltimore who dreams of moving to Berry, the capital city of Gaelland. He hopes to one day fulfill his lifelong desire for military glory but his wife, Bridgit, feels the opposite. She wants to remain safe and raise their sickly son, Kerrin. In the political sphere, Crown Prince Cavan is a man trying to live a moral life but is pushed to do otherwise by his immoral family. His father, King Aidan, is brutal, unpredictable and mentally unstable, yet charismatic. He demands that Cavan be a royal figurehead, to simply give speeches and follow orders. His once-revolting but now handsome brother, Prince Swane, may be worshiping Zorva and cutting out human hearts to gain nearly unstoppable power. Children are being plucked from the streets of the capital and innocent women are burned as witches. Prince Cavan and Fallon end up working together to find the true culprit.

The setting is realistic and easy to picture. The distant lands of the Kotterman Empire seem to be taking over via trade and culture:including décor, perfume and strange foods like potatoes and lobster. Baltimore, often smelling of fish, is a self-sufficient village watched over by the fair and well-respected Duke of Lunster. The capital of Gaelland, Berry, is rotten and stinking, filled with riches, corruption and children begging in the streets. Similar to Hollywood, dreams are crushed in Berry.

The opening is gut wrenching as we follow a yet-unknown character’s viewpoint on his way to the gallows. Then the pace slows with the usual introductions and other background expositions before picking up again towards the end of the first chapter. Most of The Last Quarrel moves this way, like a Mayan Temple, with plateaus followed by sharp, exciting jumps. This kept me reading through to the last dramatic cliff-hanging surge but I wish that it had, like an Egyptian pyramid, built toward the end progressively before the final moment. This narrative structure may be due to the story being released in five separate episodes.

I find morally gray characters to be the most appealing aspect of the grimdark genre and you mostly don't see them here. Prince Cavan starts out as the well-intentioned authority figure and remained so. His brother and father are the opposite, and I would have liked to see more reasoning behind their evil. Perhaps it is too early to expect this in the trilogy, and I hope more will be revealed in the next book, The Bloody Quarrel. The other wonderful arcs nearly make up for the black and white characters. Initially, Fallon carries a bit of small town naïveté, but gains wisdom about life and his limits as his world is unexpectedly torn apart in the second act.  His washed-up wizard and father-in-law, Padraig, starts out as the foul-smelling drunk but slowly recovers himself and his gift. Fallon's weak son, Kerrin, discovers talent similar to his father’s, creating a stronger father-and-son bond.

My favourite character and arc is Fallon’s wife Bridgit. She is introduced as the paranoid, slightly depressed housewife. I love how The Last Quarrel delves into her mind, showing the cruel side of pregnancy and motherhood. You can feel her pain with the memory of each miscarriage and stillbirth, then empathise with her fear of losing her one surviving child. It was refreshing to watch Bridgit realise her courage and become a leader. She and the other female characters interact with each other, augmenting their own strengths that, at times, rivals the men. Such as the character, Sister Rosaleen. She is a priestess given power from the god, Aroaril, and is stronger than her male counterparts and even, at times, than Padriag.

There is plenty of action splattered throughout The Last Quarrel, which makes great fantasy, but, as I read it, I sometimes wondered when it was going to turn dark. I found that moment with the last sentence and it had me searching for The Bloody Quarrel. The climax is fast and suspenseful, and though it is open-ended, I was pleased with the amount of closure for the other main points. I feel there may be readers unhappy with the cliffhanger but, for me at least, it is the most grisly scene, and my favourite part.

Purchase Duncan Lay's The Last Quarrell on Kindle from Amazon.com!