Blood

The Ashuak Chronicles #1

by Tony Shillitoe

The Ashuak Chronicles, follows the fortunes of the new Ashuak Imperial General, Sukaal Vekesh, appointed to the southern province, Sekesu. Sukaal has more than rebels to worry about, he has problems within his own ranks also...

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

688 pages, paperback

First published February 27, 2002

About the author

Tony Shillitoe is an Australian-based author of fantasy, speculative, teenage and crime detective fiction. His first fantasy series, the Andrakis trilogy, was published by Pan Macmillan in 1992-3. HarperCollins have subsequently published two more fantasy series - the Ashuak Chronicles and Amber Legacy. The Last Wizard (1995) was shortlisted for the inaugural Aurealis Awards, as was Blood in 2002. Caught in the Headlights was listed as a notable read for older readers by the Childrens Book Council in 2003. Most recently, In My Father's Shadow, a young adult novel, was published through Amazon Kindle (2015).

Reviews

[Jeremy Randall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needs more koalas.
The next books are probably great but. I found this book attempting things it didn’t deliver on. The characters were ok. But most were flat and sameish. The names were annoying. The magic kinda vague. The empire was…. Yeah sure great.

Will not read further.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tony weaves a believable world populated with strong characters and cultural themes. Though a fantasy novel, I am drawn to liken this book to Frank Herbet’s Dune in both its scope and social commentary. Set in a Roman-like Empire, the story is filled with adventure, while depicting the day-to-day struggles of a conquered people amongst blood-thirsty political intrigue that rivals George R R Martin at his best.

[Robbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I wasn't expecting much, the author being Austalian and all :) And the cover art looks a little cheap. But it's definitely worth picking up. Solid story, good characters; it kept me turning the pages.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

a nice easy read. fans of traditional fantasy will enjoy

[Penelope Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting world but in an effort to show depth and complexity, I feel there were too many meandering tangents and the whole thing was at least 100 pages too long.