The Spirit of a Rising Sun

by K.R. Galindez

Rebellion is always right. Oyza yearns for revolution—an impossible dream with her lifetime prison sentence. Fueled by the destruction of her home and years of servitude, she reads the smuggled texts of the Ungoverned and dreams of a future that can never be. But the arrival of a new prisoner, Yars, reignites Oyza’s courage. She finds herself capable of more than she ever imagined. To fight their way to their own freedom, they must fight for something freedom for their homeland. Between an invasion by godless gunwielders, a heartless commander who’s determined to kill Oyza, and webs of secrets and lies woven through their world, it will take all their strength and wits to survive. When blood is spilled, how much will be their own?
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Genres: Fantasy

328 pages, Paperback

Published September 8, 2021

About the author

K. R. Galindez writes epic fantasy. The Spirit of a Rising Sun is his debut novel and the first in The Last Chain saga. When he isn’t writing, he can be found wandering along the beach or playing video games. He holds a PhD in sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Reviews

[K.R. Galindez]

I mean... gotta give my own book 5 stars of course :)

[Joey Madia]

The Spirit of a Rising Sun, by K. R. Galindez, is a Game of Thrones–style fantasy adventure maintaining a brisk pacing of action and intrigue within a well-built story world full of rich detail.
The (s)hero of the story is Oyza, daughter of a minister and main foil for the villainess, Liviana, an ambitious warrior-ruler known as Blacklance. At the opening of the story, Oyza is in a dungeon and Liviana is the reason.
In the dungeon, Oyza meets Yars, a thief and witchdust addict with a taste for rum (think Disney’s Aladdin for adults). Yars is the charming, reluctant hero archetype, the drunken rogue whom the heroine with high ideals slowly molds into shape in time for the big battle.
The world of the book is rich and complex, with its own book titles, oaths, different ages and epochs, and snippets of languages and songs. The countries are all at war with one another or uneasy allies, and their ministers and priests are each making political power moves within the countries themselves. There is a priestly class called the Celesterium on one end of the spectrum and on the other a mead-drinking Viking-like group called the Men without Gods. The locales have familiar, evocative names like Goldfall, the Emerald Isles, and the Shimmering Woods. The “Shimwood,” as its fifty thousand inhabitants call it, recalls Robin Hood’s Sherwood Forest. Called The Ungoverned, these rebels are a main target of those who prefer everyone to be under their yoke.
It would not be fantasy without knights and other warriors, and Galindez provides them aplenty, with knights like Sir Yirig, Liviana’s chief bodyguard who reminds me of the Mountain and Hound from Game of Thrones. Another interesting character is Captain Seralus, commander of the ship Chandelier Lover, who reminds me of Captain Shakespeare in the film adaptation of Stardust.
As you would also expect from fantasy, we follow multiple storylines that steadily converge for the Act Three climax, which leaves things nicely open-ended for a sequel.
One of my favorite aspects of The Spirit of a Rising Sun is that it revolves around family lineages, some of which remain secret through most of the book. Members of families reunite, forsake and betray one another, and otherwise provide micro storylines that undergird and personalize the fantasy-trope macro ones.
If you love fantasy, this book should be on your reading list.
I received an Advanced Review Copy of this book on Reedsy Discovery.

[Renee Frey]

I'm biased, but I LOVE this book! I love how it shifts fantasy to a flintlock space, and takes us out of the typical fantasy of dragons and western Europe-based mythology.

[Pallavi Sareen]

Revolution stories are my favorite because of the angst in protagonist and the pressure the oppression builds for the reader. Such was the case with this book. Oyza was a slave, and is a prisoner now. One can only imagine the level of anger and determination she has.
The world-building is so good, with many interesting characters introduced. And the author practices the core writing mantra of “showing not telling” with descriptive prose. But my favorite parts were with the action and the adventure. If planned as a series, I believe it is a really good introduction to set the mood. It has got all the elements of a good fantasy. There is palace drama, intense politics, inequality and also a strong message as to what is required to bring change. Often those fantasy novels gather much appreciation that are somewhere rooted in the social circumstances of reality. And “The Spirit of a Rising sun” deals with those themes. The fact that it is fast-paced and a quick read with a lot of dialogues, makes it a good book for me to recommend.
“The Gods, they have abandoned us,
And kings, they never cared.
We’re the fallen of the world,
The fallen and the scared.”

[Griffin Ritze]

Imaginative debut fantasy novel with a message for our time

The Spirit of a Rising Sun follows Oyza Serazar, an imprisoned servant of the Parthassian empire along her journey for her freedom and the struggle for a world without masters.

Secretly pouring through a book called the Frailty of Kings from her prison cell, Oyza dreams of joining the rebellion of the Ungoverned against the empire and its rival powers. Upon her spectacular escape, Oyza finds friendship, comradery and revolutionary love—challenging her to realize her place in the fight for a better world.

In this first installment of an epic fantasy trilogy, Galindez undertakes vivid world-building and introduces an ensemble of characters who represent contending interests and powers familiar to readers: a power-hungry commander, cold state administrators, a corrupt nobility, pragmatic individualists and common toilers.

The book’s refrain: “rebellion is always right” guides Oyza and reminds us of our power to change the circumstances of our lives and our society through our unrealized collective power as the great mass of people who generate all of the wealth and wonders of our own world.

This book has a lot of heart and something to take away from each of its characters. I highly recommend it for fans of the genre and storytelling in general.

[Nyx Rise]

Review:
I am completely obsessed with how deep and thought-out this world is, especially with all the hidden histories, forbidden texts, and messy political friction. K.R. Galindez has an incredible writing style—the way the cities are described is so vivid that they felt less like backdrops and more like living, breathing characters. The kingdom of Vaaz feels incredibly real, and I could practically taste the grit of the prison walls and feel the changing atmosphere as the story moved through different urban landscapes. Oyza and Yars are the perfect anchors for this massive setting, and their grounded dynamic kept me completely locked into the story. Because the novel prioritizes heavy political conflict, complex world-building, and character growth over non-stop action, it leans heavily into a character-driven slow burn. I'd recommend this book for those who love deep, immersive fantasy that takes its time to build a masterclass in world-building.

[Jo]

"You know, my old master once told me the world changes—behind our backs, the Gods direct the flow of time, playing tricks on us, taking us in places we never predicted. And only after it's all said and done does it all make sense."

Sometimes it seems as though we have no power in our lives, by the Gods or by others who reign over us. This struggle is the song of The Spirit of a Rising Sun, a song of revolution and its affair with the world.

I had quite a fun romp with this story! An adventure of rebellion and romance, and I really enjoyed both aspects just as much as the other.

As for the romance: the characters were quite charming, the story of lovers "suspended in the moonbeam" and the heart melting scene where "the ocean's fury crashed into them both", all so easy to get giddy and kick my heels up at.

The uprising, the fire in the belly of the oppressed: that made for an exciting read. There was a real push and pull that kept me wanting to know what was going to happen. Most of all I think I enjoyed the uncertainty of it all. The rug was pulled from under me enough, somewhere in the middle especially, that I was never confident on who would prevail.

An easy read in the best sense of it! Sometimes books can be such a bore, or literary conundrum, it was a relief to read a rousing story that felt like it was written to entertain me.

[Diabolical Duckling]

Nothing but slaying and eatery here. Nothing but well thought plot, characters, and fantasy Marxism thrown in to boot. Full review to come but the author ate up all the fantasy drivel coming out these days and I’m kinda shocked this wasn’t from a bigger publisher

[AMAO]

✍🏾✍🏾✍🏾✍🏾✍🏾

[Stefanie Verhelst]

This book really intrigued me from the very beginning!

It’s character driven with a detailed introduction and growth of our characters, their paths mingling together and becoming one found family. Following them on an exiting adventure has been very enjoyable!

I’m very curious how their journey will continue in next books ….

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Janet]

Oyza is a former slave, now held prisoner in the city of Goldfall. As the city comes under attack, she and one of her fellow prisoners, Yars, manage to escape. Oyza longs for revolution to overthrow the rulers and so joins an outcast group called the Ungoverned. Unfortunately she is being determinedly pursued by the daughter of her former master and confrontation will be inevitable.
This started out really strongly and I had high hopes for a really exciting read. There was plenty of action at the beginning with some really strong characters. Unfortunately, the characters never really developed and the pace of the story soon slowed significantly. There were plenty of times when I felt that the plot could have been developed more, but it remained rather weak. The final confrontation, when it came, felt rather rushed.
Overall I felt that the story didn't fulfil it's potential. This is presumably the first book in a series as the ending certainly offered the promise of more to come, hopefully we'll see more depth in the subsequent books.
I received a free review copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for my honest and unedited review.

[Robyn Little]

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

The Spirit of the Rising Sun seems to be planned as the first entry in a series and it's a good beginning. cue the but.

ok, there are a lot of pros and a lot of cons at the same time, I'll just delve in quickly

the worldbuilding is well-planned out and inventive with the makings of an adventure worthy of D&D at times, there are a lot of interesting characters,
I particularly enjoy the moments, there's an excellent moral and the battle scenes are written remarkably well. just a few of the pros.

But there was some tonal confusion in places especially in the prologue, the romance between the two leads felt a bit forced and I honestly felt they were better off as friends, the main character is particularly naive even with her personality and backstory [screaming in frustration at her during the climax] and the death of one of the antagonists left their business with the protagonist...unfinished frankly.

it honestly felt like a final draft that still needs touch-ups. though it still manages to be a promising new fantasy read and I wouldn't be shy to read a sequel.

[☾ Alessia Demy ☽]

I received this book as an ARC from NETGALLEY, Thank you!

I expected a different type of book but it's a nice reading. I think it's more fantasy than sci-fi but overall I enjoyed it, the end surprised me. It would be interesting to have a sequel.
So in conclusion I appreciate this book and I rate it 3 stars

[A. Lorna Warren]

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this book.

I rather enjoyed this overall! Some good world building and likable characters. I would like to know a little more about the mageware and the wastes, maybe in the next book. I would recommend giving this a try, and will be interested in reading more!

[Beatrice Morgan]

This book is a fantastic adventure full of rebels and war and whispers of magic.