Where Loyalties Lie (Best Laid Plans, #1) in Grimdark Fantasy

Dec 18, 2017 Mark Lawrence added it

Shelves: spfbo-champions

Winner of the third Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO) contest!

I video-review all 7 SPFBO champions here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buU_R...

Over a thousand books have sailed into the jaws of the SPFBO. And from that Helen-worthy armada 40 finalists have been selected over the years. And in all that time only two books have scored higher than this one.

Check out the contest here:
http://mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/2...

So you really don't need me to convince you to read this book.

This i ...more

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Jul 22, 2018 Mark Lawrence added it · review of another edition

Nearly a thousand books have sailed into the jaws of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO). And from that Helen-worthy armada 30 finalists have been selected over the years. And in all that time only one book has scored higher than this one.

So you really don't need me to convince you to read this book.

This is a rollicking tale of pirates doing ... pirate things. Those of you not of a maritime bent will be pleased to hear that there isn't much of a focus on the mechanics of ships or the te ...more

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Apr 21, 2017 Nimrod Daniel rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, spfbo3, self-published

Where Loyalties Lie is the first book in The Best Laid Plans duology. Chronologically, the events in this duology occur after the events of The Tides That Binds trilogy, but you definitely can just dive into WLL and you’ll feel comfortable, exactly like I did.

In short – WLL is all about pirates! A lot of pirates, quite a few ships and a lot of fun. Actually the chapters are named after ships, kind of a Point of Ship chapters, following its captain. It works really great, as the switch between c Where Loyalties Lie is the first book in The Best Laid Plans duology. Chronologically, the events in this duology occur after the events of The Tides That Binds trilogy, but you definitely can just dive into WLL and you’ll feel comfortable, exactly like I did.

In short – WLL is all about pirates! A lot of pirates, quite a few ships and a lot of fun. Actually the chapters are named after ships, kind of a Point of Ship chapters, following its captain. It works really great, as the switch between chapters feels very natural and very easy to follow.
Even though it’s a fantasy book there are not too many fantasy elements here. There are a few, but the focus is not on fantasy. The inquisition did their best to eliminate anything that can use magic – magic users and magical beasts alike, so that’s probably the reason. I guess The first trilogy tells that story(?). Anyway, in this book the Empire is fully determined to eradicate all piracy. Not only the pirates themselves, but also the pirate isles as well.

The characters are where the book really shines. All the characters are really well-drawn and very believable. Even though they’re pirates, some of them are likable and very compelling.

We have Drake Morass, the captain of The Fortune, who’s probably the true main character here. He’s really awesome! Drake Morass cares only about one person who happens to be Drake Morass, and trusts only two people – Drake Morass and Princess (his second). Actually he’s a lot more than meets the eye, he’s cunning, ambitious, very logical, funny, and has tons of charisma.

Keelin Stillwater, the captain of The Phoenix, who’s the best swordsman within the pirate isles is another key player. He plays a very important role in this book as Drake's plan relies on having Keelin on his side. I really liked Keelin as well, as he’s a very complex character. Although he’s a pirate and a great swordsman, he doesn’t like to fight, and he prefers to pirate ships without any violence involved. He has some doubts, and he’s not always sure what’s the best next move. Basically, he’s a good guy and definitely not the stereotypical pirate you'd think of. He also has a secret past that he would avoid to reveal at any cost.

Beck, who’s not a pirate, but an arbiter from the inquisition who was sent by Drake’s seer brother to protect him. She follows Drake everywhere he goes. She has some magical powers, but she barely uses them, as she prefers her pistols.

There are other interesting characters such as Captain Elaina Black. She has known Keelin for many years and a captain of her own ship, Starry Dawn. She's the daughter of the most ferocious captain you'd come across – Captain Black, a super cruel guy. The formidable Captain T’ruck Khan who is also a giant of a man.

Besides the great characterization, the pacing feels just right from the get go and interesting things always seems to happen. It's a really well-written book with great dialogues and banter, it’s evident that it’s not Rob’s first book. The plot is quite good, but don’t expect anything spectacular, but a really fun ride.

All in all, it’s a well-written and very enjoyable book about pirates. I look forward to read the next book in the Best Laid Plans duology. If you’re into it then you definitely should give it a shot.

4.25/5 ...more

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Apr 21, 2017 Mogsy rated it liked it

Shelves: arcs-and-galleys, review-copy, fantasy, pirates

3.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2017/07/30/...

Grimdark on the high seas! Sweeter words have never been spoken. I’ve always had a taste for maritime fantasy, so when the chance arose to review Where Loyalties Lie, how could I say no? And the fact that it has pirates in it was simply the icing on the cake.

But while I’d never before had the pleasure of reading Rob J. Hayes, I’m familiar enough with his style to know that his pirates would be the real deal—not the water 3.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2017/07/30/...

Grimdark on the high seas! Sweeter words have never been spoken. I’ve always had a taste for maritime fantasy, so when the chance arose to review Where Loyalties Lie, how could I say no? And the fact that it has pirates in it was simply the icing on the cake.

But while I’d never before had the pleasure of reading Rob J. Hayes, I’m familiar enough with his style to know that his pirates would be the real deal—not the watered down, unobjectionably mild sort you usually see catered to general audiences. His protagonist Captain Drake Morass is exemplary of this, being one of the most brutal and bloodthirsty bastards sailing in these fair isles. Needless to say, he’s also not a man who takes too kindly to being hunted. As Drake and his crew stand witness to a pirate town being slaughtered and burned to the ground by naval forces, he realizes that his way of life may be fast coming to an end…unless someone decides to rise up and fight back. Quickly, an idea begins to hatch in his mind. First, he will unite all the pirates. Next, they will form their own little pirate kingdom, where they will be able to govern and defend themselves. And naturally, Drake will be their glorious leader.

However, Drake’s plans are not without their obstacles. For one thing, his reputation as a dastardly pirate precedes him, and getting any of the other captains to sign on to his campaign will be difficult—unless, of course, he can find someone trustworthy to vouch for him. This is where Captain Keelin Stillwater enters the picture. A practical man, Stillwater is not your typical pirate, preferring more civilized resolutions to conflicts over bloody mayhem if at all possible. He is also one hell of a swordsman and holds a certain level of respect among his fellow pirates, so his word would go a long way to legitimizing Drake’s grand scheme. Together, the two of them will also have to come together to face another threat—Tanner Black. As leader of the most feared pirate fleet on the open seas, Black is setting his sights to dethrone Drake Morass even before he can establish his pirate utopia. To complicate matters is also Tanner’s daughter Elaina Black, who has a past with Stillwater. Torn between her feelings for Keelin and her loyalties to her father, she is something of a wild card who will play a significant role in determining the outcome of this epic ocean-faring saga.

Passion, pride, and fierce ambitions come together in this enthralling adventure full of violence and grit. After a slow-burning start, the surprises come at us fast and thick as the plot takes off in the second half, all set against a backdrop of tensions and hostilities. It’s interesting to note that the pirates of this world have their own politics, so with that also comes the mercurial alliances and betrayals, not to mention their own set of rules and piratical codes of conduct. Anything can happen at all, which makes one wonder if Drake Morass might be in way over his head trying to unite this rough bunch of thieves and miscreants, most of whom are only out for themselves.
After all, it’s not easy being a pirate, especially in the world of Hayes’ First Earth. As I mentioned before, Where Loyalties Lie was my first introduction to the author’s distinctive brand of dark fantasy—which I found to be as brutal and visceral as it was reputed to be. If you’ve come for the raging sea battles and bloody ship takeovers, then you’ll be in for a treat. However, be forewarned as well that depictions of murder, torture and rape are frequent, tossed out almost nonchalantly and often described in graphic detail—not in a way that’s intended to be flippant, mind you, but simply because this is the way of this novel’s world. It’s best, therefore, to avoid this one if you don’t think you can stomach these kinds of horrors, for the threat of violence is an everyday reality for the characters, and the story never lets you forget it. This book is grimdark in its purest form, and it is not ashamed to flaunt the fact.

For the genre, the characters are also as you would expect—most of them are capable of doing great evil, with a few who have some admirable qualities. Admittedly, as with a lot of grimdark novels I wish there had been more variety in the personalities, though there were still enough surprises to keep me guessing at their motives and actions. I also didn’t get a good feel for Drake Morass until later in the novel, largely because the slow build-up in the first half, though I’ve also heard that he is a character—albeit a minor one—from Hayes’ The Ties That Bind trilogy and I can’t help but wonder if not having read the previous series might have played into my initial disconnect with him. That said, the good news is that this is merely a minor issue; by the time the story got going, there is no doubt that I became fully engaged with every single one of these characters, especially once all their potential and intentions were revealed.

Bottom line, for fans of grimdark and pirates, Where Loyalties Lie will be like your dream come true, capable of satisfying the most ferocious appetites for gritty, brutal, and violent nautical fantasy. It is a solid first volume, doing a superb job of establishing the series’ colorful characters and themes, and I am looking forward to the next installment. ...more

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May 07, 2017 Mihir rated it really liked it

Shelves: spfbo-3-2017-finalists

Full review over at Fantasy Book Critic

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Rob J. Hayes is an author who appeared on to my radar when I read his debut The Heresy Within a little over 4 years ago. Since then after reading & thoroughly savoring the rest of his debut trilogy, I was simply convinced of his ample talent and the mysteries that were abundantly present in the First Earth world. This new duology has been delayed for over a year and the author has talked about the reasons over here on his blog. He even ha Full review over at Fantasy Book Critic

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Rob J. Hayes is an author who appeared on to my radar when I read his debut The Heresy Within a little over 4 years ago. Since then after reading & thoroughly savoring the rest of his debut trilogy, I was simply convinced of his ample talent and the mysteries that were abundantly present in the First Earth world. This new duology has been delayed for over a year and the author has talked about the reasons over here on his blog. He even has provided a timeline of events and thankfully the author was able to get back the rights to these books and here we are with the first book. Before I start my review, for full disclosure I was an alpha/beta reader for this book and its sequel.

The book begins with a pirate town burning and Drake Morass’s pirate crew watching it along with their captain. Pretty soon the news spread and the pirates are wary of being hunted, among one such pirate captain is Keelin Stillwater. A person with a secret past who is hunting for a specific thing, Keelin is one of the rare pirates that chooses to avoid bloodshed whenever possible. He’s the exception among the seas where brutality & betrayal seems the norm. Both these pirate captains are gunning for something and they will have to strive to overcome their mutual distrust for their survival. We also meet Elaina Black, daughter of feared pirate Tanner Black and a dangerous person on her own. Elaina is running for her own deal however has to be careful of fraternal jealousy. Following up on the POV list we have a few other characters such as Arbiter Beck, Captain T’ruck Khan, Princess (who’s a guy) and a few others. They don’t get the same amount of page time but they are very, very interesting none the less.

The main focus of the story is one of ambition, betrayals and plotting. All of this occurs via the characters and namely Drake Morass is situated in front and center of this story, Drake was a minor but important character in the previous trilogy and his background actions fueled a lot of the plot twists. This duology though stands separate from the events of the previous trilogy and while it shares a few characters from the previous work (who made minor cameos in the books). New readers can easily pick up these books and will be snared up in the events. Drake again is in the thick of things and we begin the book with him and we end with him as well.

The characters are what make this story come alive in a very visceral way, beginning with our two main POV pirate captains Drake Morass and Keelin Seawater. Who couldn’t be more different than each other, Drake is calculating at all times but can be bloodthirsty, enigmatic and certainly the most feared person on sea. Keelin on the other hand is driven by his past and will do almost anything except irrationally murder folks. These two characters are what fuel the narrative as we find out what reasons might force them to work together. Let’s be clear Drake is the biggest enigma of this series and possibly one of the biggest in this world wherein most things are unknown or hidden. Drake’s exploits while being legendary are also grim. They make him out to be a monster but a good-looking and charming one at that. In this book we get to see all of his personas. The cruelty, the tall tales (that sound implausible but hold more than a ring of truth), the vicarious nature of his plots which almost always pan out as he planned and his daredevilry at accomplishing his lofty goals (some of which are laid bare within this duology). He’s the main engine for the plot of this book and manages to be a scene-stealer all the way. On one level while the readers will be horrified by his actions, on a pure character note, he is impossible to ignore.

Keelin Stillwater has a lot to live up to and the readers will get to read all about his past as well as the internal struggle he fights. Keelin has previously appeared in a small bit in The Price Of Faith but unless one is eagle-eyed you will most likely not picked up on it. Keelin is a good mirror to Drake and it’s fun to compare them both. The biggest surprise is Elaina Black who along with Arbiter Beck and T’ruck Khan are the dark horses of this story. They start out as small characters but by their actions at the end of the book become core characters. The author has even written a short story focusing on Beck and Elaina Black which acts as a prequel (to this duology) and a nice introduction to the pirates. Every character introduced is someone that’s fully fleshed and you want to read more about them. I think that’s the hallmark of a good writer and Rob J. Hayes is certainly fulfilling that mark.

Another thing about this story is because it focuses on pirates, it also shines a light on characters that don’t always show the best aspects of humanity. This story is filled with violence, betrayals and visceral surprises. About the first aspect, truly no one is safe in this story and the violence is quite interspersed within the story and we get various scenes that will horrify readers but make sense within the confines of the story. However I must warn readers that there’s one scene involving Tanner Black and Elaina Black which will shock you beyond anything. It’s a very disturbing scene and one that’s present to showcase the terror and disgust. Tanner Black makes Tywin Lannister seem like a doting parent & that’s saying something. The action sequences are almost always over water or feature some terrific scenes of ship boarding. In the previous trilogy, the action was more on a personal level however with this book, Rob J. Hayes certainly exalts things to a grand level. The best action scenes are ones featuring T’ruck Khan and I believe he’s a character that will be imprinted a lot on readers’ minds.

The pace of the story and the plot twists will keep the readers hooked and engaged throughout. One of the things that surprised me about this book was the love story within it. To be fair there’s two love stories going on (neither of them in the classical way) but if you really want to get down to brass tacks, they can be called as such. Let me be clear, the romance isn’t the focus of the story in the least. As a reader I just happened to notice it and found it funny to compare both those threads. The book ends on a solid note and because this is a duology, we can expect the next book (The Fifth Empire Of Man) to end things in a brutal manner as all the plots come to a head.

Lastly what I also loved about this book, was the action and the epic battles. This book is possibly one of the best nautical fantasy ones that I’ve ever read. The only other titles that I can think which come close are Paul Kearney’s Sea Beggars series and his Monarchies Of God series (which featured quite a lot of sea action as well). There’s also the Red Skies Over Red Seas by Scott Lynch but this book obliterates them all by being almost entirely set on water (or surrounded by it) for about 95% of the time. Sure there are events which take on land but these are mostly tiny islands which are out in the open seas. The next best thing about the book is the world that’s featured in the books. I loved the First Earth world introduced in The Ties That Bind trilogy but with this duology, the author showcases a very, very different aspect with the Pirates and the seas. He even manages to give us a look in to the magical side of things with the sea goddess Rin & the Drurr. The First Earth world is a complex one and it’s very much evident from this book that how much time the author has invested in crafting it. Eagle-eyed readers will even catch references to events happening around in the wilds and to the author’s short story “Pre-Emptive Revenge” featured in the GrimDark Magazine.

Drawbacks to me were next to none as this is the first volume and I felt that this book can serve as an excellent starting point to Rob J. Hayes’ violent & exciting First Earth saga. I must point out that this book is quite grim (but not bleak) and very, very violent. There’s one really graphic sexual violent scene that’s sure to raise hackles for some but it’s not there to titillate and makes sense from a story & character point of view. Overall I feel that this book is one that explores pirates quite unlike any other fantasy books I’ve read so far in the genre.

CONCLUSION: Rob J. Hayes recently mentioned how long it took for him to release this book for no fault of his. As a friend, I can very well vouch for his frustration at that. However as an unbiased reader, I have to say this is the first time when anybody has so successfully merged two different sub-genres of fantasy to give us a story that’s very, very good. Where Loyalties Lie is the perfect fusion of Grimdark and epic nautical fantasy that you never thought possible. Check this book out as I've a feeling that it will be one that readers will be talking about a lot more in the months to come. ...more

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Jun 06, 2017 Rob Hayes rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author)

All this December I'm giving people a chance to win one of my books, and all you have to do to enter is draw me something piratical.

http://www.robjhayes.co.uk/december-g... ...more

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Jan 26, 2018 Kristen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Full review is here, on my blog.

I hadn’t actually read the blurb for this one until just now, lol. I didn’t realize that Drake Morass was in the Ties That Bind series and this was a sort of continuation of his story. Whoops! I actually have that series on my kindle too, and could have read it first, lol. Oh well. It doesn’t seem to be required reading in order to understand this story, though it is actually kind of awesome to know that he’s in another series I can read after I’m done this one.

Dr Full review is here, on my blog.

I hadn’t actually read the blurb for this one until just now, lol. I didn’t realize that Drake Morass was in the Ties That Bind series and this was a sort of continuation of his story. Whoops! I actually have that series on my kindle too, and could have read it first, lol. Oh well. It doesn’t seem to be required reading in order to understand this story, though it is actually kind of awesome to know that he’s in another series I can read after I’m done this one.

Drake Morass is a pirate captain, and he’s one of those pirate captains who has quite a reputation for being… well… piratey AF, to put it bluntly. He’s not exactly unlike that one pirate that I bet many people would think of when one thinks of pirates in this day and age. He’s not totally like him, but he’s not completely unlike him. He’s quite charming, able to pretty easily lie or bluff his way out of trouble, but he is more than he appears on the surface. He’s cunning, and will go to quite a few lengths to achieve his goals, but most of all, he has a history which is mostly hinted at and seem to be full of all kinds of darkness and horribleness, and while he hides it well, it does influence who he is.

Drake is trying to unite the pirates of the pirate isles (that’s what I would have named them too!) under him as a sort of king, so that they can fight off the threat of the Five Kingdoms fleet coming to kill them all and burn their towns… and the first person he needs to recruit is Keelin Stillwater, another pirate captain and a man rumored to be the best swordfighter among pirates. Once they do unite, step two is to settle down and built a pirate town. Once they do, all kinds of shenanigans happen to them. Everything from leviathans, to ship-to-ship battles, to jungle escapades, to necromancers, to giant poisonous armoured centipedes.

The one really clear antagonist of this book, Tanner Black, was really, really easy to hate, because he is almost over-the-top an asshole. We see things from the POV of his daughter Elaina as well, who tries to stay in her father’s good graces, despite overwhelming (and I mean, really, really overwhelming at times) reasons for her to not like the man. I really liked both Keelin and Drake though, and many of their shipmates and the other captains that unite to their cause. There is a lot of lighthearted banter between these guys in this book, and I loved it for the exact same reason that I loved The Grey Bastards. Dudes (and sometimes ladies, so that was nice) who walk around mostly shitfaced, fighting or fucking, or talking about fighting or fucking, while just being brilliantly crass most of the time. I love it!

I would have made a fantastic pirate lady! (and a much less good lady-lady. With like… bustles and shit.)

Anyways, this was a really good read, well plotted, with great characters that I rooted for, and an ending that left me satisfied but wanting more. It read like a combination of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag and Pirates of the Caribbean on crack (this is a compliment, I promise, lol). I gobbled it up as quickly as I could, and am eagerly hoping to gobble up more of the story soon! ...more

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