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The Trials of Empire: A Review

Richard Swan’s Empire of the Wolf series caught my attention almost immediately when I first saw the cover of The Justice of Kings. It’s hard to miss a cover like that when you’re 1.) a fantasy fan and 2.) a library employee. I picked up the audio books via Libby last summer, when I realized that a second book was out, and now I’ve had the immense privilege of returning once again to the Sovan Empire with book #3.

The Empire of the Wolf is told from the perspective of Helena Sedanka, an orphan who was been taken in and trained by Sir Konrad Vonvalt, an Emperor’s Justice. In that position, he serves as travelling judge, jury, and when needed, executioner, carrying out the will of the courts wherever he may be. Helena acts as his legal clerk and apprentice, producing documentation of their efforts and learning the intricacies of the Sovan legal system along the way. For some time, they were both content to travel the northern reaches of the empire, but an encounter with a zealous church official, Patria Bartholomew Claver, changed everything.

Claver sought a return to the days when the Church of Nema controlled the powers now held by the Order of Justices: ancient magics that could be used to compel action, the ability to confer with the dead, command over wildlife. All of these and more had once officially been the exclusive realm of the church, but they had been taught to the Justices to aid their work. Frustrated by the lack of action from the majority of the Church, Claver found his way to darker places, making bargains with powers that he didn’t truly understand in order to bring about the change he desired. Now, he seems to have set his sights on control of the Empire itself, no matter what demon or deity he has to bargain with to make it happen. He sits at the head of an army of Templars poised to strike down the Emperor, ostensibly in Nema’s name.

Now, Vonvalt’s own unshakable faith in the Common Law is beginning to break. In his attempts to thwart Claver, he has become persona non grata, believed to be responsible for the death of the Emperor’s grandson. A rebellion against the Magistratum has reached its zenith, and the justices are by and large disbanded or dead. Vonvalt will find no safe haven in the capital. What he and Helena need most are more allies who can withstand Claver’s burgeoning Templar army. A journey far beyond the borders of Sova might be able to accomplish just that, but acquiring the aid they need may prove deadly. Such travels will need to be made not only on the material plane but in the various realms accessible only through the ancient magics. Helena and Vonvalt will place their lives and their souls on the line in order to defeat Claver, but it might not be enough to save the empire. Loyalties will be questioned, near-death experiences will be had, and trickster gods will play their hands at last. It’s going to be messy.

Richard Swan brings his fantasy trilogy to a powerful conclusion in The Trials of Empire. His strength in blending traditional elements of western fantasy with jurisprudence makes for compelling reading, especially for someone raised on Lord of the Rings and John Grisham like me. The Empire of the Wolf hews far closer to A Song of Ice and Fire than to LOTR, but the comparison stands. I have enjoyed this series more with each book, and I’m thrilled to say that The Trials of Empire is out on shelves today. You should check it out.

My utmost thanks to Orbit Books and NetGalley for an eARC of The Trials of Empire in exchange for a fair review.

Bookshops & Bonedust: A Review

Travis Baldree is a master of cozy fantasy novels. Prior to reading Legends & Lattes last year, I never would’ve guessed that was a genre of fiction I needed. Now, though, I don’t know how I can carry on without more. Thankfully, Bookshops & Bonedust, a brilliantly crafted prequel, is out today.

Viv the orc is back, and this time around we get to see her in her more wild, young adventurer years. She’s in the employ of a mercenary band called Rackham’s Ravens, hunting down the dreaded necromancer, Varine. When her recklessness gets her injured during a battle, she wakes up in the town of Murk. As its name might suggest, there’s not a lot to see about town, and her room at the local inn is claustrophobic at best. Her arrival quickly puts her at odds with the local surgeon and the head of the gate wardens, and all early encounters promise a less than engaging stay. With at least a few weeks of recovery time ahead of her, Viv reluctantly sets out to occupy her time until her fellow mercenaries come back through.

Viv quickly finds a local bookstore and makes the acquaintance of Fern, a foulmouthed ratkin who runs the shop. Not normally the reading type, Viv is hesitant to take up the recommended titles that Fern offers. After a few chapters, she’s hooked. Soon, she’s devouring the books that Fern provides just as quickly as she’s going through the local baker, Maylee’s, wares. Despite a rough start in town, Viv starts to build friendships (and maybe something more, as far as Maylee is concerned). Fern’s struggling business benefits from Viv’s new perspectives, and Viv gets the opportunity to learn more about herself than she’d previously thought possible.

Small-town living isn’t necessarily all that it’s cracked up to be, though. Viv isn’t ready to settle down from her mercenary life just yet, and the threat of Varine and her necromancy is closer than anyone is expecting. We know, since this is a prequel, that Viv will survive the experiences ahead of her. What we don’t know is just how much she’s going to change over the course of her time in Murk. The fates of her new companions are on the line, as is the success or failure of Fern’s beloved indie bookstore. Viv is going to have to learn quickly that not all of her problems can be solved with a swing of a sword.

Baldree has landed another instant winner with his sophomore effort, with no sign of the dreaded slump. I’m happy to report that he’s managed to put the romance in necromancer, and I eagerly await Viv’s next adventure, whenever it may arrive. Bookshops & Bonedust is out today. Get to it.

My utmost thanks to Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for providing an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Traitor of Redwinter: A Review

My first encounter with Ed McDonald’s Redwinter books came from seeing Traitor of Redwinter pop up on my NetGalley list. I quickly tracked down the audio version of the first book in the series, Daughter of Redwinter, and I absolutely loved getting to know Raine and the world that fears her so.

Traitor of Redwinter opens with a nice summary of the events of book one. Raine has a talent that know one else can ever know. Because of her near-death experiences (suffocating with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck at birth, and a drowning as a young girl), she can see the spirits of the dead. This proximity to death is greatly feared, and those who are known to have the grave-sight are quickly stoned to death. Still, she was taken in by Draoihn, magic-wielding warriors who fight against evil after she helped two of them to defeat a demonic creature named Ciuthach that was resurrected beneath the monastery where she had been living. After several months as a servant among the Draoihn, she ended up defeating a dread enemy, a powerful Draoihn possessing the grave-sight who had been believed executed years before.

Now, almost a year after coming to stay with Ulovar LacNaithe, the Draoihn who saved her life, Raine has finally been permitted to train with the other apprentices. She’s being pushed through a crash course in armed combat and meditation techniques to control the Gates, limiters that determine which magical powers a Draoihn can wield. While most Draoihn only open the First Gate, entering an active trance that enhances their senses, others can gain further abilities with additional Gates. Only Grandmaster Robilar holds the Fifth Gate while the Sixth Gate, the Gate of Death, is forbidden due to its connections with the grave-sight.

A diplomatic mission to deal with a rebellious Draoihn leader quickly goes awry, with one of Raine’s fellow apprentices being killed, and only his ghost’s appearance serving her as warning to get the rest of the team out of an ambush. With Ulovar still recovering from his battle with Ciuthach, much work is left to his apprentices in the fortress of Redwinter. The Draoihn’s enemies, those who would depose the king and throw the magic of the world into chaos, will not rest. Raine may prove once again the only one who can stop them. The cost of that, however, may be Raine’s secret, and the promise of a safe and secure life in Redwinter. Will she risk losing her relationships with her new friends and family in order to save their lives?

Ed McDonald has, once again, presented an excellent fantasy adventure in a world that parallels our own. With a Scotland-inspired protagonist who rivals Brave‘s princess Merida, Traitor of Redwinter is an incredibly solid second entry for this series. Greater depth is given to all of our returning characters, and the world is fleshed out considerably more. Political intrigue, romance, violence, and magic blend brilliantly. I love the time I’ve spent in this world, and I look forward to hearing the audio version of this one as well.

Traitor of Redwinter is out in stores today. Happy reading!

My thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for providing an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

The Fragile Threads of Power: A Review

V.E. Schwab is back, and ready to take you on another rollicking ride.

It’s been seven years since the events of A Conjuring of Light. Seven years since King Maxim died, and Arnes’s capital of Red London was plunged into darkness. Seven years since Black London’s monstrous ruler, Osaron, tried to destroy everything that Kell, Lila, and Rhy held dear. In the wake of the battle to save the worlds, many things have changed. Rhy Maresh is now the king of Arnes, with Alucard Emery ever by his side as his lover and bodyguard. However, Rhy is seen as a target of ire for the people of Arnes as magic seems to be fading from their world. A group known as The Hand plots to kill him, hoping that removing the magicless king from the throne will restore their own dwindling power.

Meanwhile, Lila and Kell have begun a journey on board Lila’s ship. Sailing under no flag, they secretly aid King Rhy by observing and investigating things that might be of interest to him. Kell’s own access to magic is hampered by the lingering effects of the battle with Osaron years before. As such, he’s been forced to train his martial skills under Lila Bard’s watchful eye and serving as her lieutenant aboard the ship. Lila’s magic does not seem diminished, but with the shifts the world is undergoing, it may only be a matter of time. She’s had seven years to boost her own skills since then, and she’s only grown more comfortable with her Antari nature.

And then, in Red London, there is a young girl running a repair shop. She, like Alucard Emery, has the rare gift of seeing the lines of magic that swirl around and between things and people. She’s taken to using that skill to repair magic items, and she may be the unwitting key to The Hand’s plans for King Rhy.

V.E. Schwab promised us an eventual return to the world from the Shades of Magic trilogy, and that wait has paid off many times over. The Fragile Threads of Power skillfully introduces new players and reminds of why we loved the returning characters. The new threat to the Arnesian throne feels almost too believable in a kingdom already torn between people who can access magic and those who can’t. Prepare yourself for a journey as we launch into the first book of a sequel series that promises to be just as addictive of a read as its predecessor.

My utmost thanks to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for a fair review. The Fragile Threads of Power is available for purchase as of today, 9/26/23. As Travars.

The Surviving Sky: A Review

Earth has been uninhabitable for hundreds of years due to the earthrages, massive earthquake-storm hybrids that literally reshape the face of the planet. Luckily for humanity, individuals known as architects learned how to traject, manipulating plants to do their will. Before the earthrages wiped the surface clean, cities made of plants were guided into the air, and the architects expended their energy to keep them aloft until the storms passed. Now all of mankind that remains lives in these ashrams, where the architects can guide the lives of everyone aboard, only landing during lulls in the storms so that the architects can rest.

Not all citizens are architects, however, and no one is more upset about that than Ahilya. She’s an archaeologist, and the only one in Nakshar. She has studied the surface in between rages, and staunchly believes that there might be something out there that is surviving through the storms somehow. But to gather the proof that she needs, she’ll need an architect’s assistance and approval from Nakshar’s council to even leave the ashram the next time it lands. Complicating things for her is her husband Iravan. He’s not just an architect, but a senior architect, and a member of the council. After a fight they had a few months ago, he’s not so sure that her research expedition is necessary. Is he just trying to keep her safe, or is he trying to maintain the status quo and help the architects keep their stranglehold on power?

When Iravan decides at the last minute to replace the junior architect who had been assigned to accompany Ahilya and her young assistant, all of the plans for the expedition are thrown into disarray. Both of them are hiding secrets from the other, and trajecting is getting more and more difficult. What they find in the jungle could change everything about their world and their marriage, if it doesn’t kill them both first.

The Surviving Sky is a tense, brilliant piece of sci-fi/fantasy. Kritika Rao has built (or maybe trajected) a phenomenal new world hovering just above danger at all times. The characters are well-rounded, and the tension between Ahilya and her husband is palpable. Class warfare is interwoven throughout, with the long-running conflict between architects and non-architects showing beautifully in the strain on Ahilya and Iravan’s marriage. It’s available as of yesterday, and I highly recommend you check it out at your earliest convenience. My utmost thanks to Titan Books and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Witch King: A Review

Kaiisteron, the Witch King, has awoken and claimed a new sacrificial mortal body to serve as his own. He has escaped his imprisonment in an underwater tomb and regained much of his power, but now he must seek answers. Which of his loyal friends and followers betrayed him, allowing him to be trapped in the first place?

Kai is a demon, eating the life force of others to power his magic. Now he’s gathering the allies he believes he can trust in order to solve the mystery of his captivity. Interspersed throughout his reawakened life are chapters relating one of his past mortal lives, and his rise to claim the title of Witch King.

Martha Wells is one of my favorite contemporary writers of science fiction novellas (honestly, who doesn’t love Murderbot?) and so when I found out that she had a new fantasy novel coming out this year, I knew that I had to read it as soon as possible. Witch King is a phenomenal journey through Kai’s past and present, finding family and friends and seeking revenge. It’s out in the world as of yesterday, so you can enjoy it too.

My utmost thanks to NetGalley and Tor.com for the eARC of Witch King in exchange for a fair review.

Perilous Times: A Review

“Sir Lancelot:
We were in the nick of time. You were in great peril.

Sir Galahad:
I don’t think I was.

Sir Lancelot:
Yes, you were. You were in terrible peril.

Sir Galahad:
Look, let me go back in there and face the peril.

Sir Lancelot:
No, it’s too perilous.

Sir Galahad:
Look, it’s my duty as a knight to sample as much peril as I can.

Sir Lancelot:
No, we’ve got to find the Holy Grail. Come on.

Sir Galahad:
Oh, let me have just a little bit of peril?

Sir Lancelot:
No. It’s unhealthy.

Sir Galahad:
I bet you’re gay.

Sir Lancelot:
No, I’m not.”

Reader, he absolutely was. But that’s beside the point.

Okay. So. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is not my only experience with Arthurian legend, but it makes for a fun starting point when diving in to Thomas D. Lee’s Perilous Times, which came out this Tuesday. A long time ago, after the death of their king, the Knights of the Round Table made a deal with Merlin to be resurrected any time the realm (that is England) finds itself in great peril. Over the centuries, Sir Kay, Lancelot, and the rest have come back to defend England from whatever threats may have arisen. This time, though, it’s something none of them could have foreseen (except Merlin, of course). When Kay, Arthur’s brother, awakens beneath his tree and pushes his way to the surface, he finds a fracking facility nearby. Upon investigation, he meets a young climate activist named Mariam who is in the process of planting a bomb at the facility. After rescuing her from the private security firm guarding the site, he accompanies her back to the camp where he meets the rest of her group. There, they explain to Kay just how dire the Earth’s situation is. Climate change has flooded almost half of England, and there are no signs of it slowing or stopping on its own. So, Kay has found his peril. But how do you fight climate change with a sword and shield?

Meanwhile, elsewhere in England, Sir Lancelot has awoken as well. He’s accustomed to coming back for wetwork and other clandestine purposes, and his handler Marlowe (yes, that Marlowe, having achieved a sort of immortality by his own means) has a new target for him. Someone he knows who has recently gotten on the wrong side of Marlowe’s bosses. Someone he’s known for a very long time: Kay. The realm is in grave danger, and it may be time to bring about the prophecy of Arthur’s return…

Thomas D. Lee’s love for Arthurian legend shines through every bit of Perilous Times, as Kay learns more about the current state of the world and what new evils are caught up in it. Mariam and her friends are a sympathetic and diverse crew of women bent on saving Earth, but they don’t stand a chance against dark magic without Kay’s help. Cam he explain himself to Lancelot before finding himself dying yet again?

My utmost thanks to NetGalley for an eARC of Perilous Times in exchange for a fair review. It’s out in the world as of Tuesday, May 23rd. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath: A Review

Anequs is a young Indigenous woman born and raised on the island of Masquapaug, far from the colonizing influence of the Anglish people. After spotting a Nampeshiwe, one of the dragons once common in the area, she quickly goes home to tell her family what she has seen. Uncertain if it was really there or just a vision, she ventures back out the following day and finds not the adult dragon, but a Nampeshiwe egg—the first one seen in generations.

When the baby Nampeshiwe hatches in front of the entire community of Masquapaug, she chooses Anequs to be her bonded partner. Anequs names her Kasaqua and becomes the first Nampeshiweisit (dragon partner) in the memory of anyone on the island. Now Anequs would’ve been perfectly content to stay in her family home and raise the dragon there until Kasaqua, in a moment of fear and pain, releases her breath weapon. Seeing the raw destructive power even a baby dragon possesses convinces Anequs to follow her older brother’s advice and apply for Kuiper Academy, the Anglish dragoneer school in the distant city of Vastergot.

Soon, Anequs is off to another world, one where the white men control everything from how history is taught to who gets to be paired with a dragon. The school accepts her application, but the threat of death for Kasaqua if she can’t learn to be tamed to their standards looms over everything.

Anequs doesn’t fit in at the school, since she wasn’t raised in Anglish society. She doesn’t know the rules that she’s supposed to follow, and so she rapidly befriends the other “misfits” of sorts, including an autistic student (in one of the most accurate and sympathetic portrayals I’ve ever encountered in literature), the one other Indigenous dragoneer, and one of the laundry maids. She spurns the use of the assigned surname Aponakwesdottir, insisting that the only name that she needs is Anequs. She can read and write, which is more than many of the white students and professors expect of her. In short, neither Anequs nor Kasaqua are what the students and staff and Kuiper anticipated. Nor is the school what Anequs had hoped for, with the narratives and views of white men dominating every aspect of the society. Now she must navigate adolescence, dragon-rearing, school, and an openly hostile culture that would prefer her not to exist.

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is brilliant. The world is simultaneously strange and familiar, set on an Earth in the early industrial age with technological innovations driven by dragons, who can break matter down into component elements with their breath. The breadth and depth of the worldbuilding is staggering, with tremendous care put into the little details. The scientific processes are as thoroughly explored as any contemporary fantasy’s magic system, with almost every aspect having a real-life counterpart. I loved following Anequs as she learned about the world beyond the boundaries of her island, and I can’t wait to come back to the world of the Nampeshiweisit.

Moniquill Blackgoose’s To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is out in the wild today. Go catch yourself a copy.

My utmost thanks to Random House/Ballantine and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The Warden: A Review

When Aelis arrives in Lone Pine, she’s struck almost immediately by the smell of sheep shit. This doesn’t bode well for her scheduled two-year tenure as the new Warden of the small farming village out on the border with orc country. Still, she has no way to contest her station, despite her wealthy heritage. The Lyceum where she studied wizardry saw fit to send her to Lone Pine, even if it doesn’t seem like a proper location for a Warden who specialized in Necromancy.

Truth be told, Aelis would rather be anywhere else. Any urban post. Somewhere closer to her friends and lovers from school. Anywhere were her contractually obligated housing isn’t a broken down, falling apart tower. Anywhere she might have people to protect who aren’t deathly afraid of her. But no. She’s in Lone Pine, and only Martin and Rus, the local innkeepers, have any tolerance for her presence. Almost everyone else shuns her and attempts to avoid her at all costs. It’s a rough start, to be sure, but it’s Aelis’s station, and she’ll do her job. She’s a Warden, after all, not just a wizard.

When a group of adventurers make their way into Lone Pine from a frontier excursion, cart laden with gold to spend in the small town, it seems like the fortunes of the villagers are about to change. However, a violent encounter shatters the peace and sends Aelis on a quest to track down the guilty party. Her journey will take her into the wilderness, and bring her face to face with threats both old and new.

Daniel M. Ford’s The Warden is out in stores today, and I highly recommend it to any D&D player or fantasy adventure fan, especially for those who’ve enjoyed Travis Baldree’s Legends and Lattes or Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth. It was an absolute treat to read, playing with tropes and expectations throughout the book. I’ve loved every minute that I’ve spent in this world, and I hope to get to visit it again soon.

My utmost thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for access to an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Keeper’s Six: A Review

The Beyond is ever-shifting, a fluctuating space of deadly light and impassible dark, filled with dangerous creatures. An adventuring party must consist of six members in order to venture across the Beyond. One Gate (to open the way and find the paths in the shifting wilderness), one Ghost (who becomes a silent, intangible scout once in the Beyond), one Shotgun (the party’s primary combatant), one Voice (the polyglot communications specialist), one Lantern (to light the way), and one Keeper (who remains behind at the group’s Keep, maintaining a stable entry platform that bridges the Beyond and the solid reality of the Realms. These six members make a Hex. Why six? Something about the magic that the dragons use to travel through the Beyond on their own can only be replicated by a group of six. Too many more than that, and the Beyond can destabilize even further. Too few, and you can’t be protected from the various monsters that call that nightmare place home.

Esther is a Lantern, but she’s semi-retired. Her Hex was suspended from operating a year ago, leaving the rest of her closest friends out of work. One night, a mysterious phone call wakes Esther, a single word from David, her son and the Keeper of the Hex. Immediately, she springs into action to gather the other members of the Hex and rally at the Keep to gather information. David, it seems, has been kidnapped, leaving his spouse Kai and their children behind in the unguarded Keep. Someone has captured him, and Esther must journey across the Beyond to find the party responsible. While Marianne, Gus, Lydia, and Faye all answer Esther’s summons, not all of the Hex is happy to see her again, especially since their suspension means that they’re not technically supposed to be operating in the Beyond at all.

So begins a covert mission to find David and bring him safely home. After all, what wouldn’t a parent do to protect their child?

Kate Elliott has crafted a phenomenal sci-fi novella with group mechanics reminiscent of a Dungeons and Dragons party. I’m fascinated by both the Beyond and the many Realms that it links, and I’m honestly sorry that this is my first time tackling one of her stories. I hope that she revisits this world again soon.

The Keeper’s Six is out today. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

My utmost thanks to Tordotcom for providing an eARC of this novella in exchange for a fair review.